How To Learn New Things & Technologies

00:00:00: Do you know one thing that never stops and that you always have to do throughout your

00:00:06: entire life?

00:00:07: I think you don't mean going to the toilet.

00:00:09: So no, you probably mean learning that you need to keep on learning.

00:00:15: You need to.

00:00:16: And for people like me who had times back at school where learning wasn't their main

00:00:24: source of pleasure, let's say that way.

00:00:27: This was hard to understand, but when you get a bit older, you realize that learning

00:00:33: in your private life, in your daily life, but also on the job never stops, right?

00:00:38: And this brings us to the question of this podcast.

00:00:41: How do you actually learn?

00:00:43: How do we learn?

00:00:44: And what's the best way to keep yourself kind of motivated to learn new things?

00:00:49: Because learning can be hard.

00:00:50: So you want to learn in a way that suits your personality, I guess.

00:00:55: There is not one way, one perfect way to learn, but we want to dive a bit into our ways to

00:01:00: learn new things.

00:01:01: Let's say a new programming language comes up, for example, something totally new.

00:01:06: How would you approach that?

00:01:07: How would you start?

00:01:09: Yeah.

00:01:10: So if it's brand new, it's actually a special case because then there wouldn't be a lot

00:01:14: of resources on it.

00:01:15: Indeed.

00:01:16: Yeah.

00:01:17: In that case, I would have to go with the official documentation and official examples,

00:01:23: which in my case wouldn't be a big problem because that's the main source I use for learning

00:01:29: programming languages or libraries in general.

00:01:32: I tend to use their official documentations and examples and yeah.

00:01:38: And sorry for interrupting, but I wanted to make that point because back when this whole

00:01:43: thing here started, back with Angular, Angular 2, I guess this was the case, right?

00:01:49: There weren't many resources available, so you had to learn it with the official documentation.

00:01:53: It's true.

00:01:54: I'm not 100% sure, but I think there maybe wasn't even an official documentation back

00:02:00: then because I got started when it was still in beta or even alpha.

00:02:05: I'm not 100% sure.

00:02:06: So I had to – I know that I learned it by watching conference talks, by diving into

00:02:12: their GitHub source code and some examples I could find here and there.

00:02:18: So that's how I learned that back then and if there would have been an official documentation

00:02:24: or maybe there was, I would have used that or I did use that if it was available.

00:02:30: So yeah, it is one of the things I still use nowadays even if there are more resources

00:02:37: available, but of course, it's not necessarily the right way for everyone and it's also

00:02:44: not the only resource or it's not the only kind of resource I use because of course,

00:02:49: we also have tutorials on YouTube, we have paid courses, we have books, we have blog

00:02:55: posts and examples by other people on the internet.

00:02:59: So we have many sources and I think it's really important to A, find out which source

00:03:06: works best for you, but B, to also not get stuck with one source only, but instead you

00:03:12: can use different sources for different parts of the learning journey.

00:03:18: For example, a paid course or a complete course in general, no matter if it's paid or free,

00:03:23: can be great if you have pretty much no idea about a topic because it then gives you a

00:03:29: guided path to go through and it takes away that complexity of having to find out what

00:03:35: you need to learn in the first place because the course tells you because that can be a

00:03:41: problem if you're getting started with something and you don't even know which parts make up

00:03:45: that something you want to learn.

00:03:47: So that's something where a course can help you.

00:03:50: If you have a more focused niche problem, if you're struggling with a specific feature

00:03:55: or you know you want to learn about a specific feature of a language or library or whatever,

00:04:00: then the official docs or some dedicated blog post or a short YouTube tutorial that focuses

00:04:06: on that problem might be more useful.

00:04:09: So I guess that's how I generally approach that.

00:04:12: I think I do it a bit different.

00:04:14: I also use different resources or sources, but if I have a brand new topic, a brand new

00:04:20: topic to me, so a topic where we have resources available already, I typically watch a video

00:04:27: for example, YouTube video, but a quick one, just giving me an idea about this product,

00:04:32: about this technology.

00:04:34: Then I tend to use also the official docs because the docs typically contain all information

00:04:39: you need to work with that thing.

00:04:41: Let's take Git for example because we all use Git, but we have a course on Git.

00:04:45: So for such a course, you have to dive deeper, right?

00:04:48: You have to dive into the things you don't use on a daily basis.

00:04:51: So you go into these official docs and at least I have the point where I don't understand

00:04:57: something because something is not described the way I understand it, let's say like this.

00:05:03: Then I tend to Google that specific problem I have, find blog posts, maybe also video,

00:05:08: but typically these are blog posts because I want to have this in a written form.

