Becoming A Better Learner As A Developer

The development ecosystem is growing rapidly with new stuff being deprecated with every paragraph I write. So as a developer how can you learn things more efficiently, and make the process faster? This article is for you.

Disclaimer:

This article is just a simple guideline of steps to follow, not the holy grail of learning. If you're currently comfortable with your learning pattern then that's okay.

1. Study Don't Read

What do I mean?

Reading is the act of getting information from something.

Studying is devoting time and attention to gaining knowledge about something.

What is the difference?

While reading helps you know that something can be done, studying helps you know how to actually do it. What differentiates developers is not knowing how something can be done but how to actually do it yourself and go as far as explain it to others.

What are the benefits?

By studying you'll be in a better position to not only understand how something works but also tweak it to suit your needs and wants.

Okay so I want to start studying, where do I begin?

2. Docs -> Tutorial

What do I mean?

Docs are the official language/framework implementation.

Tutorials are either articles/videos of a developer's implementation.

What's the difference?

Docs mostly come from those actually developing the language/framework, while tutorials can come from a developer who has studied the docs, was able to make their own implementation and are thus sharing their process to the masses.

What are the benefits?

While docs are important cause they feature the official implementation, they sometimes can be very abstract and target those who're already familiar with the language or framework. Tutorials come to the rescue, where they try to simplify the implementation and feature a full application from start to finish.

What should I keep in mind?

Always read the official documentation first and try to piece the little you can together. Sometimes a tutorial may skip important details or caveats while showing their implementation, so you better be careful!

I've already studied the material from the docs and made sure to follow up with a very detailed tutorial, what next?

3. Practice! Practice! Practice!

Why do developers have many unfinished side projects and why do these projects act to their advantage? (I'll follow this up with another article) That's cause of practice, practice, practice.

What do I mean?

If you followed step one and two you now have the knowledge to try it out on your own. Practice is the final process of ensuring you know what is needed and it sticks.

What are the benefits?

When you do it yourself the knowledge not only sticks but also the failures you experience in the process help you learn even better.

What should I keep in mind?

Every implementation will be different and you'll always run into bugs, when that happens don't give up or get discouraged. Take your time to fix each error at a time and in the end you'll reap the rewards.

That's it my minimalists, use these three steps and see your development skills grow (but not overnight, be realistic). I hope you found this article insightful. Thanks for reading. Please like/share so that it reaches others as well.

In your opinion, how can we become better learners?