ALX SWE Student Queries Answered — Part 1
I have recently received a number of inquiries in my DMS regarding the ALX Software Engineering program, following the publication of my last article.
To benefit others who may have similar questions, I will be addressing some of the most relevant inquiries publicly in a series of posts.
This first post will address five questions from a student in Cohort 11, with the individual’s permission to make their queries public.
Question one:
How did you study effectively during the course of the program? What’s your process like? Currently, I take little to no notes, will that affect me?
There are different methods of study, and each of these methods applies differently to each person. What may work for me may not necessarily work for you.
I will therefore start by saying that you will need to figure out which study method works best for you.
You have been learning for some time now, so I guess you have a way of learning. If your current way isn’t working then you may have to change or adapt your current study method.
So, before I tell you about my specific ways of studying, take a moment to reflect on your own study habits. Ask yourself these questions:
- How have you been studying all these years?
- Is your current method of study really helping you?
- What is your biggest challenge with your studies?
- What type of study materials work best for you?
- Do you like learning by watching videos or by reading?
- What would you love to change about your current study process?
Armed with answers to the questions above, let’s delve into how I personally study and how my study method has been instrumental to my success in the program so far.
I personally study well by combining different kinds of resources (books, articles, documentation, and videos). But mostly, I use videos to get a general idea of or understanding of a particular concept before exploring other resources.
Because of this, I have a bookmark of my favorite YouTube channels. As such for any project I first search on these favorite channels to find related content.
If they don’t have one, then I start looking for new channels and anytime I find a good one, I add it to the list.
This strategy also applies to tutorial sites. I have a list of sites that I enjoy learning from. So, anytime that I search for something, I look out for any of those sites. I don’t think twice about clicking on them whenever I find any of them in the search results.
This means I spend as little time as possible accessing resources and spend the majority of the time learning.
I also put in a lot of time learning in general. Personally, I have trained myself to be able to learn well at any time of the day. So, any free time I have on my hands is dedicated to learning.
With the actual process of learning, I practice the concept of “learning by doing” and “learning by teaching”.
As soon as I start learning something, I want to know how I can practically use that concept. This leads to me asking a lot of questions in my mind, and I dedicate my extra study periods to finding answers to such questions.
Also, as soon as I get a basic understanding of a concept, I begin to think about how I am going to explain this to someone who doesn’t understand the concept.
If I am able to convince myself that the person will understand it based on how I explain it (sometimes I find myself talking loudly to myself in a bid of practicing how I am going to be teaching it to others), then it justifies my understanding. Otherwise, I will need to revisit the topic again.
I also learn through repetition. I usually go back to things I have previously learned and try to recall or explain them. If there is a break in my knowledge then I pick up what I am missing.
About note-taking, I am not very big on them though. But what I have come to realize is that sometimes I understood something in a certain way but because I didn’t write them down, I forget about them especially when I need them.
I, therefore, took a different approach to note-taking and that is to write blog posts about what I am learning. You can check out my technical blog to see samples of the articles I have written on things I was learning.
If you are not taking notes, it may not necessarily affect you but as I said earlier it depends on you and what works best for you.
The disadvantage that I sort to overcome by writing mine as blog posts is the fact that I mostly get the information or knowledge from multiple sources so I aggregate them into a single resource. This saves me time whenever I need to reference that content or knowledge.
Otherwise, I would have to go back and search through several resources to get the same information, which would be a waste of time.
Question two
How did you manage to get ahead of others? I’m blown away by the depth of knowledge you have for concepts (in reference to your YouTube video).
Thanks for your kind words, everything I do is just what everyone knows except that not everyone is willing to do it.
Putting in the work and practicing as much as possible. With some of the concepts that I teach on my YouTube channel, I had to spend several hours or days to understand the concept before I could deliver it the way I did.
It’s no magic. If I don’t learn it well, I can’t teach it and it is not as if I have some supernatural powers. I am just spending the time doing the actual learning (using the same process that I discussed earlier).