00:05:12: And then I use or then I apply that command in this case, which might result in an error

00:05:18: or a problem.

00:05:19: Then I can reproduce this and then I can dive deeper.

00:05:23: You know what I mean?

00:05:24: So it's kind of an iterative process to test something, see it doesn't work, Google it,

00:05:29: fix it, understand it.

00:05:31: And with that, I'm able to gain the knowledge relatively quickly, so to say, because I really

00:05:39: tackle the problems because it's easy to understand the basics of something, but the part where

00:05:44: it becomes a bit harder, this is the one you have to overcome.

00:05:48: And to overcome it, you have to understand it.

00:05:50: And for me, a big course wouldn't be the solution for this specific problem when I learn something.

00:05:57: And I think these are two super important points, that it's an iterative process and

00:06:02: that you have to do something, that you have to build something or apply your knowledge

00:06:07: because I think a danger when learning something new is that you – and we had a podcast episode

00:06:13: about escaping tutorial hell, which kind of is the same topic here regarding this point.

00:06:19: But there is that danger that you get stuck in the learning process and you keep on reading

00:06:24: more and more tutorials or watching more and more videos, but you always have that

00:06:30: feeling of, yeah, I need to learn more, I need to get a better understanding before

00:06:34: I can use it.

00:06:35: And it's actually the opposite, at least for me, and I think for most people, that

00:06:40: you – as you said, that you have to apply that knowledge, that you have to apply it

00:06:45: because then you will definitely encounter new problems, which you didn't anticipate

00:06:51: or which you didn't see coming.

00:06:53: But by facing those problems and by finding solutions, by understanding what caused those

00:06:59: problems, you're making progress and you're getting better and therefore, as you said,

00:07:04: it's this iterative process where you start, you learn something, you try something, you

00:07:08: learn more and so on and you dive deeper and deeper and that's exactly how I learn as

00:07:12: well.

00:07:13: And I also have an example for that.

00:07:15: When did Flutter come out?

00:07:17: 18, 19?

00:07:19: I don't remember exactly.

00:07:20: So I think the stable version, I think, was released back in 18.

00:07:26: 18, something like that, right.

00:07:28: And it was new, right?

00:07:29: Yeah.

00:07:29: And you learned it and the way you learned it and you prepared the course, it was a combination

00:07:34: because we wanted to have a course on that topic because our job is to create video courses

00:07:39: on mainly web development or development topics, in that case, mobile app development.

00:07:46: So we had to be quick to create the course, but at the same time, you had to understand

00:07:51: all the details for this new technology.

00:07:54: So what you basically did, I guess, if I remember correctly, you read the docs, you played around

00:08:00: with Flutter, you used your previous knowledge you had from other programming languages,

00:08:05: you built the course projects and whilst building these projects, you saw problems that you

00:08:09: solved.

00:08:10: So again, this process was a perfect example of how you learn, for example, new things

00:08:15: because it took some time, to be honest, it wasn't a quick process because it was new,

00:08:20: but still by reading the docs, creating projects and specifically based on that projects, creating

00:08:28: a course, teaching all these important concepts, you were able to learn that quite fast still

00:08:34: and in a lot of detail.

00:08:36: And that was a very challenging learning path, I guess, back then.

00:08:39: Of course, it helped that Flutter is in some aspects similar to something like React, you

00:08:47: work with components, you manage state.

00:08:49: So I was able to leverage that existing knowledge.

00:08:53: But yeah, it is exactly how you said it.

00:08:56: I learned it back then with official docs and by building demo projects.

00:09:02: And I still do that up to this day.

00:09:04: If I learn something new, I build a lot of demo projects and apply that knowledge I got

00:09:11: from the docs, for example, to learn that library language, whatever it is.

00:09:16: Now, as I said, I also do sometimes work with videos or courses, though, especially if I

00:09:27: want to get a quick overview or if a topic is brand new to me and I don't want to manually

00:09:34: find out which aspects I have to learn.

00:09:38: Or if I'm in an environment where I want or have to do some passive learning, like theoretically,

00:09:46: if you're on a flight or something like that, following along whilst building stuff might

00:09:50: not be too convenient if you have limited space and so on.

00:09:55: And it might be more convenient to watch a course there.

00:09:58: So that's something you can do.

00:10:00: It might not be what you're doing on a long flight that you have to spend every minute

00:10:05: on learning.

00:10:06: But if you are in such an environment, that could be something where such more passive

00:10:12: instruments shine.

00:10:14: Still, we can discuss all these different ways to learn, but the idea or the imagination

00:10:22: that it flies to your mind, you know what I mean, that it's suddenly there, isn't true.

