Make - Daniel Bourke

The amateur's advantage

An amateur pursues a craft for the love of it. They're armed with the superpower of not requiring the approval of others.

Machine Learning

Notes on building a deep learning PC

When it comes to using GPUs for deep learning, I usually use Google Colab (80% of the time) or for when I need something more persistent, Google's Compute Engine running a deep learning virtual machine (VM). Colab usually suffices for short-to-medium size experiments but when you need to step things

Money

How to make $5000 in 20-minutes

If you think the way some rationalists think, you’re not going to like this. Because the way rationalists think is there’s got to be an explainable reason for everything. But you’re smarter than that. My car was broken down the other day. The mechanic drove over and

Make

No magic pill

Drugs, tried them. Sex, had it plenty of times. Working hard towards a goal and finishing it, starting from zero and improving at a skill, buying things, making art, dancing, moving, travelling, meditating, earning more than you can spend in a day, done them all. You might be searching for

Poems

Create something every day

Why? Because creating takes thought. Not for the views, not for the fame, not for the money, these things have their place. But to expand your soul. To tune into your spirt. Find where that energy is coming from. Low on resources? Even better. Use the constraints. If you’re

Creating

Copy until you have your own style

When you start your creative work will suck. Why? Because you won’t have your own style yet. And that’s okay. What you can do is copy others until you do. Take the works which impress you most and replicate them. You can even start to add your own

Creating

Who’s going to take responsibility?

With opportunity comes responsibility. You can’t have the benefits of opportunity without the efforts of responsibility. The internet has given you the opportunity to create things at little to no costs. Writing is basically free. But it’s your responsibility to sit down and get the words out. A

Getting Started

Talent not required

It’s easy to palm it off on natural ability. “He’s a natural... that’s why he can do it.” “She’s so talented, I could never do that.” But where did they start? Does a piano player get born with the ability to play piano? Does a programmer

Creating

Put yourself in their shoes

What do they think? What have they done before? Why are they showing up to see what you’ve made? What don’t they know? What should they know? How do you want them to feel? Do you want to give them the answer? Or should they work it out

Creating

Approach Your Art Like a Professional Golfer

How often do you see someone get a hole in one? Professional golfers only land 1 in 2500 holes on the first shot. For an amateur, it’s more like 1 in 12500. You should treat your artworks the same. It will rarely be a hit on the first try.