SCNA 2009 - Apprenticing to Mastery: Paul Pagel & Dave Hoover

8th Light, Obtiva

I missed the first few minutes of their presentation.

• Reading - insane hunger for knowledge
• Kindred Spirit - peer, not a mentor; learning with you
• Mentor
• Skill vs. Time - practice continuous learning to avoid your skill curve flattening out over time
• Teacher - have to be able to articulate their expertise
• Long Road - process
• Master Curve - series of steep climbs with plateaus in between
  • Loving the plateau - have to enjoy practicing
• Heuristics
  • Similar to Shuhari
  • Master can break down dogmatic rules
• Read blogs, go to users' groups
• Apprentice
  • Concrete skills checklist
  • Consider doing 3-6 month contracts (if hiring one)
  • Shadow 1:1 with mentor
  • Not writing client code or thrown into fire
  • Challenge/opportunity at end