Two rules for learning new things
I've primarily focused on full-stack web engineering for most of my career, encompassing operations, databases, APIs, and a plethora of front-end frameworks. This focus has led me to neglect the entire native mobile world. However, for one of my clients, a native app is a crucial part of their product, making it imperative to quickly get up to speed.
When I embark on learning a new technology, I typically seek out tutorials that appear well-written. Determining what constitutes "well-written" is highly subjective, but with over 15 years of experience reading technical content online, I've developed an instinct for it.
My approach to extracting the most value from tutorials or step-by-step instructions is straightforward: I refrain from copying and pasting, and I only follow instructions when I understand the underlying reasons.
These two rules serve multiple purposes. Firstly, they keep my mind actively engaged. Copy-pasting only teaches you how to execute keyboard shortcuts, whereas manually typing out code or bash commands forces you to move deliberately between your code editor and the instructions. This deliberate pace allows me to consider what I'm doing and internalize the steps.
Secondly, if there's something I don't comprehend or feel uncertain about, I invest the time to research it until I gain confidence in understanding its purpose. For example, when faced with the Xcode wizard for creating a new project, which presents a range of options, I sought to understand the differences and the purpose of each. In the process, I discovered that Apple's documentation differs from what I'm accustomed to. Consequently, I dedicated several hours to comprehending CoreData, as it was a requirement of the wizard.
These two simple rules enable me to simultaneously broaden my knowledge and deepen my understanding. Occasionally, they lead me on detours that may seem unnecessary, but in the long run, they tend to pay off.