10,000 hours and too little time...

The 10,000 hour rule suggests that it takes 10,000 hours to master a discipline. That is over a year running continuously; almost two years at 16 hours per day, or over 3 years at a somewhat more reasonable 60 hours per week.

With millions of developers working away world-wide, an awful lot changes in technology in 3 years. New languages, new tools, new paradigms and approaches. We must learn not just one discipline, but many.

In this new world, none of us can be masters: all of us must be students. The faster paced the world, the more tools and disciplines to master, the more fleeting the experience and the shallower the knowledge.

Please remember that when you write for others, that you are, invariably, writing for the inexperienced student, with too little time on his hands, no matter how worn and weathered the face.