Steps to Effective Learning

“Give a man a fish; feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish; feed him for a lifetime”. Very thoughtful, but what if the man doesn’t want to learn how to fish?

Many of us are often reluctant to be a student and start learning in the right sense. So before committing yourself to learn any subject, knowing the qualities you need to have as a student is extremely important. This is one aspect I found fresh engineers completely ignoring or oblivious of.

Attributes that augment your learning process

Note: Examples quoted here may depict the qualities for a software engineer preparing to learn, however these can be applied to any student in any field.

Are you fundamentally good at it?

There is an intrinsic skill in all of you, your ability to know it and realize that it can add value or directly support what you are seeking to learn to build your career is the key. For instance, my first question to anyone interested to learn Embedded Linux/Kernel Programming  , is , are you fundamentally a programmer? Most students say yes as they know C language. An expected answer. But fail when we ask them to write code. It means that programming is not their intrinsic skill.

The question here again is Do you have the habit of regularly applying/exercising your intrinsic skill? Apply it in solving real problems? And most importantly, do you enjoy the whole process.

Learn for yourselves

Learn things by following your natural learning instincts and not for any other reason. Do not learn to compete, crack a challenge, show off, or learn, because someone else recommended. Your passion must drive you, sans hollow influences. If you are learning under such influences, it will slowly show off, affect your learning and leave you disempowered and lacking.

Many students come to me saying that they are interested in embedded systems as their seniors or cousins recommended it, some feel the salaries are high so this is the best bet, and some talk about how opportunities in embedded systems industry has attracted them. Here none of them ever cared to look whether it suits them or not. They might get into jobs but often stumble in their careers, eventually they underperform and end up with mediocre career graph.

If you read or watch (documentaries, movies) biographies on achievements of the greats in various fields, you'd notice it is their addictive and passionate behavior that paved their way to summit.

It’s not about information but about perception

Fresh engineers tend to rely more on getting information and seldom focus on increasing their perception about the subject. They believe more the information the better it is, but in reality the more they perceive the topic the better it is. The solution here is to push your grey cells, question the obvious and grow your awareness.

Give yourself time

Every individual has his own style and pace of learning or comprehending a subject. For some it may take more time than others, and especially with core subjects, your awareness, learning habits, experience count. So it is perfectly ok to give yourself the required time to comprehend the subject and build on.

Especially when handling niche programming area like kernel programming, it’s highly recommended that you give enough time to comprehend the subject and not look for quick solutions.

Persistence holds the key

It is no good if you dream high and turn inconsistent at efforts. Often I find fresh students struggling to absorb subject concepts in the first go, they feel it is harder and in the process may easily tend to trigger distractions and slowly start to give up.. Reality is, they are simply not ready to give in their full commitment and use available help effectively. The ones who do are the ones who are successful and make it look easy.

It’s perfect to fail

I have seen most students feeling that learning subject like embedded/system programming is comparatively tougher. The truth is they fear failure. We learn not just by being correct, but also by being wrong. It is when we fail that we learn new things, until we change the way we think and feel about 'failure', the ambition of high performance will often remain a mirage. Failure is a situation which teaches you how to succeed and if you are ready to try then success is often waiting at the end.

Remember, Edison failed 10000 times before he created the light bulb

Find a right mentor

A mentor is a person who can show you the path when you are stuck or wandering. So it’s very important you find a right mentor who understands your learning pattern and can help accelerate your learning process.

look for someone who can teach you the art, habits and principles of learning rather than give you information on subjects, a primary difference between a mentor and a normal trainer. The key aspect to remember here is that a mentor is a catalyst to accentuate your learning process by showing you the right path and instilling the right habits. A mentor also serves as a trusted party who can observe and judge your decisions and your progress.

Learn to build a career, not get a job

Fresh graduates look for jobs, in the process of landing up in any job they tend to look for instant job ready solutions . They fail to realize that they are in the process of building a career, and when they are still fresh it is right time to invest on seeding right habits and mental models that serve as foundations for long successful career. This realization is extremely important; as the students would then begin to realize which skill to focus on and which can wait, this prepares them to spend time and energy on things needed now. Remember that when we focus and prepare for "Long-term goals" our short term needs or goals become "obvious" achievements.

Lets conclude this with a wonderful story that sums it up:

After ten years of apprenticeship, A student achieved the rank of Zen teacher. One rainy day, he went to visit his Old Master. When he walked in, the master greeted him with a question,

"Did you leave your wooden clogs and umbrella on the porch?" 

"Yes," Student replied. 

"Tell me," the master continued, "did you place your umbrella to the left of your shoes, or to the right?" 

Student did not know the answer, and realized that he had not yet attained full awareness. So he became Master's apprentice and studied under him for ten more years.

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever”