I changed the way I learn new things — and it works

When I was around 18 years old I decided to learn how to create websites, and the way I did it was by reading the tutorials available on W3Schools, then watching tons of videos, reading tons of articles and going through the lessons from Codecademy.

While all that is okay and it will help you learn at least the basics of web development, that was pretty much all I was doing. Sure, I was coding, and I was actually trying to work with some of the things I learned, but I never really managed to get good at web development. I eventually decided to quit around a year later after I had to go to college.

Then, around a year ago, after I purchased a new computer, I decided to learn how to use a 3D modelling software called Blender. I watched a few tutorials, I spent some time reading a few articles, and I worked on some really small projects and shapes.

However, unlike with web development, I decided, one day, to create something using Blender for a small competition on a Facebook group where the prize was 3 games — Hitman, Hollow Knight and 7 ways to die. I really wanted the first two games, so I participated. The rules were simple — recreate a scene from a game you liked, using any skill you have — drawing, photography, 3d modelling, etc.

So that’s what I did. For around 3 days I worked on a Dark Souls scene, and while I didn’t win, I was happy with the result. But not happy enough. After the competition ended, I decided it would be a good idea to work a little more on the scene I created and to make it better than it was.

After a month of work, and a lot of trial and error, I was finally able to improve my scene. You can see it on my ArtStation profile by clicking HERE.

Anyway, one of the things I got from working on that scene was the realization that by doing something you can’t, by working on a project you don’t really know how to complete and by challenging yourself, you learn a lot more than by watching tutorials and reading articles.

Because of that scene, I learned a lot about how to model shapes in Blender more efficiently, how to texture a lot of different elements, how to combine textures, how much impact a 4K texture can have on the performance of the scene compared to a 2K texture for example, and how important lighting is in every scenario.

All that because I started working on that project having only some basic knowledge about 3D modelling.

Just like that, a few weeks ago I started learning web development again, and this time I chose to learn using FreeCodeCamp, a website I used before but never got into. This time however, I wasn’t only reading the information and adding some small pieces of code on their website. This time I was actually coding.

I started creating a small HTML page to write down all the things I was reading that I thought I would forget. I also did it because I wanted to remember how to properly write code, and get used to writing something else than just articles, in this case, HTML. It took me a few days, but after that I was writing code just as easily as I was writing articles. Not only that, but I remembered a lot of things I thought I would forget after so much time has passed since the last time I wrote any code.

After that was done, and after I finished most of the “Responsive Web Design Certification (300 hours)” section, I finally got to the last part that required me to complete some challenges. Basically, they are requiring you to use the things you learned to build some simple projects.

The first one was fairly simple and I did it in around 30 minutes, so I won’t mention it. However, the second and third challenge required me to do something a little more complex — a Survey Form and a Product Landing Page. Then the third one was quite simple, because I had to create a Technical Documentation Page but the last one was about creating a simple Portfolio and that was more challenging.

And while I could’ve completed those projects really easily, by using the basic HTML and CSS I learned, I decided to make an effort and create something a little better than just the most basic thing I could come up with.

This way I managed to create this Survey Form this Product Landing Page, this Technical Documentation Page and this Portfolio Page. Those are not the best pages you’ll ever see in your life, but both projects helped me learn a lot about HTML, CSS and, most importantly, Flexbox.

In only around 3 weeks I learned a lot more than I learned in a year when I was 18. Why? Because instead of just reading articles and watching tutorials, I actually did something with the information I received, something that challenged me and forced me to figure out how things work.

If there’s anything you can learn from my two experiences, is the fact that actually working on something and challenging yourself to finish projects that are way beyond your current skill level will help you a lot more than watching any tutorial or reading any article.

You’ll stumble upon problems you won’t see in tutorials, you’ll ask questions you wouldn’t ask otherwise and, overall, you’ll get used to working with certain tools in ways you won’t from tutorials.

So, if you want to learn something really well and really fast, then learn how to combine the consumption of information with working on challenges that are beyond your skill, challenges that will force you to learn new things as you go if you want to complete those projects.