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The map is not the territory
The changing landscape of programming
The one constant in the field of programming is that it is always in flux. Programming languages come into prominence and then fade away over time. What once was a given is now considered obsolete (or even "considered harmful", as many essays will point out).
When I graduated from college we learned Pascal, Modula2 and Ada. Unfortunately those languages were starting to decline in popularity in favor of C. When I started my first "professional" programming position Perl was the language of choice (partially because Perl could be easily transformed into the ubiquitous CGI scripts of the era, and was considered superior to scripting tools like awk and traditional shell scripts). As of this writing I'm using Python as my main development language, and I foresee that I'll have to look into other languages to expand my programming career.
Programming requires flexibility. It's difficult to learn only one way of doing things and have that remain relevant for over 20 years. Think back to what was current technology 20 years ago and you'll no doubt notice that things are quite different now. If you would like a fun exercise, search for articles describing the state-of-the-art technology from 20 years ago and notice how much of it you recognize.
Learning to learn
Learning specific methodologies and technologies is not a good long-term strategy for programmers. We're better served by learning how to learn, and more importantly, how we ourselves learn. That sounds simple: once we've cracked how to learn effectively then we'll be effective programmers. Unfortunately there isn't a foolproof way to learn that works for all people. Different folks learn in different ways. All of us have learning styles that work better when certain things are emphasized. Some learn better in a classroom while others learn best with self-directed study (books, video recordings, etc.). Some can read a book and be perfectly fine with understanding the material, while others may need more visual approaches. If you have the luxury of trying several different methodologies for learning I'd encourage you to use as many as you can to figure out what works best for you. Understanding what works for you will be key to helping you progress and grow.
I've found that some simple principles work best for me. The first is repetition. I learn better when I do something daily, over and over again, in small chunks. The second is having a small goal that I can achieve. So for me having a daily practice time on a project where I can work toward an end goal works best. When I was learning Python I enrolled in PyWeek, a one week game programming sprint where the theme is announced near the beginning and all programming happens during the week. For that entire week I made time to complete my game, and by the end of the week I'd learned more about Pygame (the library I used for my game) and Python than I had in the weeks leading up to PyWeek. Doing a one-week "game jam" (as they're currently called) is a bit extreme, but it gave me a clear goal (a completed, working game) and a time-frame to accomplish it (one week). Over the years I've learned more about Python with various projects (both professionally and for myself) that had daily practice and clear end goals.
You'll need to experiment to see what works best for you. The underlying principle is that your learning process should be something that you can use for any language or concept in programming. It should also offer the least amount of resistance to your learning. Your ability to learn and adapt will be vital to your experience as a programmer, so understanding your learning process and what works best for you will help you in this process.
At the very least, set aside 10 minutes per day as a container (see previous chapter) for focused reading and learning. There is a lot to learn in programming and creating a habit of learning will help you keep up. Remember, though, to keep your learning contained in small chunks. 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 reality and metaphors break down).
Each day you have an opportunity to learn more about the realm of computers and computer programming. Taking a small part of every day 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 are 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 brings us back to focusing on one thing at a time and understanding 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 notice 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 some dice or create a random-number generator to select one --- that could be a project).
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 find what is out there. Observe the conversations of other programmers and find out what they are discussing. Head to a programmer meeting to follow the discussions of what they're talking about. Or, if you're really stuck, browse some job listings to find out what employers are searching for and notice if that sparks some interest.
This isn't about picking the most useful thing or the most important thing, though your current situation may add some urgency to certain topics over others, it is about figuring out what has your attention and where to place your focus. Don't be concerned with making the perfect choice that will get you your next job or bolster your career. This exercise is about making a choice to learn something interesting and sticking with it long enough to learn more about it.
Once you have chosen what you want to learn then it's time to focus on learning it. If you have a preferred methodology (books, videos, tutorials, classes, etc.) then spend some time (no more than an hour or so) researching what resources are available. Some topics have beginner-friendly resources available that list things that the community believes are helpful for programmers just getting started, while others may require asking the community where to start. Often something as simple as a tutorial can be a good way to get started with this exercise.
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 worry that they might lead you down the wrong path, just get started with them; you'll come back and evaluate them later. For now we're more interested in just getting started.