00:10:27: It's always something that you have to do, you have to commit to, and you have to kind

00:10:30: of embrace this learning process to motivate yourself, right?

00:10:34: Because to be honest, reading the docs of some programming language, of course, is not

00:10:38: the most exciting thing, but otherwise you can't understand it, right?

00:10:41: So you have to be motivated to learn something.

00:10:44: And that's something with all this advice we can give.

00:10:48: If you just want to spend five minutes on something, you won't learn it.

00:10:51: That's not possible.

00:10:53: Yeah.

00:10:53: But I have to say, it is actually fun for me if I decide to learn a new language and

00:11:00: I see the progress I'm making.

00:11:03: I'm able to build something which I wasn't able to build five minutes ago.

00:11:06: Actually, that is really motivating and fun to me.

00:11:10: It's not something I have to do and I don't like.

00:11:13: I actually do like it quite a bit, I have to say.

00:11:16: Although you are a very fast learner, because I guess I can judge that, and as we have this

00:11:22: instant gratification society now, you know what I mean?

00:11:25: It's difficult because sometimes it can take an hour, two hours, two days, a week until

00:11:29: you get, until you make that progress.

00:11:32: And this point is a difficult one, I guess.

00:11:34: And it gets lower the deeper you dive into something.

00:11:38: Like you have some quick success events relatively early on when you get started.

00:11:44: I mean, setting something up and writing a first line of code that does something, that's

00:11:49: a quick win.

00:11:50: But of course, the more complex the topics get, the harder it might be to wrap your head

00:11:56: around them and to really achieve the thing you wanted to achieve or build the thing you

00:12:00: wanted to build.

00:12:02: And yeah, definitely that can therefore then be a bit more frustrating.

00:12:06: And a little promotion here.

00:12:08: That's also the value our courses provide because we dig into these difficult topics

00:12:14: and for us, it's not an option to say, we don't care.

00:12:17: We have to understand these and teach these in a way that you students understand.

00:12:23: Yeah.

00:12:23: And that it's smooth and that you have like an even learning curve.

00:12:29: That's our goal, that we try to make sure that with our courses, you don't just get

00:12:34: that overview, but you then also get those step-by-step, bite-sized instructions, which

00:12:42: give you a lot of success events and a lot of knowledge and give you that feeling and

00:12:48: not just the feeling, but the actual knowledge that you're making good progress, that you're

00:12:52: learning something and not just the basics, but also the more advanced parts.

00:12:57: Absolutely.

00:12:57: Yeah.

00:12:57: So courses make that work a bit easier for students because we do this heavy lifting

00:13:04: sort of thing.

00:13:04: Exactly.

00:13:05: But the learning still is challenging, right?

00:13:08: So we can't take this away.

00:13:10: So if I quickly summarize what we talked about so far, I would say learning how I learn

00:13:15: means I get an overview of the topic, as I said, via a short video, dive into the docs,

00:13:22: try things, see if something goes wrong, Google this, read blog posts, articles, whatever,

00:13:28: try it again until I understood it, and then continue until I got the whole concept.

00:13:32: That's my quick take on learning actually.

00:13:36: I do use courses sometimes, yes, but I'm not, as I said, the guy watching a 30-hours

00:13:41: course.

00:13:41: That's not how I work.

00:13:43: Still, it's totally fine to do that because if you really intensively and actively watch

00:13:48: a 30-hours course, code along, this definitely makes life a lot easier.

00:13:54: Absolutely.

00:13:55: And it's really important to find out what works for you because just because something

00:14:00: works for us or is our preference, of course, does not mean that it's the best way of

00:14:05: learning something for everyone.

00:14:07: That's really something every person has to find out on their own to determine which

00:14:13: resources work best for them.

00:14:16: I mean, I sometimes, if I learn like a new library for JavaScript or something like this,

00:14:21: I dive into the source code on GitHub to understand how something works under the hood because

00:14:26: I'm interested in that and I want to understand how that works, but you don't need to do

00:14:31: that.

00:14:32: It's just something I like to do and which helps me, but that might not be necessary

00:14:36: for other people.

00:14:38: And therefore, it's really important to find out what best works for you.

00:14:42: I guess for you, it's not doing something because you read that you have to do it that

00:14:47: way.

00:14:48: As you said, you really want to understand why I do it that way, right?

00:14:52: Because it's different.

00:14:53: You read something, okay, if you want to create a component, do it like this, for example,

00:14:57: but you understand how components really work, right?

00:15:00: Yeah.

00:15:01: So it's that under the hood thing that you're interested in.

