What do you prefer?
Are you a reader or a watcher? What is your preferred way to learn new things in programming, tech etc.?
Why?
When you're learning new things in tech, do you use written stuff or videos more often? Why?
Mateusz Podlasin
・1 min read
Discussion (8)
I need both. Very often I'll watch a video or two and then go read the documentation.
Video begins the process of opening the door to new ideas but it's documentation that throws the doors wide open.
There's a few different learning styles that work best for me. I usually start with reading about something because that's the way that I learn the best. But, failing that, I watch tutorials.
What really makes me understand something is actually doing it, so regardless of where I'm getting the information, I won't learn anything tech related until I actually do the thing that I'm trying to learn. Tech is about the only field that I'm a kinetic learner in, it's very strange. Everything else I've studied, I've learned more by reading.
I use both, but I start with the videos.
The videos either give me a quick window into the jargon or a realistic example of how it can be used. Videos also give me a quick glimpse of if said tech is worth learning at the moment, or if I need to find something else.
I then follow up with reading for the full deep dive.
I'm a watcher but I combine both
writing. you read faster than you can watch!
also, less easy to get distracted by cat videos.
I think it's good to do a combination of all different learning styles, you might remember different things from different methods
Mostly written, but sometimes if I find a video that gives a bird's eye view of the whole thing then I might watch that first. It's a good starting point to know where to dig deeper.
I'd say it's almost like when learning a foreign language: one usually watches a video or listens to a podcast to gather some familiarity with it and to get inspired, but the bulk of the actual knowledge comes from them thick grammar books.
Same can be applied to learning programming languages and frameworks: a code-along video to grasp the idea or to get updated on the new stuff, and the documentation and written tutorials for more in-depth info