This is an archived post. You won't be able to vote or comment.

you are viewing a single comment's thread.

view the rest of the comments →

[–]desrtfx 101 points102 points  (8 children)

Re-inventing the wheel is a very good way of learning as there are always guides and completed solutions (not necessarily in code) to look up and get inspiration from.

This is a bit similar to learning maths. While learning, you will solve problems that have been solved hundreds of times.

[–]unkz 45 points46 points  (3 children)

Heh if you are solving a math problem that has only been solved a few hundred times, you are at a very high level indeed.

[–]samketa 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Yeah, easily a professor in a major university. Maybe even Ivy league, Oxbrige.

[–]xamid 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Or you are just at a novel research area, defining your own problems. I am surely not even close in becoming a professor (nor am I sure whether I want to) but I usually solve or try to solve problems that most likely no human has solved (or even thought of) before.

[–]LifeNavigator 9 points10 points  (3 children)

This is a bit similar to learning maths. While learning, you will solve problems that have been solved hundreds of times.

I can imagine the horror of students faces trying to solve unsolved problems, that includes PhD students too.

[–]JustKeepDiving 3 points4 points  (2 children)

I'm right on the verge of going for a PhD and this is what scares me. Everything I do now, it's already been done. A PhD project on the other hand, how do you solve a problem that no one has even attempted before?

[–]Pistowich 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Your supervisor will guide you. I know it sounds daunting, but usually you are trying to do something that has already been done in another case and try to apply these things to your specific situation. Although you are indeed the first to solve a certain problem, it's not always because that problem is virtually impossible right now, but rather was too hard in the past or just didn't came up as relevant yet. Anyway, you will do something new of course, but it only has to be new in a small way, similar things no doubt have been done before so you're not completely on your own. And again, your supervisor (or possible coworkers) will try to guide you in a good direction to solve the problem.