Is any of these the fastest way to learn a skill?

1. Articles, tutorials or books?

2. Video or CD based courses?

3. Audio or MP3 based courses?

My Career Makeover Secret

If you have been following my blog, you probably know by now that I was educated as a chemical engineer.

However, I changed my career to information technology after I graduated and started work.

Why I Choose An Information Technology Career

I found my chemical engineering courses abstract, dull, lifeless and boring in college! The problem wasn’t that the material was hard to grasp, but that it was too theoretical!

At that time of my life, I couldn’t figure out what was wrong. I always had to work extra hard to motivate myself to study and whenever I studied, it was just to pass my exams!

Have you ever found yourself in a similar situation?

How I stumbled upon the fastest way to learn a skill

Then I stumbled upon a couple of friends who where computer science majors. These folks enjoyed their courses and looked forward to their exams.

Do you know their secret?

They had real jobs working as computer programmers while attending college! So, they applied the theoretical knowledge from computer science college courses to real world software engineering and computer programming problems!

These students were motivated because their learning wasn’t entirely theoretical like mine was. They received a big, immediate, real-world payback from their studies by working on real, living, practical problems.

This my friend, is the fastest way to learn a skill.

Look at it this way. What is the fastest way to learn Chinese or any foreign language if you are an English speaker?

1. Studying books, videos or CDs on Chinese or any foreign language?

2. Attending language classes on Chinese or any foreign language?

3. Going to live and work in China or any foreign country?

Studies have shown that the human brain is not really designed and does not perform well with abstract subjects.

This is because our brains are designed to make meaning and interpret what it studies. so, concrete real-world concepts are easier for our brains to understand than abstract, theoretical information.

However, you have to be careful how you interpret the data I am giving you!

You cannot just learn information technology or software development concepts like UML, Use Cases, Requirements Analysis, Web Design, Database Design, Computer Programming, just by doing!

You Cannot Learn Just By Doing!

You cannot learn just by doing! If you try to learn just by doing, you will soon become one of those that don’t understand what they are doing and are always trying to guess at the correct solution!

The Best Way To Learn A Skill Includes Both The Theory and Practice

You need to have a sound theoretical understanding of the problem you are solving and a lot of real-world experience with applying your theoretical knowledge!

This my friend is the principle that I follow in all my training courses and books.

1. I emphasize the exact amount of theoretical knowledge in my training courses, no more and no less and

2. I emphasize the exact amount of practical, real-world, hands on problem solving learning, no more and no less

If you are interested in “learning both the exact” theoretical knowledge and practical skill that will take your business analyst career or computer programmer career or IT analyst career to the next level, order my training courses at SQLBOOTCAMP.COM or BUSINESSANALYSTBOOTCAMP.COM or SOFTWAREDEVELOPERBOOTCAMP.COM or ORDER MY BOOKS!

About The Author

My name is Kingsley Tagbo and I’m a technical expert living in Saint Louis, Missouri. I write about the training, coaching, mentoring and personal development of software development professionals including business analysts, computer programmers, testers, project managers, web designers, data analysts, report writers, software developers and other information technology professionals .

My firm, Exacticity, performs software development consulting and training for clients throughout the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand. If you are in need of software development consultants or training, click here to get in touch with me.

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