Learning By Failing
2015.09.07I’m just starting my third week of The Firehose Project online bootcamp. Thus far it has been a roller-coaster ride for me. Days of intensity, days of distraction and days of quiet persistence. Moments of sheer delight, moments of sheer frustration. I’ve done as much soul-searching as I have pouring over code.
As with any new learning experience, I am often awed by the enormity of what I don’t know. Perhaps that should read: I am often overwhelmed by the enormity of what I don’t know. Many-a-time I have no choice but to helplessly follow along where my lessons lead, trusting that some future chapter will shed light on what is not yet clear to me.
“Good Code comes from experience, and often experience comes from bad Code.”1
At this point I am learning a great deal from my errors, typos, and mistakes. Clever parallel to life, that. After sludging through a particularly nasty experience, a little wiser for the pain, I generally say “Well I’m not going to do THAT again!”.
FHP is clever in their teaching style in that they intentionally write certain errors into the lessons. The better to teach what NOT to do. I enjoy spotting the errors ahead of time when I can, trying to determine how to avoid them.
As I read the objectives of each lesson I try to pinpoint what files I’ll have to edit, what methods I’ll have to add. Given a new process, I try to apply what I learn early in the lesson to other parts of my current App before I am instructed to do so, to see if I grokk it well enough to run with it.
Most days I do everything I can to AVOID asking for help. Note: this is a blessing and a curse. I learn more by figuring out for myself why something doesn’t work than I would by being spoon-fed the answer. BUT…
“The woods are lovely, dark and deep,. But I have promises to keep,. And miles to go before I sleep,. And miles to go before I sleep.”2
There is always a new rabbit-hole to dive down here. Always just one more detail to be hammered out before going back to the lesson. I have to remind myself that I have a finite period for learning all FHP has to teach me and there is a point at which it will do me more harm than good to keep struggling on my own.
Here be Monsters:
Final thought for tonight… There is a REASON why uncharted waters held fictitious monsters. The unknown can be a dark and frightening experience as you find your way.
There are always frustrations. (Monsters to fight.) Trying to learn and understand it all at once can get you lost, overwhelmed. Sometimes there is no help but to take a step back and disconnect for a bit. As much happy fun brain-candy as there is learning to code, an hour or two of a thorough distraction is like a server reboot. Laugh. Let it go. Pick it up tomorrow. Clear out the buffers, start fresh.
Unconscious cognition happens when you are focused on something else. You may see clearly after a good night’s sleep and a playful interlude.
~AMP
1. Shamlessly stolen from “Good judgment comes from experience, and often experience comes from bad judgment.” –Rita Mae Brown
2. Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening BY ROBERT FROST