How to learn anything?

Foreword

Literally the other day, the article “How to Learn Anything: The Sonmez 10-Step System” was published on Medium, and I liked it, because this is the first place where they collected the best tips regarding the learning process. The original article is, of course, in English, but I decided that I would not do a full translation of it, but I would highlight only the most important thing, in my opinion.

Introduction

The IT sphere is developing by leaps and bounds: every day there are new libraries, frameworks, articles, training videos, reports, etc., and with it the requirements for IT specialists are growing. In general, those who have more or less experience already know that it is necessary to study constantly, otherwise you will be left behind. However, there is a question: "How to learn to learn?"

If you are a person who is concerned about this issue, then I ask you to love and favor the Sonmez system.

The Sonmeza system is a special training system proposed in the book The Path of a Programmer, by John Sonmez , which will allow you to study anything you like and most importantly do it effectively.

The whole system consists of 10 steps, divided into two phases: phase 1 (1-6) and phase 2 (7-10). And in order to better understand how it works, you should start from the end.

Phase II: Training

Books on programming give theory, verbal information, but non-verbal information also exists, namely implicit knowledge . And to get this implicit knowledge, practice is needed. Thanks to the practice, you get an experience that does not allow you to understand how what you are learning works, but allows you to feel how it works.

Practice must precede theory.

Step 7 and 8

We learn by acting, so it is very important to get the minimum that will allow you to do at least something. For example, you started studying HTML, found out what tags are and how they work. Once you get this minimum about tags, you should immediately try to apply this knowledge.

In general, this is the basic principle of steps 7 and 8: "As soon as possible."

Step 7 : Get the minimum that will allow you to take action.

Step 8 : Play with this minimum, feel it from all sides, not even understanding how everything works.

Step 9

This step is to search for answers to the questions that most likely appeared in the two previous steps. Try to find more information to do not just something, but something useful.

Step 10

The last step in the whole system is to consolidate the knowledge gained. And the best way to learn something yourself is to teach someone else, if to speak roughly. Attempts to play the role of explanatory, teachers show how you have consolidated the knowledge gained and where there are gaps in this very knowledge.

Phase I: Research

This phase, as is already clear from the title, is fully devoted to the collection and analysis of information related to the subject of study, but it is also divided into steps:

Step 1 : Make the big picture.

Step 2 : Determine the boundaries of the subject matter. For example, it will be too difficult to study web development, because web development is a broad concept, but HTML, CSS or JavaScript as areas of study have clear boundaries.

Step 3 : Determine what is success for you. For example, the success in learning HTML will be the ability to impose as simple as possible pages, but observing the semantics.

Step 4 : Find resources. Collect everything related to your subject: articles, books, forums, videos, etc.

Step 5 : Create a training plan.

Step 6 : Following the plan, filter all the resources from step 4 and select only those that will help you.

Conclusion

It should be understood that this system was created by man, and everything that was created by man is not perfect, so there is a chance that the above tips will not help or dislike you, but nevertheless you will not be aware of them.