I mostly learn using multiple resources. For example, with a concept in C programming like “Static Libraries”, it was quite difficult for me to understand it at first, but after reading various blog posts and watching several videos, it became so clear and I was even amazed at how well I understood it when I taught it.
The other thing is that a lot of people do not put their knowledge to the test. By showing up and teaching others what I have learned, I am putting my knowledge to the test.
Whether I truly understand the concept or not will become apparent when I begin teaching it. Anytime I teach something, I realize the aspects that I lack some understanding of and I come back to polish that knowledge.
Also, because I have put myself in a position where a lot of people reach out to me for help, I can’t afford to not understand the things I am studying. This inspires me to learn more each day.
In summary, when others are reading a single blog post about the given concept, I may be reading about 5 different ones and additionally watching about 2 or more videos on the same topic.
By doing that, I get a lot of information about the concept and I am able to add value to others when I show up to teach it.
Question three
If there is one piece of advice you’d give to a student that just passed the first disqualifying stage, and unto the next stage, what would that be?
I may have a few. Congratulations on surviving the first 6 weeks in the ALX software engineering programming but this is just the beginning of doing hard things.
Start thinking about how the concepts you are learning applies to or will be applied in real-life situations. If you can get that understanding, it becomes a bit easier to use the concept.
Give yourself tasks to do outside what ALX has given you. It helps you apply the concepts that you learn. You can always check online for simple projects or tasks you can do with that concept. You can also brainstorm with your colleagues and come up with project ideas together and work on them.
The ALX program doesn’t get any easier so don’t expect it to. As you go forward, you are rather required to deliver a lot more within a shorter time period. Get used to it and start working on improving your speed and efficiency when dealing with your projects.
Question four
I have almost no friends in ALX SE program, what is the surest way to connect effectively with people?
Personally, I am an introvert, and making friends has never been one of my strongholds. I have, however, leveraged the concept of adding value to others to draw people to me. Hang on and let me explain this.
Do you see how you reached out to me when you realized that I can be of help?
That is the same way I get a lot of other people connecting with me. I cherish anyone who reaches out and I do my best to assist them whenever possible.
In your case here are a few suggestions that I can give you:
- I believe that there are groups (WhatsApp, Slack, telegram, etc) that you belong to and you have some of your colleagues in these same groups. Start by helping others whenever you can. You finished a task but someone else is struggling and they have posted a question in the group, just jump in and offer some help. Don’t be afraid to make a mistake (It is the number one reason why others wouldn’t want to assist others). Do it and you will not only connect with someone but you will solidify your knowledge as well.
- Start looking out for other people who are very active in the program, especially people who are always trying to assist others. Connect with them and appreciate them for what they have been doing. Everybody likes praise and wouldn’t hesitate to associate with people who appreciate their effort.
- Finally, you need to connect with people who are struggling in the program that you can help. People will always remember how you make them feel. If you help someone out of their frustrations, they will remember you and long to connect with you whenever possible. I learned to build communities by offering to help a few people. For instance, the current Telegram group that I have has over 800 ALX students in there. The group just started off as a group for 9 students who were freshly accepted into the ALX program. I put them together so we can help one another. I stepped up and tried to help as many of them as I could and that was how they started inviting others to join the group.
Question five
What can you point to that has helped you immensely during the program?
Learning with other people and also teaching what I am learning (through my PLDs or through my blog posts).
Also, I do well showing up in sessions (eg: Walk-in sessions or live learning sessions) where people ask a lot of questions. Hanging around where people are asking questions makes me appreciate things that others are struggling with and also directs me to the things I need to pay more attention to when I am learning.
Conclusion
To the one who asked the questions, I hope I was able to answer them to your satisfaction, and to everyone else I hope this gives you some insights into how to survive and excel in the ALX program.
I long to help as many people as I can so if you have any particular questions that you would want me to address in the next part, then go ahead and send me a DM on Twitter.
If you loved this, and want to see more of it then I am sure you will like the various content that I share on different platforms. Follow or subscribe to my platforms to get more.
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I want to extend my best wishes to you as you strive to improve and achieve success in this program. I am eager to see your progress and success.
