What is the right way to study in IT-sphere

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Let’s start with self-study. The good thing is that today on the Internet there is a huge amount of free information of very good quality. Sometimes the quality is even better than on paid courses.

So, there is a lot of information, it is free, but, unfortunately, not everyone can use it effectively. In my time I had to collect everything bit by bit. I studied very poorly and I still get rid of negative habits. So let’s learn how to learn.

Six common mistakes in learning

But first, let’s look at six common learning mistakes that keep us from reaching our goal:

The first is jumping the gun: being unsure of your choices. How does this usually happen? We decide to study, say, website layout.
The second mistake is rushing. We always want everything at once. “And watch the whole course in a week and go to work!” – many of us think. In the end, the knowledge is very superficial and raw. And when it comes to real practice – it turns out that we know, but can not do anything
The third mistake is to have too much knowledge at once. Strangely enough, but sometimes we try to memorize too much. More than it is necessary to begin to work. Like, we want to understand everything thoroughly. And this is great, but a large amount of information on the immature brain can have the opposite effect, and even completely discourage learning.
The fourth mistake is not so obvious. It occurs when we learn how to do something specific before we have mastered the technology itself. We blindly repeat that we don’t understand how things work from the inside. As a result, we only know how to do certain things, but we have a very poor grasp of the technology and can’t do anything new, out-of-the-box.
And of course, we can be overcome by laziness, procrastination, inability to organize the process. And a lot of other unintelligible abstruse words. As a result, we hang up a tracksuit on the trainer and lie down on the couch. One more word I would add to this list is fear. “I won’t make it, there’s a lot of competition out there, what if I can’t fulfill the order,” etc. Yes, it is these kinds of thoughts caused by fear that are also our mistake and prevent us from getting the results we want.
Also, by using exactly free content, many of us make another gross mistake. It is neglecting and downplaying the importance of such content. In a word, not taking it seriously. We think if it’s free, then it’s bad, inaccurate, or not enough. We are used to it: for something worthwhile we will always be charged money.

So, if you realize you’re making these kinds of mistakes, don’t despair. I will now give specific tips that I think will help you avoid them.

Tips for choosing a major

Take the choice of major seriously. If you have trouble with the exact sciences, choose a creative field such as design or management. Or easy development, such as website layout. No need to chase ratings of programming languages, listening to the opinion of dubious neighbors. Need to do what you like and the easiest to give. Once you have mastered a simple specialty, if necessary, you can always get into something else, and it will be much easier. The key is to master the specialty well. Otherwise, it will be jumping, and will not lead to anything good.

Intensity (schedule) of training
And here we come seamlessly to the second problem, which is rushing. The reality is that it takes a certain amount of time to adequately study, even a relatively simple major. I say hello to all the “any programming language in three weeks” courses!

So how much time is needed? The exact figure depends on the individual student, some need more time, some need less time, we are all different and that’s great, but I have a specific plan, following which you can get at least approximate figures.

So, if we are self-studying, we have a great advantage of being able to form our own personal comfortable study schedule.

For example, a “twice a week” schedule. What does that mean? It means that twice a week you watch a new lesson, that is, you get new information.

The intensity of the class depends on many factors: your busyness with other things, your financial situation, the amount of time you can allocate to study, etc. If you feel that there is not enough time to absorb a topic, it is a good idea to switch to a slower pace.

It is important that there is no rush, that you look forward to each new lesson, a little tired of practicing the same thing, rather than piling new information on an immature foundation. Ideally, we move on only when there is a confident practical understanding of the current topic. Otherwise, our knowledge will collapse like a house of cards under the weight of new, larger topics.

What to do between lessons? Practice what you’ve learned!

Practice tips
During practice, go back to the theory: review lessons, reread articles, use cheat sheets and reference books.

During practice, work with small volumes. It’s always easier to get it right. And not only physically, but also mentally. You are not pressed by a large volume, not forced to speed up. Moreover, it’s unlikely that you will be able to do something large normally. This fact will hit your self-esteem and motivation. And we certainly don’t need that. Much better during the training to practice on small amounts, but do them well.

If we’re talking about layout, don’t layout whole layouts, attack individual blocks, practicing on them the current topic. Here’s an example from martial arts. Masters can stand still for a long time, practicing a single punch, bringing it to automatism.

During practice, experiment! In addition to explicit tasks, such as homework, work with non-existent tasks. Write the question “What if?” on a piece of paper, stick it on your monitor. And every time you work on a topic, ask yourself that question and experiment!

For example, you go through the pseudo-elements. You’ve used them to make a picture on the left. Don’t stop there. Put it on the right, on the bottom, on the top. Remove the property “display”, understand why it does not work. Remember that a pseudo-element is a line object, and a number of CSS properties don’t work for it by default, etc.

Turn the topic inside out. This is how the brain trains to solve non-standard problems, and the technology is learned at a deep level. Well, with a good grasp of technology, you can do anything!

Technology Points of Reference

It’s worth noting that every technology has basic themes, mastering which you can easily achieve success. I suggest that you identify these focal points and practice them particularly well.

In the case of layout this is line/block structure, positioning, structure building modules (flexbox and grid), adaptive layout and of course basic JavaScript.

You don’t have to learn all the tags and properties at once. It is important to get the base, but reinforced concrete, and then it will be possible to superimpose everything on it. Smooth and comfortable development.

How to fight laziness and fear

So what to do about laziness, procrastination, etc.? Well, to begin with we have to admit to ourselves that it is our laziness, and not look for reasons from the outside that treacherously prevent you from achieving success. Sometimes we blame our failures on family, friends, circumstances beyond our control, etc. Bullshit. Take it and do it.

That being said, you need to make arrangements with your family and friends ahead of time. Explain that you need time and peace to learn. But in the meantime, do not count crows, but study hard.

Concerning the fear: as soon as you understand that you are beginning to master the technology, as soon as you feel that you are looking at the task as Neo was looking at the matrix, that is not at all the way you were looking at it a month ago – then the fear will go by itself. After all, it’s the master’s job to be afraid, not the other way around.

I’ll add that the content should be taken seriously, even if you’re just given it as a gift. Treat it as if you paid money for it. There’s even a saying: nothing is more expensive than something that is free.

The main problem with self-study

The main problem with self-study, which still remains, is the lack of feedback on your development.

But there is a way out – it is consultation or mentoring by a certain expert in the field you are studying. As a rule, they will not be free, but in this way for a little money you can get information about the current state of your knowledge, get a review of your work, and so on.

There are also various communities and chats for communication and exchange of experience, where you can, being among the same guys, get at least some feedback.

How to choose a paid course

Of course, you can avoid most of the mistakes I mentioned earlier by purchasing a paid course. And this is great, but you need to figure out which of all the courses to choose. And you need to start by learning how to separate courses for the sake of business from training courses.
Courses – as a business – are very popular today. There are a lot of people who want to become super-programmers in three weeks and earn hundreds of millions a minute. Therefore, businessmen open different IT-schools, push into all sorts of intensive courses and so on. The teachers at these schools are guys with not always real experience and the ability to teach.