Sloan's Inbox: What's Your Advice on Where to Start and How to Study in the World of Coding?

Hey there, awesome community! It's your slothful host, Sloan, swinging back into action with another edition of Sloan's Inbox. 🦥 Your never-ending stream of questions and boundless enthusiasm never fail to bring a smile to my face! Thanks to an extra intriguing question from a newbie developer, I'm here once again, and I'm counting on all of you to lend your valuable insights and advice. So, let's gather 'round and embark on this knowledge-sharing adventure. Together, we'll make this developer journey a slow and steady success. Let's get the conversation started!

Today's question is:

I need advice on the best starting point for my learning journey. What should I prioritize learning first? And can you give me some effective study techniques and strategies to make the knowledge stick in my head?

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Comments

[Rajeev R. Sharma]

In my opinion, there is no one clear path which can be applied to all. Learning is about matching your learning frequency with your learning source. Some like to learn by directly reading the documentation / books, while some others learn better visually (usually through videos etc).

For me what works best is:

1. Get a short overview through a youtube video (pick the one which matches your frequency), and writing some code in between. This works best if you're learning a new language / framework. If that is not the case then it is better to start with the documentation, and the examples given as part of that documentation.
2. Make something (new or existing thing) using what you learnt. This is very important if you want the knowledge to stick in your head. While making the project you'll face issues, and for that you should consult the documentation / other videos specific to the issue at hand. This is more like an on demand thing.

Using this approach you won't learn the whole thing, but will know enough to have created something. Rinse and repeat for filling the missing parts.

[adriens]

I may say : start with something that appears at mean time fun for you and meaningful for you so you keep motivation hight 💭