How to fill holes in my knowledge? | Hacker News Reader

How to fill holes in my knowledge?

2 pointsTheGoogler4 comments

Hi everyone. I am 27 years old, I finished my IT studies 2 years ago, since then I spent a bit time working as an Android developer, then I worked at a small startup basically as IT generalist (databases, C#, MSSQL, Oracle, etc). Then I left that and started working as a freelance Android dev.

I realized that I have big holes in my knowledge of Android programming. I worked on 2 (simpler) projects as a freelancer and projects I did work fine, but I am not satisfied with them. I am sure that you all know that the point of programming is not only to make the code that works.

I can make things work, but I feel like they are not meant to be made like that. Basically I am a Googler. Meaning that holes I have in my knowledge I manage to fill by using general programming knowledge in combination with a lot of googling.

I never had formal Android programming education. I learned JAVA at University and I have no idea how I ended up with Android, but I like it. And now I would like to fill those holes. I stared with intermediate course on Udacity (it is a bit outdated, but it's fine), I think about checking TreeHouse, Coursera doesn't have courses I am interested soon. And when I listen to Intermediate course basically I don't know one segment, then I know the next one, then I don't know the third, and so on.

So I was wondering what approach would you recommend me? How can I better myself?

Thank you.

I can totally understand what you are trying to say because I am more or less in the same boat. But let me tell you that there is no one answer to this problem, you will get mixed opinions and thirdly, don't over-stress yourself because you would never be able to know everything about Android.

I taught myself Java during Uni, then learnt Android and have a CS masters with around 2-3 years of professional experience but I do feel those holes. I am not good with memory so I also keep forgetting important conceptual things specially when I am preparing for any interview. I also understand that it's difficult to revise and review 'the basics' and 'fundamentals' while you have your full-day job but somehow it's necessary. I recently worked for 6 months in a startup where we were only 2 Android devs. The other guy was very experienced with 5+ years and he helped me a lot in grasping some key concepts in Android. So, if an experienced person is reviewing your code, you will improve a lot. Then try to read a lot of other's code specially the best projects which are available open-source. When I used to explore that Android project code written by that guy, I felt like this dude is a Pro and I would never be able to use this stuff in this way because I just didn't know about it. So, you realise this missing blocks in your knowledge factory and you won't know until you experience.

Try to befriend and work with experts because best way to become smart is to work with smart people. I will also start the Android Intermediate course on Coursera so that I can improve my basics and learn things properly with depth. I follow Android news, you come to know about new libraries, famous bugs etc. which again helps you in filling those holes.

Best of luck to both of us !

Thank you for your response, a bit of a problem is that I work alone. As a freelancer. I didn't have an opportunity to work with someone who knows what he/she is doing. Sometimes when I find some nice code online, I try to grasp concepts that they are using and that seem logical. I could probably find a job at a company in my country, and have an opportunity to work with someone experienced. But the difference in the money I would make it would be so big it's crazy.

Hi,

I am an MBA graduate and having 2+ yrs experience in marketing. when I started my job career I had only theoritical knowledge of marketing but with more experience I got to know a lot of things about marketing.

In my point of view sometimes your experience increases your knowledge to fill holes and sometimes if you read more bookes as per your interest area then you can fill holes....Yes, if we spend our whole life then also we can't say that we have full knowledge cause learning never ends...

Try to write an app that you know you will have trouble with, and make notes as you learn along the way.

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