Learning how to learn is a fundamental skill.
Note: This is a work in progress
Introduction:
Recently I’ve decided to spend more time learning virtual reality development with Unreal Engine 4. There wasn’t any panic involved, just a prolonged period of 5 days where I expended a lot of mental energy figuring out a course of action. This is akin to the “Pathways” option provided by many online course providers, for example front-end development, back-end development and so on. The same cannot be said for game development. There is no consensus of a homogeneous curriculum (as yet…).
It occurred to me —> what if I could adopt a mode of learning and thinking that I can then apply as I move across a different set of technologies, for example moving from web development to virtual reality development. This skill is commonly known as “problem solving”. However, it’s not a particular problem that I’m trying to solve, rather I’m trying to train my brain to efficiently adapt in order to learn new things, have lucid thinking and then be able to make/code/create/problem solve for any platform. I’ve seen developers complete a 1st year computer science class in C but then struggle coding a web app. This kind of rigidity in thinking models/modes can also be seen in other professions such as doctors, teachers etc.
So anyways I’ve spent a lot of brain juice on this in addition to online subscriptions to cope with information overload. Here are a few hacks for learning and thinking like an engineer/maker/do-er:
0. PLAN
Due to information overload (blogs, twitter etc) this is important to do when learning a new skill especially technologies since they change so fast. Often simplified online through the use of “Pathways”. Example frontend, backend, UX, networking pathways.
Moving from fullstack JS development to game development involves learning a set of tools rather than learning coding logic specifically. Since there is really no unified curriculum and game development involves design + development. The best way in this case would be to make a small project. Easier if using #unrealengine since it comes with blueprints which makes learning efficient since you can get acquainted with the game engine while making something presentable, without being bogged down by C++ early on.
