[josephmosby]

It's important to also continue striving for self-improvement. If you hit a level where you've stopped wanting to learn more and started wanting to simply compare yourself to others, of course you'll look good by comparison - but you're not getting any better.

I started programming using Python. When I started, I wanted to understand the "feel" of Python programming, and that was all my mind could comprehend. Now that I have a decent smattering of Python knowledge, I now realize I don't have a total grasp of transfer protocols and I should probably learn a lower-level C language as well. I started off not knowing one thing, now I have added two more.

I'm still a better programmer, but now I realize I'm clueless about even more stuff than I was before.

[klt0825]

This is a very good point. I thought I knew a lot about programming/CS until I decided to get my M.S. Now, the more I learn, the more I realize I don't know.

It is actually a little defeating in the sense that I have had to accept that I will probably never know as much as I would like to.

[div]

Identifying gaps in your knowledge is half the battle.

Learning and getting better isn't limited to eliminating known unknowns, it includes becoming aware of unknown unknowns.

Once you can google a problem, there is a very high chance you'll be able to solve it.

[kiba]

Skills get rusty. What you learn today you will forget tomorrow, unless you use them in some way.

[mattdeboard]

This is so true, and manifests so sharply/painfully when I go to refresh my very nascent skills in Clojure. I've learned the same material so many times. It's a bummer.

[cunac]

When you don't know much about given subject you usually don't know how much you really don't know and most people at that stage actually have impression that they know a lot It is kind of catch 22 problem :-)