[TrevorJ]

Couple flaws I see here: first, I'm not convinced that 10k hours is a reasonable estimate given how vastly different any given discipline is from another. Some disciplines allow for fast iteration and thus more practice in a shorter amount of time, for one thing.

Second and more important, we need to remember that none of us learn in a vacuum. How much faster did you pick up programming because you already understood the concept of grammar, and had taken a logic or debate class in high school? Even in wildly different fields of study, there are dots we connect, analogies that we construct, and skills that we posses and bring to the table. It is reasonable to assume that we gain some efficiency in learning new skills, by virtue of the masteries we already possess.