This week I spent mostly recovering for a mysterious bug that knocked me out, but I did find time to catch up on reading and complete some laptop configuration stuff. I’m slowly returning to my JavaScript refresher activities. I’ve actually managed to sort through some of my endless FireFox bookmarks to filter out some of the things that may be useful at some point but I likely can Google when that time comes. This way, my bookmarks backlog is focused on my 2019 goals and not just an endless list of stuff I’ve collected.
One thing I want to focus on this year is getting more involved in the local tech community and reading the quote below from this article about navigating a career switch into tech reminded me of the why behind that desire.
“Teaching someone else what you have been learning about reinforces that knowledge by forcing you to break concepts down into chunks and take questions from who are explaining it to.”
This week’s roundup of links/resources is all (well mostly all) about learning!
- On how to learn: So I read this while on vacation and I have to confess I enjoy reading about how different people learn. I’ll definitely try to devote time to reading some of the books referenced by Sarah Drasner. Since I’ve been doing a JS refresher since mid-February, focusing on the fundamentals of the language, syntax, and refamiliarizing myself with how arrays and objects works, I’m noticing a few things about how I learn.
- I definitely enjoy videos because it requires me not just to watch but pull out my text editor, which makes for a slower learning process but in the end I will learn and commit things to my memory better by doing. The only con is that I don’t have a lot of screen space so trying to fit my text editor, browser(s), and the video into my small 13-14 inch screen and/or toggling between them is difficult.
- Another thing I’m noticing is that since I have some knowledge of the concepts, on this second/third/fourth go with the material, I’m picking up on things that I would not have been able to understand before because I didn’t have the same depth of information on the concept. Basically, I have to learn in layers and get out of my own way when doing that. I will never know everything on the first go of learning but I will definitely find my way to learning more once I step away and return and give myself a chance to have that “AHA” moment.
- Last year I decided I wanted to become fluent in the Igbo language so I read up on how to learn a new language quickly. Programming languages probably fall under the linguistics umbrella so I’m sure there is a lot to learn and apply from both experiences. Fortunately there are lots of opportunities for me to practice JavaScript and Python, as for Igbo… not so much but I’m open to applying the same learning principles. A few other resources I’ve found:
- Learning how to prioritize topics while learning: Came across this article because the title spoke to my highly organized nature. I keep lots of lists and backlogs and as I’ve written here before, I go down the deepest rabbitholes while learning and that is a huge distraction sometimes when I’m trying to build something. I have all types of other backlogs, emails, to-dos, and this article outlines a strategy for when to put something on a backlog and a framework for categorizing different types of backlog topics, and how to tackle them when you’re able to.
- JavaScript Callback functions: I never stop needing to gain more clarification on callback functions, the what, why, and how it works. When reading code, sometimes it is easy to follow the callback when the code is verbose. When arrow functions are used or it is a built-in method, that still trips me up a lot, so I’m always reading up on it and hoping I can get it to stick in my memory. This is also in my learning backlog for additional practice.