Learning

In June 2017, Alex Honnold did something which no man had done before. He climbed El Capitan in Yosemite without any ropes. This free solo ascent of the 3000 ft rock formation without any fallback mechanism ranks as one of the greatest athletic feats ever. Equally interesting is the way Alex Honnold trained. He did 60 practice climbs on El Capitan. First, he rehearsed these climbs using rope. He memorized complex portions of the climb. He specifically trained on the tricky portions of the segments by going up there and with gear and practicing over and over. In the final weeks before the climb, he practiced on a smooth stretch of rock, climbing with only his feet and not using his hands. Thus what looked like a miracle was the result of a well-planned training. ...

In our software engineering careers, we switch jobs and end up working in a new domain. Some domains are easy to learn — the engineering might be hard — while others, especially those involving payments or stock exchanges (few areas where I have worked) take time to understand. There is another issue as you progress in your career: when you are fresh out of college, the brain is tuned to learning techniques, but after a few decades of work, you struggle. There is no need to despair. Recently, I took the UCSD course Learning How to Learn: Powerful mental tools to help you master tough subjects and learned some valuable lessons. ...