How to master any topic using simple tactics

Many people use to ask me how I got to know many technologies and the way I use to get to know even the special terms assigned to a particular knowledge domain.

I am not revealing a secret formula, I learned that from others and there are many resources and trainings about this topic. But I will try to summarize the tools and methodologies I used over years to build my knowledge base and experience.

1-    Make Google your friend: Start by searching the topic and get introductions and tutorials from the Internet. With time, you will be able to filter the resources you get from your web search results and you will get to know which ones are reliable and the ones that you should neglect.

2-    Start applying the basics by your hand: I used this tactic on many occasions especially when I wanted to start learning new programming languages. Writing the few lines simple codes by your hand instead of just copy paste will let you get used to master the topic.

3-    Try to assign yourself to a project related to what you are learning: This tactic will let you discover many ins and outs and for sure by facing obstacles you will be forced to dig more into understanding the topic.

4-    Don’t fear from failures: Failure is an important part of the learning path, you cannot succeed without failing at the beginning, keep notes of your mistakes and try to avoid them later.

5-    Don’t stop on difficult statements or terms: At the beginning you might see many new terms and “big words” that will look hard to understand. Don’t give up and remember that everything is hard at the beginning and your patience is the key success factor.

6-    Keep yourself updated: Keep following the new trends of the topic by reading news, blogs and attending webinars. This will keep the topic fresh in your mind all the time.