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Get perfect memory and hack your way into a better job!

  1. #1
    LiquidIce Houston
    Great, I got your attention. I wanna contribute and tell you guys about something that has helped me a lot in becoming more productive and getting better jobs.

    This something is called spaced repetition. Basically, you create question/answer cards and then go over each question and try to remember the answer. The deal here is that there's an algorithm behind how often you have to view each card. Thanks to this, you can have hundreds of cards and only have to review like 20 a day, which takes 2-3 minutes.

    Why am I telling you about this? I use this method to remember all the bits and pieces related to IT for the last 2 years. Think - bash commands, python snippets, database settings, etc. This has really boosted my confidence in job interviews (people's eyes go wide if you're a junior dev and write out a bunch of correct code, including lots of std lib imports, with no reference) and increased the speed at which I can work. I'm well over 1000 cards at this point and I can easily remember the correct switch for field separator for 3 different bash commands (awk, cut, sort - -F, -d, -t) even though I've last used them like 2-3 months ago.

    The algorithm knows when you're likely to start to forget some information and it schedules the cards so that you can remember everything, all the time. After being shown a card, you press one of these buttons: "Again", "Hard", "Good", "Easy", then you're shown the answer. If you can't remember the answer, you'd press "Again". If you recalled it instantly, you'd press "Easy". This is how the algorithm knows how well you remember something. If, for a certain card, you most often press "Easy", you will see if sporadically. However, if there's a card that causes you to press "Again" or "Hard" more often, you'll see it more frequently.

    There's software that does all of this for you, including mobile apps, and it's all free: anki, supermemo, mnemosyne. I picked anki and I'm pretty happy with it. Like I said earlier, I review the cards for 2-3 minutes a day and add new cards once in a while.

    I still forget what I was going to do when I walk into a room, but at least I can generate ssl certificates at a drop of a hat.
  2. #2
    They made me learn English like that but I rather listened to Wu Tang.
  3. #3
    Sophie Pedophile Tech Support
    A logical approach.
  4. #4
    I know, it also worked like a motherfucker.
  5. #5
    Quality
  6. #6
    LiquidIce Houston
    Well, I hope at least one of the lurkers got some use out of this. I guess I should stick to more technical topics as far as contributing goes.

    A logical approach.
    You don't use an ssh key when you use github, do you?

  7. #7
    I guess I should stick to more technical topics as far as contributing goes.

    Dude, plz dont just stick to technical topics. This is a great post. I was looking for a way to learn the Cyrillic betabet and this is exactly what im looking for. Anki even supports audio and video formats (as well as laTeX for math applications) so its going to probably be on of my most utilized programs. Thanks for the share this shit is fucking fantastic.
  8. #8
    LiquidIce Houston
    Dude, plz dont just stick to technical topics. This is a great post. I was looking for a way to learn the Cyrillic betabet and this is exactly what im looking for. Anki even supports audio and video formats (as well as laTeX for math applications) so its going to probably be on of my most utilized programs. Thanks for the share this shit is fucking fantastic.

    This is encouraging, I'm happy what I wrote has been of help. I'll post more about stuff like running or calisthenics.

    I haven't found a use for the audio/image/latex features of Anki, but I've heard it's also really big in the community of language learners.
  9. #9
    Jokes aside, this is how we learn stuff in school here. I'm honestly surprised that you guys don't use that technique.
  10. #10
    Well, you also still use Fahrenheit which is like the dumbest scale ever created so yea.... Good thread, though.
  11. #11
    LiquidIce Houston
    Jokes aside, this is how we learn stuff in school here. I'm honestly surprised that you guys don't use that technique.

    What country uses this? That's pretty interesting. I have had rather shitty experiences with the education system.
  12. #12
    Germany.
  13. #13
    Sophie Pedophile Tech Support
    You don't use an ssh key when you use github, do you?

    No, why? While you're on github you better star all muh projects.
  14. #14
    LiquidIce Houston
    No, why? While you're on github you better star all muh projects.
    Nothing, just wanted to confirm something. Github makes all your public keys publicly visible and I wanted to confirm that empty page = no keys.

    Germany.

    Do you use an app for it? Or some manual method? Im a bit surprised since in my mind Germany has a very conservative approach to many things.
  15. #15
    Germany has a very conservative approach to many things.

    hahahahhahahahhaahahahhahahahhahahahhahahhahahahahahhahaha
  16. #16
    LiquidIce Houston
    hahahahhahahahhaahahahhahahahhahahahhahahhahahahahahhahaha

    These people wear leather shorts and eat almost exclusively pork.
  17. #17
    Zanick motherfucker [my p.a. supernal goa]
    I've heard Anki is a godsend for med students. Is it easy to navigate? I don't want to be dealing with a cumbersome software, easy access is a selling point to for my needs.
  18. #18
    Do you use an app for it? Or some manual method? Im a bit surprised since in my mind Germany has a very conservative approach to many things.
    Trust me, this would seem like a very conservative approach to you if you used it since first grade.Haha. I didn't know there was an app for it to be honest. We had those little boxes with cards. Same method, though.
  19. #19
    These people wear leather shorts and eat almost exclusively pork.
    I wear pork shorts and eat almost exclusively leather. Your worldview is wrong.
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