Both skills can be acquired from practice, try to build a complicated system that satisfies some personal itch and you should get a good feel on how to fit the pieces together.
Something I have found is that with learning algorithms a sideways approach is sometimes better if you find yourself struggling.
I initially had some trouble visualizing the process of algorithm development if I simply followed a book and did exercises (self-taught), so I would pick a complicated looking algorithm and just read about it, then think about it for a while, and try to find somewhere it had been used in code and how it solved some problem.
After a while I would go back to the book and it would sink in and I was able to better understand the mathematical model and intuition. Several such algorithms later and I am able to pick up new algorithms relatively quicker.
I am confused why google is repeatedly being included in this list. From what I read in the newspapers the (perceived) problem was that posts on facebook are promoting enmity between religious organizations. Setting aside the validity of this claim, what does google have to do with this problem ?
I am an Indian and I used to think that one safeguard that we have against state sponsored censorship is that there are many companies outsourcing work to India, however I have recently realized that the outsourcing situation is more or less the same in China and they censor the web without qualms.