One trap that I'm guilty of falling into is trying to find the best resources for learning a topic. I'll spend hours looking for the right book, the right videos, the right courses; whatever it is, I want to find the best materials available. I want to reduce the amount of false-starts while learning a topic. This seems like a noble pursuit (after all, why wouldn't you want the best materials available?). It's also a trap and can lead you into spending more time thinking about how you're learning rather than actually learning. Worse, if the material starts to confuse you (which is highly likely when you are learning something new) you'll spend your learning-time wondering if you made the right decision picking this material. You'll wonder if you chose the right material and continue searching for the best material (perhaps those good and great reviews really didn't know what they were talking about after all). This diminishes your ability to learn the topic because you're more focused on discerning the quality of instruction and not spending time on the actual instruction.
After a few days of practice sessions give yourself the opportunity to check in and see how you're learning. Are you feeling engaged or are you not enjoying this? If you're not feeling engaged (the material is loosely organized, the instructor is confusing, the examples don't work, this material assumes you're already familiar with another topic, etc.) then give yourself permission to search for better material or a different topic that interests you more. Even if your learning-experience wasn't great you'll have a better idea of what to look for when choosing something new. You'll have a sense of where your gaps are in the topic and will have a better feel for what you're looking for in learning materials.
If you're finding that the topic you're trying to learn is no longer interesting to you then give yourself a few moments to reflect on why that is. Is it a difficult topic? Do you feel ready for the topic? Are you currently overwhelmed with other projects and are feeling tired when you approach this topic? Sometimes we think we're ready to learn a topic, only to realize that there's something else we need to know before we can fully understand the topic. It's OK to find additional resources and focus on those before we tackle this topic. Just be aware of your struggles and your internal dialog. Be honest with yourself about why you want to move to something different. See yourself in the difficulty and notice if you're wanting to run because it is difficult or if you are truly unprepared for or uninterested in this topic. See if you can engage more with the difficulty and notice when you start to feel overwhelmed by it. Give yourself permission to stick with the difficulty as long as you can and notice your feelings and urges as you practice with it.
Treat your learning as an iterative process, with regular check-in periods to note your progress. Think about how you feel when you're learning. Are you excited and engaged or do you feel tired and withdrawn? Do you procrastinate when you think about this topic? When you focus on your learning does your mind wander? Note these feelings as they occur during your focus sessions and reflect on them when you think about your overall learning process. Later you can reflect on those feelings and see the patterns in your learning process. If you feel tired while learning you may want to try adjusting when you do your learning session. You may need more sleep or need to find other materials that are more stimulating. If you feel overwhelmed perhaps you need to start with something more basic before tackling this difficult project. If you're confused perhaps there is someone you can ask questions to gain clarity. These answers may not be apparent while you're in the moment (you may be too busy feeling frustrated to understand where that frustration is coming from), but with practice you'll be better equipped to notice your feelings. When you notice these feelings you can use them to learn how your mind works and understand what it needs in order to keep engaged with your learning.
Resistance and The Container
Any time we learn new things we put ourselves into a vulnerable and uncomfortable place. We take the things we are familiar with and try to apply them as we push into new territory. We become uncertain of the outcome; will it be successful or will it be a failure? Will this topic be too difficult for us to grasp? Will it help us or hurt us? Will we choose the wrong thing to learn and will that cost us opportunities in the long run?
Discomfort and uncertainty are certainly a part of learning, but instead of thinking of them as something to be avoided we should instead think of them as beacons. A beacon gives us direction and illumination when we're in uncertain territory. When we feel uncertain about what we're doing that feeling means we're pushing into new territory. Instead of trying to avoid it or wishing for comfort, we can instead relish that we're in uncertain territory and feel those brief twinges of fear and doubt. We can say "I'm about to learn something new. I'm frightened, and don't know where this will lead, but that's OK. I'm willing to see where this goes and enjoy the journey."
We've been conditioned to think of the unknown as something to be feared. These emotions have served us well. They've kept us from venturing too far out of our comfort zone and exploring the unknown. When you're living in forests and caves the unknown can house all sorts of dangers. It makes sense not to provoke those dangers by showing up on their doorstep. But programming is not the same as venturing into a dark forest or peeking into a damp cave; programming hardly warrants the amount of fear we give it. Instead we need to realize that we're not in any mortal danger. Our fears are merely letting us know that we're venturing into the uncharted territories of ignorance. It's up to us to let our fears know that this is OK and that by exploring these realms we will only find understanding.
