The traditional model: learn privately, emerge publicly polished.

The alternative: learn in public.1 The phrase was popularized by Shawn Wang (@swyx) in his influential essay “Learn in Public” (2018). The concept connects to Andy Matuschak’s “working with the garage door up” and the broader digital garden movement. Write about things you’re still figuring out. Share notes, not just finished pieces.

Why This Is Terrifying

  • What if I’m wrong?
  • What if someone more knowledgeable corrects me?
  • What if I look stupid?

Why It Works Anyway

1. Teaching is learning. The act of explaining forces clarity.2 Richard Feynman’s famous technique: if you can’t explain something simply, you don’t understand it well enough. Teaching exposes gaps in knowledge that passive consumption hides. You can’t write about something you don’t understand (well, you can, but it shows).

2. Feedback accelerates.
Private learning has no error correction. Public learning invites it.

3. It’s honest.
No one knows everything. Pretending otherwise is exhausting.

The Practice

This very note is an example. I don’t have a polished thesis on learning in public. I have scattered thoughts that I’m trying to organize by writing them down.

And now you’re reading them.

And maybe you have thoughts too.

That’s the whole thing.

This philosophy aligns with my Beliefs about knowledge and learning. It’s also why I maintain a public bookshelf and write about what I’m currently doing on my Now page.

See also: more about me and my approach to the tools I use.

Changelog

  • 2026-01-05: Initial note
  • 2026-01-29: Added sidenotes with context on learning in public origins