00:15:04: I'm interested in that and of course, I'm also convinced that it helps with the course

00:15:09: creation because whilst I sometimes get feedback that some people don't care about the under

00:15:15: the hood part, I find it important to at least give a rough summary of how something works

00:15:21: so that you can understand why you're doing it like this because otherwise, if you don't

00:15:26: have that understanding, you're just learning about a bunch of solutions and you might be

00:15:32: able to apply them, but if you're then facing a problem you've never faced before, you might

00:15:37: be lost.

00:15:38: If you, on the other hand, understand why exactly you're using a certain solution in

00:15:43: a certain scenario, you might also be able to come up with solutions to problems you

00:15:47: haven't faced before and that's the goal with my courses and therefore, I have to understand

00:15:53: how things work under the hood.

00:15:55: It's the difference between a blueprint and understanding a topic, right?

00:15:59: Because a blueprint only works for this specific scenario, but if you come to a more complex

00:16:03: problem, then you have to dive deeper and if you don't have that knowledge, then you

00:16:08: have a problem.

00:16:08: Exactly.

00:16:09: Exactly.

00:16:10: And yeah, I guess that's therefore how I learn things and how I try to help others learn

00:16:20: with help of the courses I and we create.

00:16:23: Yeah, and I guess there is no specific secret behind that.

00:16:27: That's also something we can definitely say.

00:16:29: There is no shortcut to this whole learning thing.

00:16:32: I guess what I said at the beginning that you come to a point in life where you see

00:16:36: that you will have to learn your whole life, but this isn't something bad.

00:16:41: That's an important conclusion here.

00:16:43: Learning is good because it keeps your brain alive, I would say.

00:16:48: You are capable of doing things and as you said, it's also a good feeling to understand

00:16:53: something, to learn something new, right?

00:16:56: And if we keep that in mind and have our own learning techniques, then learning isn't that

00:17:01: bad actually.

00:17:02: It's a good thing.

00:17:03: Yeah.

00:17:03: And I would say that if you really hate learning, you might be learning the wrong things because

00:17:09: I think if you're learning something where you at least have a slight interest for, it

00:17:16: shouldn't be that horrible.

00:17:17: I understand that it can be overwhelming at times because it might feel like a huge mountain

00:17:23: of knowledge you need to gain, but then it's important to keep in mind, you don't need

00:17:27: to climb that mountain on one day.

00:17:29: You might not even need all that knowledge you think you need.

00:17:32: Get started with small steps, with small problems and then figure out the way as you go.

00:17:38: So really, getting overwhelmed is easy nowadays because there is so much to learn and so many

00:17:43: resources and therefore it's important to set smaller goals and kind of, as I said,

00:17:49: figure out the way along the way.

00:17:51: But if you still hate it, it might be the wrong thing you're learning and if you have

00:17:55: to learn it for a job, it might even be the wrong job.

00:17:58: Of course, not always easy to switch the job and sometimes you just have to do something

00:18:03: you don't like, but at least if it's something you do in your free time away from the job,

00:18:10: I think it should be something you do enjoy to some extent at least.

00:18:14: And this getting overwhelmed thing is also an important one because the worst thing that

00:18:18: can happen, no matter if you want to learn something or have to learn something, not

00:18:24: even getting started because you're overwhelmed is the worst outcome because if you're overwhelmed

00:18:29: and say, okay, let's take this back three steps, I start with the basics, but at least

00:18:33: you start.

00:18:34: But if you quit from the beginning, then you will never learn it, right?

00:18:38: So this is also something you have to be aware of.

00:18:41: As I said, it's easy nowadays, we have so many inputs, so many resources, but getting

00:18:46: started with a clear step-by-step approach always helps to find your way through this

00:18:51: whole forest, whatever you want to call it, you have to navigate through.

00:18:55: Yeah, absolutely.

00:18:56: Yeah.

00:18:56: Therefore, I guess that's how we learn things and how we tackle problems or try to dive

00:19:04: into new technologies and so on.

00:19:06: And as always, we're, of course, interested in learning what your opinion on that is and

00:19:12: how you learn new things.

00:19:13: But I'm pretty sure that most of our people listening to this podcast have a big advantage

00:19:18: when learning new things.

00:19:20: Yeah.

00:19:20: Because they have our courses.

00:19:21: Indeed.

00:19:21: So as you know, on academy.com, of course, we have these courses, you know about that,

00:19:28: but still we hope that this podcast also helped you to get an insight how we learn and that

00:19:33: we also have to learn things the way you are, well, except using our courses doesn't

00:19:37: make sense for us, but this is our take on how to learn new things.

00:19:42: Yeah.

00:19:42: See you in the next episode, hopefully.

00:19:44: Bye.