Steven Pressfield in The War of Art nicknamed these feelings "Resistance". He considers Resistance as a sort of mythological being who lives in each of us to thwart creative acts. As the work progresses Resistance ratchets up the pressure to stop by introducing the feelings of fear and anxiety that we mentioned above. I think of Resistance as something that also happens whenever we are learning, especially if we're learning tools that help us in our creative pursuits. Pressfield limited his definition to creative folks who were working to complete creative work (books, paintings, games, etc.), but I'm expanding his definition to the learning process itself. In our case Resistance shows up when we're learning the tools to help us be more creative. Resistance is what tells us we're not good enough to learn these things, or we're unworthy of the benefits they'll bring us. It tries to keep us safe in what we already know.
This is why the "focus container" is so important: it gives us small doses of discomfort and difficulty in manageable chunks. We can guide ourselves through small amounts of daily discomfort and keep learning through our discomfort. It helps us work through our tendency to avoid and hide from difficult situations. If we focus on one thing at a time we can keep ourselves from the distracting thoughts about whether or not this is the thing we should be working on. Whatever we're working on in this moment is exactly what we should be working on. Whatever learning material is in front of us is what we should be learning. We can be secure in knowing that everything we are doing for the duration of this container is exactly as it should be. When we finish the container we can reassess how it went and what challenges lay ahead.
Mapping out longer-term goals
As you progress through the learning process you'll start to see that a lot of what we call programming is interconnected. Languages borrow heavily from each other and ideas that seem new and innovative have their roots in concepts dating back to the genesis of computing. Rather than dissuading us it should encourage us to open the doors of programming by learning simple, transferable concepts. The question is, which ones?
The simplest answer is "all of them", but that's hardly satisfactory or possible. A less cheeky answer would be "enough of them to start seeing the patterns emerge" but that sounds more like a truism than something we can use to start making our longer term goals for learning.
Rather than give specific advice on which concepts will serve you best in your pursuit of becoming a better programmer I'm going to suggest a technique that might help you map out what could help you.
Programming languages will mention the concepts they borrow from. Whenever you're learning and you see mention of one of these other concepts make a note of it and keep focusing on what you're learning now. When you've completed your learning for the day review the list of other concepts and do some searching to see what else shows up. If there are other things that show up then write them down on your list. These concepts might not make sense at the moment but having that list available and referring to it might help you make connections about programming that you might not otherwise notice.
When I was learning JavaScript I noticed that someone mentioned that JavaScript borrowed from languages like Scheme. Scheme is a functional language based on Lisp and was created as a teaching language for functional programming and recursion. So I took a brief detour into learning Scheme, partly because it was more interesting to me than JavaScript. Call it "creative procrastination", if you're being charitable. What I learned while learning Scheme piqued my interest into other functional languages and functional programming. This in turn helped me understand some of the functional programming paradigms that were becoming popular in Python (list comprehensions, lambdas, etc.). By taking a brief detour in my learning of JavaScript I learned more about a whole family of languages and now I feel like I understand JavaScript and Python with more clarity than when I started.
I'm not suggesting that everyone take the "creative procrastination" steps like I have (I'm still in the process of learning JavaScript as of this writing), but it does help to make notes of the concepts you encounter and dig further.
This is one way to map out learning goals (notice the other connections that show up as you are learning and be curious about how they fit together), but you may need a different approach. Perhaps you're under pressure to learn something to remain marketable or acquire some skill for your job that needs to be learned quickly. How do you map out those goals?
The pressure to learn quickly can make any task seem insurmountable, especially if you don't know how best to proceed. You may be tempted to rush through this process and hope you retain the knowledge you've learned. This approach doesn't lead to understanding, it leads to stress and burnout. The approach I'm outlining is designed to help you learn how to learn. The best way to learn something quickly is to understand how other concepts fit together with what you're learning. This is great when you have experience with a lot of different languages and concepts, but for those who don't have much experience yet it will feel like you're trying to shove an elephant through a small funnel. This is where practicing learning every day will help you. It will help you break apart larger learning goals into smaller chunks and will help you recognize the fear and discomfort for what they truly are: acknowledgment that you're expanding your skills into new territory.
Longer-term goals are just goals that have been broken down into shorter-term goals. Focus on the short-term goals and allow yourself to course-correct and follow a few connections as needed.
