Really? Slow is Fast?
Learning fast is easy.
In 2018, I earned countless certificates from coding boot camps, a degree, and a few copy-paste/hack-slash projects. To put shame on myself, I thought learning fast is good. Good for papers, but not for the deep knowledge of programming. When working on refactoring game projects again and again for Object Oriented designs I felt the wobbling of the foundation. Time eats away at things that were learned fast. Have you felt that? That’s a signal to refresh the memory.
If you feel the wobbling (like you don’t remember things you learned before), it’s time for a review. I found that testing in a semi-stressful environment is the best way to review. Test the knowledge against someone who has it all fresh in their mind. It feels like stepping back until you actually take the step and earn an “Aha!” moment.
- Talk about what you don’t know. Attempt to describe it even if the mind is “blank”.
- Listen to feedback attentively. No conversations with yourself at this point.
- Repeat the concept back to them in your words. Repeat step 2 until you get a nod or a smile.
Would you rather step back, or fall back?
Coming to peace with learning slowly is a challenge; however, the process solidifies the knowledge. One way to relearn is to teach. I relearn something old in every SPOT session I lead for JS109 students. Read an article by Patrick about engaging with the community in other intriguing ways. He talks about his “falling back”, and how he recovered and learned from it.
We don’t plan to fail, but we fail to plan.
The future is built by programmers. We need a firm foundation; not crumbling bricks. Feel a memory hole? Patch it up!
