
At what point can I say I’ve “learned” a language? - shawndumas
http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/08/at-what-point-can-i-say-ive-learned-a-language/
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kenjackson
You can say you've learned a language when you've worked with it enough that
you're no longer confident that you know the language very well.

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noonespecial
Theres always two distinct phases for me. When I learn the syntax and can
basically fizz-buzz in the language and then when I start to get a handle on
the available libraries, design idioms and best practices.

I usually don't say I "know" a language until I've been through both phases.
Resume polishers and recruiters are understandably horrified.

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rman666
Standard Rule of Thumb: As soon as you can complete the "hello world"
tutorial, you should add the language to your resume.

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spiffage
I disagree. When I'm interviewing, I take any line item on a candidate's
resume as license to hammer them on their knowledge of that technology and its
paradigms.

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waterlesscloud
Let me ask you something-

What will you have achieved after you "hammer" them on that technology?

Will you genuinely be closer to assessing whether that candidate can do the
job you need done?

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cafard
I am not a hammerer. Yet once when I saw PL/SQL on a candidate's resume, I did
start asking some questions--not stuff like "explain PRAGMA WNDS" but "tell me
a bit about how you've done xyz in PL/SQL" and promptly hit a blank look.

I think that it is reasonable to ask questions about what is on a resume.

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dccoolgai
When you're ready to set it aside and learn something else. If you're not
learn _ing_ the language, move on to something else. This is the difference
between a poser and a real developer.

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klibertp
I'm not sure (yet) how this site works, and especially how comments are
(up/down)voted, but I noticed that this one (parent) is displayed in grey-ish
font. Does that mean it was downvoted?

If so, I disagree with whoever did this. My opinion is exactly the same: you
_know_ a language when don't have to learn it while doing some useful work in
it. And yes, it's the best time to move on or else you'll become bored
quickly. And yes - whoever stops learning programming (with this language,
that framework or other library) at some point ceases to be a developer (in my
eyes) and there is a high chance that he never really was one.

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rogerbinns
When I'm interviewing someone the litmus test I use is asking them about the
documentation. Anyone who has only superficially used whatever
language/library/toolkit it is will generally say the documentation is good
(what else can they say?)

Those that are battle hardened will have looked at far more of the
documentation, and found it lacking. Consequently if they can explain that it
sucks and why it sucks I know that they have learned the topic at hand.

It also catches out the folks who read "programming X in 8 hours" and put X on
their resume. They won't be able to say anything intelligent about the
documentation.

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kellros
I tend to say I am familiar with a language if I've only spent a few hours on
it. Knowing a language or 'learned' a language for me is when you are good
(enough) to make money freelancing using that language.

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viraptor
On a related note, I like to read David Beazley's work and twitter stream. He
is _the_ Python guy, he wrote books about it, he does courses, he's constantly
moving the boundaries of "insane" coding in what he releases.

Yet, he does write things like "Reading the what's new in Python 3.3 document
is blowing my mind." There's always more to learn if you want to. As long as
the language isn't dead and has any kind of community, there's always
something noone else knew about...

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GFKjunior
When you have a project to complete in a time crunch and feel comfortable
doing it in that language.

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stretchwithme
Maybe the Dreyfus model of skill acquisition provides a useful way to think
about learning a language. It classifies

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreyfus_model_of_skill_acquisit...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreyfus_model_of_skill_acquisition)

It describes 5 skill levels: novice, advanced beginner, competent, proficient,
and expert.

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allardschip
You have learned a language sounds like you are done learning. The longer I
spent with a language (both formal and natural ones) the more I am aware of
what I don't know yet. Since I realize that, I never considered having learned
a language again. If a language, even my mother tongue, does not feel like a
struggle, then I am just taking a break from learning.

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lflux
When you can write something akin to the C++ FQA.