Failure and learning
One thing that we are afraid of while learning is failure. We worry that we won't learn the topic quickly or completely. We pick up material that starts off simply but later on becomes very complex, and we struggle to keep up. We try typing example code into our editors and find ourselves needing help to get them to work. We fail to grasp the material and wonder if we'll ever learn what we're trying to learn.
Failure is a part of learning. If you knew the material you wouldn't be learning.
One of the reasons for practicing learning using containers is because we give ourselves those brief moments of failure and repetition. Repetition is how we get better at whatever we are learning. Failure allows us to course-correct our learning so we can determine how best to approach this the next time we make an attempt.
We often feel that failure is something to be avoided, but while we're learning it is unavoidable. Our learning process requires us to fail in order to get better at what we're learning. That's the whole point of learning: reworking our brains so that they can finally understand the concepts we are trying to learn.
Part of learning is having the right mindset for learning. Instead of feeling like you're constantly failing and struggling to keep up you may want to approach it with a different perspective. Instead of thinking "I can't do this. It's too hard.", approach it with a more curious "This is all new to me. This is why I'm practicing learning this." Giving yourself a more positive mindset will help keep you from giving up when you struggle with the material.
Dead ends and changing topography
Sometimes we'll find ourselves learning something that's a dead end. We look at our progress and see no real improvement. We don't find the topic as engaging or as exciting as we'd imagined. We realize that what we're learning is an evolutionary dead-end in the realm of programming. What then?
Part of our learning process is understanding that our expectations of how something will turn out can be completely different from how things actually do turn out. We envision all sorts of rewards and platitudes that never come. Does that mean we're at a dead end? I don't think so. It might be that what we expected we'd be doing with our newfound knowledge isn't panning out. We might find our expectations for how quickly we'd learn the topic aren't being met. We may also expect that our career will be bolstered by learning this topic, yet the job market hasn't recognized our new-found skills with job offers or more money.
Our engagement is related to our expectations. Programming demands a certain amount of fun and reward, and if we're not finding the experience fun or rewarding then we're unlikely to want to continue learning that topic. Our minds begin wanting something else to engage us, and we start craving anything other than to continue with this learning process. After all, shouldn't we be enjoying this? If there's no engagement and enjoyment then the learning becomes drudgery. We become distracted more easily while trying to learn and our minds drift away rather than focusing on our learning experience.
There is also the problem of learning things that are evolutionary dead ends. The world of computing is littered with the remains of technologies and methodologies that are either no longer relevant or are considered "out-of-fashion." What once was cutting edge is now considered moribund, and the community around that technology or methodology scoots on to new technologies and methodologies and leaves their previous work as a technological ghost town. When we mention that we're learning these things we get curious looks from developers: "Why would you learn that? We've moved on to this other thing." It's as if we've heard about a party and arrived in time to see the clean-up crew picking up the litter and breaking down the tables and chairs. We feel like we've missed out on the good parts and wonder if it's even worth trying to keep up and find the next thing.
All of these can pose their own problems for learning, but it's up to us to take a more critical look at why we started this whole process of learning. What did we bring into this?
In each of these cases we brought our expectations of how the learning would progress. We brought the expectation that it would always be fun, engaging, and relevant. Sometimes our learning expectations do pan out, but when they don't we get discouraged and disappointed.
Rather than being upset at how our expectations of learning this technology or methodology aren't being met we can take a more mindful approach. We can see ourselves in our moments of learning and notice if we're trying to bring more than our focused attention into the learning container. We can realize that learning is about changing ourselves and change is not always fun, engaging, or pleasant. We can put aside our expectations and concentrate on the learning itself.
That doesn't mean we shouldn't acknowledge our feelings. We should certainly acknowledge the feelings of boredom, anxiety, disillusionment, and so on, but we should also be mindful of where those feelings originate. Are we truly bored or is this our mind trying to tell us to stop so we can do something more fun? Are we not engaged with this material because we don't find it relevant or are we giving in to our distractions? Is this really a dead-end in our learning or are we just feeling stuck? Notice when the feeling comes up and be curious about what prompted the feeling. Note when you get the feeling and where you feel it most in your body. Stay with the feeling for a few seconds and keep noticing it. Then, continue your work. While you work keep noticing all of the feelings you're having and repeat the process of staying and noticing your feelings. When you're finished you can reflect more on those feelings and make an honest determination of what those feelings are indicating. Through this process you can clarify what is causing those feelings and notice if they are just resistance to learning new material or a desire to run to distractions or something more familiar.
