Anki and Programming

I have been learning programming through SRS for almost two years. The cards I made when I started out were terrible, involved only memorizing fact, and were not enjoyable. At the same time, I was taking a programming bootcamp and feeling entirely burned out from learning a bunch of material that seemed completely irrelevant to the practical skills I was learning in class.

But to be honest, it wasn’t. My methodology was wrong. After coming from a foreign language background where ANYTHING goes, I had a misconception on how to approach learning tech.

Programming is specialized and different areas have different requirements. Entire businesses are based on using a certain theory or concept, and it is easy for people to master one language/concept/theory and not use much else. This results in many programmers saying “I only use about 1% of what I learned in college”, and is mostly true.

But the best programmers still continue learning, and Computer Science concepts are contained within every method that a programmer writes.

So I found that the best way to continue using Spaced Repetition to become a better programmer was to balance the two. Whereas in learning a foreign language, input is vastly more important than output, programming needs both. If you only study through input you are unproductive, and if you only have output you end up stunting your progression to higher levels of programming mastery.

Incremental Reading is also an effective way to continue to efficiently study articles while maintaining a productivity as a programmer. All of those cool, hip React articles don’t need to be read all at once (which is counterproductive), but rather can be placed in a separate Anki deck which will ‘prioritize’ the order in which you read the articles based on what I like to call a ‘boredom scale’. If the article seems boring, push it into the future. If you want to read it, read it now. It makes learning fun again!!!! Maybe.

The most important part of studying anything is consistently challenging your own boundaries. Whether it be foreign language, tech, or exercise, pushing your boundaries a little more everyday will lead to large progress. I think someone famous said that we need very gradual change we can believe in.

Anyways, It seems so obvious to me now that programming requires us all to stay cool and keep grooving on. So manage your stress, keep studying your cards, and don’t give up!