On: Get a personal teacher

[mtalantikite]

I think one of the issues is that there can be a significant gap in the level of teachers that you encounter. There are tons of teachers out there that are probably not much better, and maybe even worse, than going through people on YouTube, personal websites, online courses, etc. But then there are the truly masterful teachers in which the experience is on a whole different level, where the learning is beyond what you could do on your own. It's more on the level of a traditional guru, in the original sense of the word [1].

I've had both experiences, and I agree, in most cases a private teacher might not be worth it, but if you find the right person, it'll bring you way further than you ever could have gone on your own.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guru

[cgriswald → mtalantikite]

I agree. The right teacher can prune dead-end paths, quickly identify your weaknesses, provide you with tools and (importantly) explain their reasoning. They might also introduce you to more “meta” concepts and connections that you otherwise might have missed (which personally helps me stay interested and gain better mastery).

If they can’t do that last bit, they’ll certainly help get you up to speed quickly, but you’ll be missing out on larger contextual understanding.

That said, I’ve seen these types of teachers favor people who have shown themselves capable of learning and reasoning about what they’re doing. And finding these teachers often requires either luck, connections, or already having a certain level of knowledge.

So, I’d say grab a hold of such a teacher if you can, but in the context of the article, just finding a teacher isn’t necessarily a net benefit; you should do everything you can do to learn outside of a teacher. (And I’d say that’s true even if you get a teacher.)

Edit: I also meant to say, if you don’t know what you don’t know, finding a teacher isn’t necessarily easy. Getting started solo can really help you get an idea of what you don’t know and can aid in finding someone who knows those things.