If, however, you realize that you're really not enjoying learning this topic, if you feel you're spending more time convincing yourself to learn rather than actually learning, then you'll need to have an honest discussion with yourself about why you're learning this topic at all. Is this topic still relevant to you or has the topic become irrelevant? Are you learning this out of an obligation to yourself or others, and is that obligation still present? Are you trying to learn whatever it is because you're worried you'll be left behind, personally or professionally? Think about what brought you to start learning this topic and determine if the situation has changed. If someone came up to you and asked you if you would like to use this topic in the next few days would you consider it?
You'll need to reconsider your true motivations for learning this topic and see if they still match what you want to do with your programming profession. You will also need to be honest with yourself about why you're learning this topic and why it is important to you. There are plenty of things to learn that are great career paths, but if you have no interest in the topic, or are just learning it "to get hired" you're going to have a more difficult time learning the topic than if you had a genuine interest in it. You'll also need to determine if this is just resistance to learning. Your challenge will be to sort out your true feelings about this topic and tease out whether you've genuinely lost interest or are just struggling.
There have been many things in my career that I have tried to learn, but there have been many more that I haven't learned. Part of the reason I haven't learned them is because the computing landscape changed as I was learning them. At school I learned the Pascal language. I got reasonably good at it but over time my Pascal skills have faded. Right now there's very little need for proficient Pascal programmers so continuing to develop my Pascal skills would be purely for my own enjoyment. I find other computing topics more enjoyable so my Pascal skills lie dormant. Should Pascal arise from its moribund state I can revisit the decision to reinvigorate my Pascal knowledge, but for now I'm content that I've made the right call. At one point in my career the Java language came to prominence. I spent many sessions learning Java until I realized I didn't enjoy the language. It felt too cumbersome to me and the directions it took weren't ones that I cared to pursue. So after some reflection I stopped learning Java. Was this all wasted time? Hardly. During my sessions I learned more about Object Oriented Programming and how objects fit together. I learned more about recursion while trying to solve a problem for one of my projects. These skills transcend Java, so when I started learning Python I was able to transfer my knowledge on how objects worked from Java to Python. I used that knowledge to understand what Python was doing and how it was different from Java. Should the need arise I can revisit my decision to stop learning Java and see if it interests me again.
It's OK to give up on learning something. It's up to you to determine what you want to learn and for how long. We are complex beings and our interests morph and change. We also exist in a complex industry of changing whims and technologies. What was interesting and necessary at the beginning of the year might become uninteresting or unnecessary at the end of the year. We shouldn't feel beholden to learning something just because others are learning it or because the job market seems to require it. Give yourself permission to listen to your own desires. If they match up with what a fickle industry wants then great! Go learn with abandon. But if they don't match up and you find yourself spending weeks trying to stir up enough motivation to learn the topic then you're doing yourself and your craft a disservice. Let this topic sit dormant for a bit and give yourself something else to learn. There is little point in making yourself miserable to please others.
If you feel the urge to revisit this topic at a later point then let yourself come back to it. You should also allow yourself to come back to this topic without the baggage and expectations of your previous attempts. Saying "I already tried this once, so we'll see if this works this time" sets your mind to expect that you will give up again. Give yourself permission to approach this topic as though you're experiencing this topic fresh, with no expectations of how it will turn out. Be gentle with yourself and experience this topic again from your current perspective.
Approach with curiosity
As beginners we engaged the computer with curiosity and enthusiasm. We didn't know what to expect and had no idea how long it would take. We just learned as much as we could and took everything at face-value. As we continued to learn we traded our curiosity for certainty, and our enthusiasm for expectations. The excitement we got from learning became the drudgery of feeling that we must always be learning. We can re-capture that beginner's spirit by looking at each opportunity to learn as a new experience. We can let go of our expectations of how our learning will progress and instead approach each learning session with curiosity for what we will learn during the session. We can re-kindle the spark that we had when we were beginners with infinite possibilities. That spark will sustain us through the periods of uncertainty.
We can learn to love learning again. With each focus container we can approach our learning fresh, with no preconceived notions of how it will end, and be curious for what we'll find when we dig deeper into what we're learning. Each learning session brings us one step closer on our journey to close up the gaps. There so much to explore in our field. I hope you always find something new and exciting to help you on your journey.