[medler]

Oh I agree 100%, the 10,000 hours thing is a cliché and the popular interpretation that 10,000 hours of an activity equals mastery has been throughly debunked. I roll my eyes whenever I see it mentioned.

I’m giving Norvig a pass here because I don’t remember it being such a cliché in 2008, and because I appreciate the point he’s making about the importance of practice. (Early in my programming education I often felt that I might just not be cut out for programming, and I wish more articles at the time had emphasized that it takes a lot of practice to become a good programmer).