Learning things is difficult much of the time, and when being pressured to learn something (or even multiple things at a time) for some impending deadline or project responsibility, it can feel like there just isn’t enough time to warrant building a truly deep understanding during that period. The more items on the todo-list, the less time then is able to be spent on each item, leaving a very shallow understanding which is simply good enough to satisfy the given problem or context exactly.

The idea of learning in a shallow sense versus learning deeply is discussed in chapter 6 of Apprenticeship Patterns. Dig Deeper refers to the idea of making an effort to learn about tools, languages, or other areas of study to more than just the necessary degree to complete the current project. The authors argue that to always remain focused on finding a solution, rather than learning about why that solution works can make the overall understanding of the subject relatively shallow. Focusing solely on “your part” of the project can leave you lacking in comprehension regarding everything else, and so it is beneficial to look into relevant context, supporting ideas which build the foundations of the solution to the problem, and the documentation associated with the solution. The idea is to focus on depth of understanding, rather than breadth of topics covered.

In practice this seems difficult to implement one-hundred percent of the time, as time constraints will likely impede any efforts to understand everything in a way which is absolutely comprehensive. But for important ideas, subjects which will likely form integral, foundational aspects of a program or project, it makes sense to learn as much as possible about them so that if something goes wrong, you will have the knowledge to fix it. Choosing which topics to use this sort of approach for is a judgement call which should most likely rely heavily on context (as with most of the patterns discussed in this book).

While I wouldn’t necessarily want to use this approach all the time, I can definitely see the benefit of learning about the context and deeper ideas associated with topics such as new programming languages, database management, or frameworks like the .NET framework, which is associated with Windows-based development. Topics which are especially interesting in this regard (in my opinion) are game development and GUI frameworks, where there are often a large array of interconnecting components, panels, windows and tools associated. Learning the tools becomes almost like learning another language within the language itself.

Book referenced:

Apprenticeship Patterns: Guidance for the Aspiring Software Craftsman

https://learning.oreilly.com/library/view/Apprenticeship+Patterns/9780596806842/ch06s04.html

From the blog CS@Worcester – CodeRoad by toomeymatt1515 and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

The long-term development of a career and set of skills is something not often focused on when discussing professional fields, rather the immediate benefits of that career (money, prestige, the conceptual notions of ‘success’) are more often discussed than not. While succeeding and generating an income are both important aspects of a career, the process of acquiring new skills and knowledge over the span of that career is just as important, if not moreso.

In chapter 3 of Apprenticeship Patterns, (link: https://learning.oreilly.com/library/view/Apprenticeship+Patterns/9780596806842/ch03.html#the_long_road), Walking the Long Road discusses the idea of focusing on the journey (learning) rather than the destination (money/success). While the authors acknowledge that these things can often come together with the acquisition of knowledge, the main idea is that learning itself should be (or should become) a rewarding process over the course of a career in software development/programming. Rather than focusing on the “goal” when trying to improve, the goal rather should be trying to improve indefinitely.

This idea of constantly learning and focusing on the process of improvement rather than a high-paying position is appealing to me, as it focuses more on the creative and constructive possibilities of programming rather than on simply turning a skill into profit outright. While income is a necessity and a benefit overall, oftentimes many of the best paying jobs seem to be “manager” type positions where you might spend more time delegating tasks to others than working on those things yourself. The benefit of having higher income is unfortunately offset by the downside of being unable to accumulate practical experience in the process.

I would estimate then that the best positions relative to constant improvement would be ones where creative solutions are possible, or maybe even encouraged. Open-ended problems often seem to involve improvisation or learning new skills by necessity, and in many cases software development does seem to involve this kind of thinking. I would imagine that active development jobs are best when operating with these goals of self-development, since they so often involve open-ended problems which require learning new concepts.

While I do think that focusing on knowledge for the sake of it is a good way to approach things in relation to career development, finding a balance of learning and exercising known or learned skills is important as well. This pattern focuses on the long-term journey, but I think the shorter term “refinement” of maybe more familiar ideas is similarly important. A healthy balance between these two areas is likely best in practice.

Text Referenced: https://learning.oreilly.com/library/view/Apprenticeship+Patterns/9780596806842/ch03.html#the_long_road Apprenticeship Patterns: Guidance for the Aspiring Software Craftsman

From the blog CS@Worcester – CodeRoad by toomeymatt1515 and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Oftentimes when doing something repeatedly, whether that be some sort of skill or action which needs to be learned over time, it can become sort of “mindless” as you gain familiarity with the subject. So even as you become familiar with the idea or concept, you no longer think about doing it even as you practice or utilize it more and more often. Because of this, some ideas can feel like they are more “drilled” than actually understood and comprehended, losing the sort of comprehensive fundamental knowledge that would come from a more complete understanding. If you just learn something to use as part of a larger project or system, then it can be very easy to develop an incomplete perception of the concept, and this is an area where I found the pattern “Record What You Learn” to be relevant.

Discussed in chapter 5 of Apprenticeship Patterns, https://learning.oreilly.com/library/view/apprenticeship-patterns/9780596806842/ch05s06.html, the concept of “Record What You Learn” is concerned with the idea of writing down or ideas, techniques and technologies/skills which you might use throughout the course of projects or development periods. Relative to software development, sometimes an application can be made up of many smaller pieces or technologies (ie: a web-application consisting of Vue.js, Express.js, REST-API, MongoDB, running in Docker) which you might need to become familiar and competent with during development quickly. However, needing to learn about many different technologies at once can leave gaps in your overall understanding, and you might end up needing to reference manuals or guides often.

The benefit of writing these things down becomes apparent when you can look back to your own notes or documentation and reference them in the future, and as opposed to simply looking into the documentation written by the maintainers or developers of the tool in question, your own personal notes will likely contain useful context and explanation which could be lacking from standard syntax guides or official websites. Maybe you find a way to save time working in C++, when you write that time-saving measure down it becomes far easier to repeat in the future.

If you constantly reference your own notes it helps to reinforce those ideas more than referencing something written by an external source because you are rereading your own thoughts and ideas relative to the concept. I have recorded notes for things I have been learning in the past (HTML/CSS and web-development, Java, C#) and I think that it makes a difference to have your own notes with added context. The connection to your thought process and ideas helps the concepts sink-in, and writing them down makes you think about them more than you might otherwise.

Book Referenced:

https://learning.oreilly.com/library/view/apprenticeship-patterns/9780596806842/ch05s06.html

From the blog CS@Worcester – CodeRoad by toomeymatt1515 and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.