[janoc]

It is not about "being taught".

But if you are the only technical person around, who is going to show you what a good or bad practice *in your specific field* is? That you won't find on Stack Overflow or by asking ChatGPT.

Being able to talk to an experienced mentor who knows the field you are working in is invaluable. Unlike learning some framework or design patters or what not, this information you won't find anywhere else.

[christoff12]

You'd be surprised at how useful Stack Overflow and ChatGPT can be at helping to illuminate knowledge gaps.

I've found that one of the harder aspects of being unguided is figuring out the unknown unknowns.

You might stumble into a solution of sorts that mirrors a best practice but not know there's a "name" for that solution -- until you see it spelled out after googling around. That discovery can lead you down a rabbit hole where you gain fuller context.

Sure, having more experienced people around can help expedite that process in some cases, but then again you're limited by what that person has experienced. There's always some level you reach where you need to be curious enough in your explorations to seek out the next layer of knowledge in a self-directed manner, and the tools today are immensely better at supporting that process than 10-15 years ago.

[hstojkoski]

I think the OP you are replying to points to "you don't know what you don't know". SO and ChatGPT can be useful, if you know what you are doing is fishy and ask for directions.

[tsegratis]

its the simple things

  fuzzing
  unittest
  scm
  code coverage

if youre programming without those, youre doing it wrong, and chatGPT isnt going to help

any more im missing?