How do you get good at technology? And how do you choose which technology to get good at? Both of those questions turn out to have the same answer: work on your own projects. Don't try to guess whether gene editing or LLMs or rockets will turn out to be the most valuable technology to know about. No one can predict that. Just work on whatever interests you the most. You'll work much harder on something you're interested in than something you're doing because you think you're supposed to.
你如何變得擅長技術？以及你如何選擇要擅長哪種技術？這兩個問題的答案其實是一樣的：從事你自己的專案。不要試圖去猜測基因編輯、LLMs 或是火箭哪一個會成為最有價值的技術。沒有人能預測這個。只要從事任何你最感興趣的事情。你會比做一些你認為你應該做的事情，在你感興趣的事情上付出更多努力。
If you're not sure what technology to get good at, get good at programming. That has been the source of the median startup for the last 30 years, and this is probably not going to change in the next 10.
如果你不確定要擅長哪種技術，那就擅長程式設計吧。在過去 30 年裡，這一直是新創公司的中位數來源，而這個情況在未來 10 年內可能不會改變。
Those of you who are taking computer science classes in school may at this point be thinking, ok, we've got this sorted. We're already being taught all about programming. But sorry, this is not enough. You have to be working on your own projects, not just learning stuff in classes. You can do well in computer science classes without ever really learning to program. In fact you can graduate with a degree in computer science from a top university and still not be any good at programming. That's why tech companies all make you take a coding test before they'll hire you, regardless of where you went to university or how well you did there. They know grades and exam results prove nothing.
目前正在學校修讀電腦科學課程的你們，可能會認為我們已經掌握了這方面的知識。我們已經在學習有關編程的所有知識了。但很抱歉，這還不夠。你必須投入自己的項目，而不僅僅是在課堂上學習知識。即使沒有真正學會編程，你也可以在電腦科學課程中表現出色。事實上，即使從頂尖大學獲得電腦科學學位，你的編程能力也可能不高。這就是為什麼科技公司在錄用你之前，都會讓你參加編碼測試，不管你是從哪所大學畢業，或者在那裡的成績如何。他們知道，成績和考試結果並不能證明什麼。
If you really want to learn to program, you have to work on your own projects. You learn so much faster that way. Imagine you're writing a game and there's something you want to do in it, and you don't know how. You're going to figure out how a lot faster than you'd learn anything in a class.
如果你真的想學習編程，就必須從事自己的項目。這樣你學習的速度會快得多。想像一下，你正在編寫一個遊戲，裡面有一些你想實現但不知道如何實現的功能。你找出解決方法的速度肯定比在課堂上學到任何知識的速度都要快。
You don't have to learn programming, though. If you're wondering what counts as technology, it includes practically everything you could describe using the words "make" or "build." So welding would count, or making clothes, or making videos. Whatever you're most interested in. The critical distinction is whether you're producing or just consuming. Are you writing computer games, or just playing them? That's the cutoff.
不過，你不一定非要學習編程。如果你想知道什麼算是科技，它幾乎包括了所有可以用「製作」或「建造」這些詞來描述的東西。所以焊接、製衣或製作影片都算在內。無論你最感興趣的是什麼。關鍵的區別在於你是在生產還是只是在消費。你是在編寫電腦遊戲，還是只是在玩遊戲？這就是區分的界線。
Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, spent time when he was a teenager studying calligraphy — the sort of beautiful writing that you see in medieval manuscripts. No one, including him, thought that this would help him in his career. He was just doing it because he was interested in it. But it turned out to help him a lot. The computer that made Apple really big, the Macintosh, came out at just the moment when computers got powerful enough to make letters like the ones in printed books instead of the computery-looking letters you see in 8 bit games. Apple destroyed everyone else at this, and one reason was that Steve was one of the few people in the computer business who really got graphic design.
