Ask HN: How to become better at problem solving?
Hello Hacker News,
Could you suggest methods, ways or books that can improve my problem solving skills? Solve lots of problems. Given you are asking on HN, I would guess that you code and are looking to become better at programming problems as well. If that is the case, check out this resource for programming games, challenges and competitions: https://github.com/dakaraphi/development-resources Book: "How to solve it" by George Pólya (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Solve_It) Beat me to it. Saw the thread only now. Also: How to Solve it by Computer - by Dromey. It's like the programmers' version of the Pólya book. What a great book. Thanks for sharing! 3 steps. - Identify a structure as against finding an idea or solution. Structures help you be through and ensure you are limited to just brain waves - Solve more problems. Solve a particular problem and then try to see if the solution is scaleable. That will help you improve your structure. - Read more. Read a lot. Read just about anything. Good editorials can be a master class in problem structuring. A la Charlie Munger, develop a latticework of mental models. See: https://medium.com/@yegg/mental-models-i-find-repeatedly-use... Trying out your ideas to do one thing or maybe even a way to improve something. Doesn't have to be a complete idea all the time; mainly you need to build yourself hands-on experience of trying to solve a problem, the more you do the more ideas you get as well as the wisdom of why some methods may not work. Sometimes I think of stupid ideas, but even thought I'm pretty certain it wont work, I will try it out just to see anyway. Many times such attempts leads me to other ideas. Also if you are stuck, do some research, sometimes you will find a solution, others solutions might lead you to other possible methods. Just keep trying stuff. When you look at a problem * relate it to other problems you have solved or seen solved * break the problem down into parts. Some of those parts may be things you have previously solved or have seen solved * research the problem * after completing one problem, reflect on it and learn from it Maybe you can get a more fruitful answer, if you layout what kind of problem you want/expect to solve. I can tell you to read more books, solve more problem, but I'm pretty sure you already know that, or can know with some google search. Take a job, or a gig, or a ticket that is beyond your skill level, and don't give up until you solve it. Take up a hobby that revolves around problem solving like lock picking. Hackerrank tutorials