At the very least set aside 10 minutes per day as a container (see previous chapter) for focused reading and learning. There's a lot to learn in programming and creating habit of learning will help you keep up. But also keep it small. A lot of information can overwhelm you into thinking that you can't possibly learn it all. You're right -- you can't learn it all in one sitting. If someone told you to drink one of the Great Lakes in one sitting you'd be hard pressed to complete the task (note: please don't attempt this!). If, however, you filled a glass of water several times a day from one of The Great Lakes and drank it (10 minutes at a time) you'd start to make an appreciable dent in the reduction of that lake over your life-time. (Sure, it might not look like much on the outside, but that's the junction where metaphors and reality break down).
-Each day you have an opportunity to learn more about the realm of computers and computer programming. Taking a little bit each day to learn a little bit more will help you on your journey.
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+Each day you have an opportunity to learn more about the realm of computers and computer programming. Taking a small part of each of those days to learn a little bit more will help you on your journey.
## How to choose what to learn
There are many opportunities to learn, whether it be via books, tutorials, videos, or computer-based training. There's also a myriad of different topics to learn. How do you decide which one is most important to learn? How do you manage what you're learning? How do you keep from getting overwhelmed with the options available?
-This gets back to focusing on one thing at a time and listening to how you best learn. One approach I would take is to think about the things that you're most passionate about right now; what excites you at this moment. If there's something that you're eager to learn start there. If nothing seems obvious then make a list of the things that you're interested in and pick from that list. If there's still nothing on that list that is really exciting you then pick one at random (roll a die or create a random-number generator - that could be a project).
+This gets back to focusing on one thing at a time and listening to how you learn best. This feedback will help you decide what to learn next. One approach is to think about the things that you're most passionate about right now; what excites you at this moment. If there's something that you're eager to learn then start there. If you have multiple things that are exciting or interesting to you then write them down on a list and see if you are more drawn to one of the topics than the others. If you're still having trouble deciding from this list then pick one at random (roll a die or create a random-number generator to select one -- that could be a project).
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+If you have trouble thinking of something to learn and are struggling to come up with one item that is exciting to you then give yourself permission to browse and see what is out there. Look around and see what people are talking about. Head to a programmer meeting to see what they're talking about. Or, if you're really stuck, browse some job listings to see what employers are looking for and see if that sparks some interest.
-This isn't about picking the most important thing (though you may have topics to learn that are more important than others in your current situation), it's about figuring out where to put your focus right now.
+This isn't about picking the most important thing or the most useful thing (though your current situation may add some urgency to certain topics over others) it's about figuring out where to put your focus right now. And we're not concerned with making the perfect choice. This exercise is about making a choice to learn something interesting and sticking with it long enough to learn more about it.
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-Once you have your focus then it's time to figure out how to proceed in learning it. If you have a preferred methodology (videos, tutorials, classes, etc.) then spend a little time (no more than an hour or so) researching what is available. Some topics have resources available for beginners that list off things that the community think might be helpful for programmers just getting started.
+Once you have your topic then it's time to figure out how to focus on learning it. If you have a preferred methodology (books, videos, tutorials, classes, etc.) then spend a some time (no more than an hour or so) researching what is available. Some topics have beginner-friendly resources available that list off things that the community believes are helpful for programmers just getting started. Others may require asking questions of the community on where to start.
If you can find some resources in a short amount of time that's great! Start your learning process with those resources. Don't worry if they're the right resources or if they'll lead you down the wrong path, just start with the. Eventually you'll come back and determine if what you're looking at is or isn't going to work for you. For now we're more interested in just getting started.
projects / themediocreprogrammer.git / commitdiff