[xayide]

This one is deceptively important. I spent several years self-learning actuarial science. I had a solid statistics and math background, but incorrectly marginalized the business aspects as being simple. I'm also introverted and stubbornly independent and didn't recognize what I didn't know. If I had more aggressively sought out peers earlier, I would have gotten further.

I'm going against my nature and meeting with a friend weekly to review queries for a SQL class we're both taking. Just talking with him and catching each other's mistakes has been worth as much as my O'Reilly book.