[hijklmno]

What you say is true. Perhaps, a distinction ought to be made between mere mortals like us, and the obsessed ones. In our era where information is more easily available than food, and where experienced people willing to help, are just as reachable, I think for someone who dedicates the time towards mastery, 2 years will take him/her very far.

[tonyarkles]

I say this as someone who started learning to program on his own at age 8, and is now 37:

> I think for someone who dedicates the time towards mastery, 2 years will take him/her very far.

You might get very good at a particular niche in 2 years. You will not have learned the lessons you learn when you go back to a five year old project yet and make changes. You will not have the breadth of experience from having worked intimately with dozens of teams in different languages, cultural expectations, and business domains.

Honestly, the more I learn, the more I know I don’t know. As an example, last year I had an opportunity to work on robotic control systems. I dusted off my calculus and linear algebra skills from way back, implemented calculations that ran in under 1ms, and has a ton of fun doing it. Could I have explained a Jacobian before starting that project? Not likely! Do I use it in other stuff now too? Definitely.