Maker Skill Trees
Hex‑grid “Maker Skill Trees” that chart progress across hobbies like coding, cooking, housebuilding and music are drawing both enthusiasm and skepticism. Many appreciate the visual, gamified checklists as a way to spark projects and reveal blind spots for beginners, but practitioners in specific fields say the sequences are often inaccurate, conflate achievements with skills, and omit real prerequisite relationships or safety nuances. Commenters suggest treating them as collaborative, evolving “achievement trackers” rather than true curricula, with domain experts refining the content and structure over time.
Concept & Intent
- Project offers visual “maker skill trees” across many domains (cooking, PCB design, coding, music, house building, etc.).
- Each hex tile is a discrete activity/achievement; users can fill them in to track experience and spot gaps.
- Many readers interpret them as motivational “bingo cards” or achievement charts rather than strict curricula.
Reception & Naming
- Idea and visual format get strong praise: seen as inspiring, especially for beginners who “don’t know what they don’t know.”
- Major critique: they are not real “trees” (no explicit prerequisites or dependency graph); more like vertical difficulty stacks.
- Several suggest alternative names like “skill trackers,” “skill stacks,” or “achievements” to reduce expectations set by “skill tree.”
- Some suspect AI generation due to odd ordering; README now states they were human-created, sometimes with experts, and that renaming is being considered.
Structure & Pedagogy
- Many complain the ordering of “basic” vs “advanced” is often wrong or arbitrary across domains.
- Critique that tasks are breadth-focused “bucket lists,” risking mile-wide, inch-deep learning.
- Others argue even flawed maps help beginners form mental models and identify next projects.
- Suggestions: use formal frameworks (e.g., ONET-style structures), JSON/markdown data with auto-layout, true branching paths, and better weighting (some tiles are vastly more work than others).
Domain-Specific Feedback
- House building: too focused on feasibility/planning; underplays deep sub-skills (concrete, tiling, wiring, code knowledge).
- Cooking: basic/advanced axis is off (e.g., popcorn and fresh garlic placed oddly); should be organized by foundational techniques leading to complex dishes. Extra skills suggested (mother sauces, roasting, fish, game).
- Sushi: debate over safety; consensus that home sushi is fine if using appropriate fish, but wild raw catch is risky.
- PCB design and game dev: order of tools and topics criticized as unrealistic or tool-collecting rather than goal-driven.
- Coding/music/cocktails: examples where tasks seem out of sequence or mislabeled in difficulty.
DIY, Maker Culture & Safety
- Debate over the term “maker” vs DIY/handyman; some see “maker movement” as over-commercialized, others as a useful label for fabricators and multi-disciplinary creators.
- Discussion of permits and inspections for DIY work: some emphasize how supportive and safety-enhancing permit offices can be.
- Several note many listed domains (e.g., jewelry) are actually families of distinct crafts.
Collaboration & Community Dynamics
- Project is open source; contributors are invited to refine trees and can even earn stickers.
- Some push back on harsh negativity, arguing for constructive criticism and collaboration rather than dismissal.
- Others defend critical scrutiny as part of Hacker News culture but agree tone sometimes becomes unhelpfully harsh.