
How you went from noob to hacker? - xstartup
You either picked up programming in a) school or b) solving your problem. Probably, the first code you wrote took you a lot of time but at the end, it was not the cleanest code but just worked. How did you finally go from this stage to hacker stage where you wrote clean code and submitted it to GitHub without fear. How did you learn, ability to compose functions in the specific arrangement which makes code easy to understand just not for you but any person who is looking at your code?
======
dazhbog
Not a hacker but definitely came a long way. Boils down to one thing for me:

\- Raw motivation. Be like a pig in the mud, "really" enjoy doing it. While
everyone else considers it work.

If strong motivation is there then logistically you might also need things
like:

\- Persistence over the long run. This shit takes years. Choose the hard way
if it can teach you more. Read the source. Practise ruthlessly.

\- Optimize your rate of learning. Understand your weaknesses and use that to
become faster. Be methodical.

\- Optimize your work and life environment. Your goal should be to be in the
zone, focused and productive. Things that can help: excersise, minimize
distractions, stable/no relationships, have basic needs sorted, etc.

\- There are many many disciplines that you should explore and work in..
algorithms, code optimization/perf, architectures, security, etc. etc. At
work, university and online, there are people that can teach you things and
guide you. Try and find these key individuals.

Just a few points from the top of my head.

