Undergraduate formal computer science education isn't that impressive, there isn't really anything similar to the mathematics fluency you need to painfully build up when studying physics. Software engineering does have an analogous coding fluency skill you can have, but formal education doesn't seem to really know how to drill that into you yet.
If you want to patch up a missing CS degree, just go read CLRS for algorithm analysis, SICP for general programming insight and the Cinderella Book for the theory of computation.
Then read K&R, because just about everything is C at the bottom and The C++ Programming Language (make sure to pick the latest C++11 edition), just to see all the insane complexities the pressures of backward compatibility, large-scale program architecture and high-performance programs will have you thinking about in real-world software engineering.
Looking at data structures more algebraically, as abstract types characterized by their introduction and elimination forms is another topic that's present in some standard CS sequences and can make one a better programmer. This breaks the habit of projecting intended interpretation of the data to its representation in computer memory, giving more freedom to design data structures for sparse data, that don't look like the data (which is their interpretation), but play its role (for example, binary decision diagrams). This is related to the statement/model d...
This is a repository for major, life-altering mistakes that you or others have made. Detailed accounts of specific mistakes are welcome, and so are mentions of general classes of mistakes that people often make. If similar repositories already exist (inside or outside of LW), links are greatly appreciated.
The purpose of this repository is to collect information about serious misjudgements and mistakes in order to help people avoid similar mistakes. (I am posting this repository because I'm trying to conduct a premortem on my life and figure out what catastrophic risks may screw me over in the near or far future.)