I was always eager to learn new things. First of all - it is just fun to know things! And from a developers perspective learning new stuff enlarges your horizons...
Recently I've accidently stumbled on that question at the programmers.stackexchange. I thought about adding my answer-opinion there but then realized that it can take a while (I mean phrasing of it). So I've decided to add a blog post about my approach :)
As a developer you have to learn new tricks almost every day. Every task means that you have to solve a problem, if that problem is not trivial then there is more than one possible solutions. Every of those solutions are better than others :)
But getting back to the question about learning things. Right now I am learning MongoDB + Python with a MongoDB courses and a Unity3d by myself. Both of those thing are completely optional for me, I just want to know more. Maybe I will use them later...
Interesting part about this is that I am learning them differently. For mongoDB I am watching online courses and for Unity I am playing all by myself. Probably, first approach is a bit more optimal because it was created by professionals; it is much easier to follow their way then reinventing the bicycle!
But for me the main part of the education is an independent study! Even with those courses I am trying to finish my homework before watching corresponding lessons. Just to make sure that I am able to do such things :) Reading documentation and searching for answers are the main skills of a professional. Yes, the true professional knows a lot, but no one can know everything!
So, overall, watching tutorials are ok to get an general impression about something or to find a solution for a specific task. But I would use them only occasionally. Because for now I am able to try solving problems with my existing experience. This, however, does not mean that I am against tutorials. I am using them as well. my schema is following: try something by myself and only then check the internet. I am checking external sources in both situations when i have successfully solved something or stuck.
For me especially nice to find out that I`ve done something the same way as a recognized professional or even better :)
To sum all up.
If it is something completely new for me, then I will try to find a "general-impression" tutorial;
If I've worked with a given technology or it's stack then I will try to do something by myself and only after it will check the external sources. If they are better then my result I am happy to learn from them!
Recently I've accidently stumbled on that question at the programmers.stackexchange. I thought about adding my answer-opinion there but then realized that it can take a while (I mean phrasing of it). So I've decided to add a blog post about my approach :)
As a developer you have to learn new tricks almost every day. Every task means that you have to solve a problem, if that problem is not trivial then there is more than one possible solutions. Every of those solutions are better than others :)
But getting back to the question about learning things. Right now I am learning MongoDB + Python with a MongoDB courses and a Unity3d by myself. Both of those thing are completely optional for me, I just want to know more. Maybe I will use them later...
Interesting part about this is that I am learning them differently. For mongoDB I am watching online courses and for Unity I am playing all by myself. Probably, first approach is a bit more optimal because it was created by professionals; it is much easier to follow their way then reinventing the bicycle!
But for me the main part of the education is an independent study! Even with those courses I am trying to finish my homework before watching corresponding lessons. Just to make sure that I am able to do such things :) Reading documentation and searching for answers are the main skills of a professional. Yes, the true professional knows a lot, but no one can know everything!
So, overall, watching tutorials are ok to get an general impression about something or to find a solution for a specific task. But I would use them only occasionally. Because for now I am able to try solving problems with my existing experience. This, however, does not mean that I am against tutorials. I am using them as well. my schema is following: try something by myself and only then check the internet. I am checking external sources in both situations when i have successfully solved something or stuck.
For me especially nice to find out that I`ve done something the same way as a recognized professional or even better :)
To sum all up.
If it is something completely new for me, then I will try to find a "general-impression" tutorial;
If I've worked with a given technology or it's stack then I will try to do something by myself and only after it will check the external sources. If they are better then my result I am happy to learn from them!
