Becoming an Expert

Over on The Long Tail, Chris Anderson discussed his experience working for The Economist, and his current corporate efforts.

The 80,000 foot view: He changed jobs every three years until he came to Wired, which he then pushed himself to producing a book every few years. When he worked at The Economist, everyone was required to change jobs after 3 years.

Basically, he correlates Malcolm Gladwell's theory of that it takes approximately 10,000 hours to become an expert with the 3-year rule. Chris says if you dedicate 60 hours a week to your job, the 10,000 hours will take just over 3 years. Then move on to something new.

If you don't want to work 12 hours a day, then the "normal" expert rate would be almost 5 years.

If the 10,000 hour rule is truly accurate, I would think that colleges would need to overhaul the degree structure. In the Junior and Senior years, the time a student is actually in their program is roughly 900 classroom hours. Add the suggested 2 hours for each class hour for homework and studying, that comes out to 1800. So less than 3000 hours are spent honing your "expertness" for your career (hopefully). I would suggest the option of going right into the program instead of wasting time in electives like Political Science or Art. Or my favorite: Post-1940s Youth Culture through Media. That was a gem.