蘋果公司的創辦人史提夫·賈伯斯（Steve Jobs）在青少年時期花了一些時間學習書法，就是那種你在中世紀手稿中看到的優美書寫。當時沒有人，包括他自己，認為這會對他的事業有所幫助。他這麼做只是因為他對此感興趣。但事實證明，這對他幫助很大。讓蘋果公司真正偉大的電腦麥金塔（Macintosh）問世時，正值電腦有足夠的性能可以生成類似印刷書籍中的字體，而不是你在 8 位元遊戲中看到的電腦風格的字體。蘋果在這方面擊敗了所有對手，其中一個原因是史提夫是電腦業內少數真正懂得圖形設計的人之一。
你如何變得擅長技術？以及你如何選擇要擅長哪種技術？這兩個問題的答案其實是一樣的：從事你自己的專案。不要試圖去猜測基因編輯、LLMs 或是火箭哪一個會成為最有價值的技術。沒有人能預測這個。只要從事任何你最感興趣的事情。你會比做一些你認為你應該做的事情，在你感興趣的事情上付出更多努力。
If you're not sure what technology to get good at, get good at programming. That has been the source of the median startup for the last 30 years, and this is probably not going to change in the next 10.
如果你不確定要擅長哪種技術，那就擅長程式設計吧。在過去 30 年裡，這一直是新創公司的中位數來源，而這個情況在未來 10 年內可能不會改變。
Those of you who are taking computer science classes in school may at this point be thinking, ok, we've got this sorted. We're already being taught all about programming. But sorry, this is not enough. You have to be working on your own projects, not just learning stuff in classes. You can do well in computer science classes without ever really learning to program. In fact you can graduate with a degree in computer science from a top university and still not be any good at programming. That's why tech companies all make you take a coding test before they'll hire you, regardless of where you went to university or how well you did there. They know grades and exam results prove nothing.
目前正在學校修讀電腦科學課程的你們，可能會認為我們已經掌握了這方面的知識。我們已經在學習有關編程的所有知識了。但很抱歉，這還不夠。你必須投入自己的項目，而不僅僅是在課堂上學習知識。即使沒有真正學會編程，你也可以在電腦科學課程中表現出色。事實上，即使從頂尖大學獲得電腦科學學位，你的編程能力也可能不高。這就是為什麼科技公司在錄用你之前，都會讓你參加編碼測試，不管你是從哪所大學畢業，或者在那裡的成績如何。他們知道，成績和考試結果並不能證明什麼。
If you really want to learn to program, you have to work on your own projects. You learn so much faster that way. Imagine you're writing a game and there's something you want to do in it, and you don't know how. You're going to figure out how a lot faster than you'd learn anything in a class.
如果你真的想學習編程，就必須從事自己的項目。這樣你學習的速度會快得多。想像一下，你正在編寫一個遊戲，裡面有一些你想實現但不知道如何實現的功能。你找出解決方法的速度肯定比在課堂上學到任何知識的速度都要快。
You don't have to learn programming, though. If you're wondering what counts as technology, it includes practically everything you could describe using the words "make" or "build." So welding would count, or making clothes, or making videos. Whatever you're most interested in. The critical distinction is whether you're producing or just consuming. Are you writing computer games, or just playing them? That's the cutoff.
不過，你不一定非要學習編程。如果你想知道什麼算是科技，它幾乎包括了所有可以用「製作」或「建造」這些詞來描述的東西。所以焊接、製衣或製作影片都算在內。無論你最感興趣的是什麼。關鍵的區別在於你是在生產還是只是在消費。你是在編寫電腦遊戲，還是只是在玩遊戲？這就是區分的界線。
Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, spent time when he was a teenager studying calligraphy — the sort of beautiful writing that you see in medieval manuscripts. No one, including him, thought that this would help him in his career. He was just doing it because he was interested in it. But it turned out to help him a lot. The computer that made Apple really big, the Macintosh, came out at just the moment when computers got powerful enough to make letters like the ones in printed books instead of the computery-looking letters you see in 8 bit games. Apple destroyed everyone else at this, and one reason was that Steve was one of the few people in the computer business who really got graphic design.
蘋果公司的創辦人史提夫·賈伯斯（Steve Jobs）在青少年時期花了一些時間學習書法，就是那種你在中世紀手稿中看到的優美書寫。當時沒有人，包括他自己，認為這會對他的事業有所幫助。他這麼做只是因為他對此感興趣。但事實證明，這對他幫助很大。讓蘋果公司真正偉大的電腦麥金塔（Macintosh）問世時，正值電腦有足夠的性能可以生成類似印刷書籍中的字體，而不是你在 8 位元遊戲中看到的電腦風格的字體。蘋果在這方面擊敗了所有對手，其中一個原因是史提夫是電腦業內少數真正懂得圖形設計的人之一。
