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I would use Khan Academy. Start at a level that feels too easy, even if it's elementary school math. The key to learning anything is to start at a level that feels too easy and gradually increase difficulty.

As you finish a subject, see if there's a corresponding book in the Art of Problem Solving store [0]; you can revisit the subject at a deeper level that will strengthen your foundation. The AoPS books will also expose you to areas useful in programming like discrete mathematics.

Before any of the above, take Coursera's Learning How to Learn course. You'll learn lots of effective strategies to get the most out of your efforts. For example, you can use Anki [1] to remember definitions and concepts you've managed to understand and to schedule review of problems you've already solved.

[0] https://artofproblemsolving.com/store/recommendations.php

[1] http://augmentingcognition.com/ltm.html



++Anki

Myself and my daughters use Anki every day. It has been the defining factor in turning my mediocre job into a career. And Ankidroid on Android is open source.


Can you tell me what type of cards did you use for your career? I'm thinking to start using Anki, but not sure how to structure the cards. Thanks!


Lots of cards for Linux commands, programming gotchas, and client-specific details like "Foo prefers H:i:s date formats".


Can you elaborate in how it's been that transformative? I get why it's a useful tool, but you seem particularly enthusiastic. How are you using it?


A big shout-out to both Anki and Ankidroid. I wish there was a way to donate to them.


Like other sibling comments, I would also like to know how you have used Anki to transform your career.

I like Anki but I have never been able to figure out how to capture complex and often long business related information in tiny cards.


> The key to learning anything is to start at a level that feels too easy and gradually increase difficulty.

Is it though?

In this particular case, for this particular person, may be. But personally, I always found myself bored and ADHDly switching to something else in 5 minutes if I wouldn't drop myself right in the deep end. And from my interactions with different software engineers over the years, I doubt I'm the only one.


I didn't say it was the only way.

More like the most foolproof way.




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