... (2/2) But thinking about it, it was actually a pretty crappy way to learn, making me much slower to see the big picture. I only used SO because I couldn't get formal training in those areas. When I got to the point where I could read books on stats and programming instead, I got a lot better a lot faster.
So I guess now I'll double down on encouraging students to focus on fundamental concepts and the ability to formulate the right questions to ask of high quality sources.