> Self-taught does not mean you need to invent everything from first principles.
It does imply lack of access to formal resources, though. Learning from a textbook or an educationally-minded Youtube channel is no more self-taught than sitting through a lecture in college.
It is ultimately a distinction without a difference. Historically, when information was siloed, there was a difference. Self-taught meant something when you couldn't look something up on a whim. But those days are long behind us.
Well... Self-taught means that the person learned by their own initiative, "without formal instruction or training".
Going to the library or buying and reading books is not formal instruction, and neither is watching Videos. There is no one to guide, help, or check on progress.
I could watch the entire MIT Intro to Algorithms Course on YouTube and still be self-taught, because watching that does not make me an MIT Student and it does not make Dr. Jason Ku my instructor.
It does imply lack of access to formal resources, though. Learning from a textbook or an educationally-minded Youtube channel is no more self-taught than sitting through a lecture in college.
It is ultimately a distinction without a difference. Historically, when information was siloed, there was a difference. Self-taught meant something when you couldn't look something up on a whim. But those days are long behind us.