A common pattern I see with students learning how to code is:
When it comes to hitting a learning plateau, it's important to look at the potential root causes for why it's occurring. It's been my experience that no two plateaus are the same. And until you've diagnosed why you're not learning, you won't be able to move on to your next level of skill.
Before I continue I want to reiterate something: you will never reach a point where your level of skill is maxed out. Maybe if you're a professional athlete and getting older, then your body is naturally going to decrease in performance. But when it comes to concepts such as understanding development, if you continue to dedicate yourself and if you're willing to listen to experts, your skill will never reach a peak.
Over the years I have witnessed a few key reasons why individuals (and myself) run into skill plateaus.
When a student lacks access to proper information, it makes learning a more arduous process. Imagine a talented developer in high school who had been relying on her teacher (who had limited skill). In cases like this, the student will need to find additional resources, such as online courses, that will help teach her concepts she's never been taught before.
During a phase of the learning cycle when best practices are the focus, students may feel like they are hitting a learning plateau. I remember when I was first learning about test-driven development. The concept seemed counterintuitive. I would spend 2-3 times the amount of time on a feature. And this became incredibly frustrating. It felt like I wasn't learning anything new because my new knowledge wasn't affecting anything on the screen.
In my experience, the main cause of students hitting a skill plateau is when they stop challenging themselves. If you remember back to when you were first learning development, it seemed like your knowledge was skyrocketing each day.
This approach is less taxing mentally. However, it has the nasty side effect of limiting how we improve. Whenever I feel like I'm getting into a rut, I will look at popular websites and I'll start to put together a list of features that I want to learn how to build. From that point, I can put a plan together for what concepts I need to learn in order to implement them.
One of my favorite illustrations of getting past skill plateaus was made by the calligrapher, Jamin Brown:
But also notice that the key to overcoming a plateau is called the Frustration Zone. I think that's a great name for it. Learning complex topics is not easy. As you've probably heard countless times, "if it were easy, everyone would do it".
Becoming a developer can be one of the most rewarding experiences that someone can have. And part of what makes learning how to code so fulfilling is how many challenges you'll need to overcome to succeed.
During a phase of the learning cycle when best practices are the focus, students may feel like they are hitting a learning plateau. I remember when I was first learning about test-driven development. The concept seemed counterintuitive. I would spend 2-3 times the amount of time on a feature. And this became incredibly frustrating. It felt like I wasn't learning anything new because my new knowledge wasn't affecting anything on the screen.
In my experience, the main cause of students hitting a skill plateau is when they stop challenging themselves. If you remember back to when you were first learning development, it seemed like your knowledge was skyrocketing each day.
This approach is less taxing mentally. However, it has the nasty side effect of limiting how we improve. Whenever I feel like I'm getting into a rut, I will look at popular websites and I'll start to put together a list of features that I want to learn how to build. From that point, I can put a plan together for what concepts I need to learn in order to implement them.
One of my favorite illustrations of getting past skill plateaus was made by the calligrapher, Jamin Brown:
But also notice that the key to overcoming a plateau is called the Frustration Zone. I think that's a great name for it. Learning complex topics is not easy. As you've probably heard countless times, "if it were easy, everyone would do it".
Becoming a developer can be one of the most rewarding experiences that someone can have. And part of what makes learning how to code so fulfilling is how many challenges you'll need to overcome to succeed.
In my experience, the main cause of students hitting a skill plateau is when they stop challenging themselves. If you remember back to when you were first learning development, it seemed like your knowledge was skyrocketing each day.
This approach is less taxing mentally. However, it has the nasty side effect of limiting how we improve. Whenever I feel like I'm getting into a rut, I will look at popular websites and I'll start to put together a list of features that I want to learn how to build. From that point, I can put a plan together for what concepts I need to learn in order to implement them.
One of my favorite illustrations of getting past skill plateaus was made by the calligrapher, Jamin Brown:
But also notice that the key to overcoming a plateau is called the Frustration Zone. I think that's a great name for it. Learning complex topics is not easy. As you've probably heard countless times, "if it were easy, everyone would do it".
Becoming a developer can be one of the most rewarding experiences that someone can have. And part of what makes learning how to code so fulfilling is how many challenges you'll need to overcome to succeed.
This approach is less taxing mentally. However, it has the nasty side effect of limiting how we improve. Whenever I feel like I'm getting into a rut, I will look at popular websites and I'll start to put together a list of features that I want to learn how to build. From that point, I can put a plan together for what concepts I need to learn in order to implement them.
One of my favorite illustrations of getting past skill plateaus was made by the calligrapher, Jamin Brown:
But also notice that the key to overcoming a plateau is called the Frustration Zone. I think that's a great name for it. Learning complex topics is not easy. As you've probably heard countless times, "if it were easy, everyone would do it".
Becoming a developer can be one of the most rewarding experiences that someone can have. And part of what makes learning how to code so fulfilling is how many challenges you'll need to overcome to succeed.
my favorite illustrations of getting past skill plateaus was made by the calligrapher, Jamin Brown:
But also notice that the key to overcoming a plateau is called the Frustration Zone. I think that's a great name for it. Learning complex topics is not easy. As you've probably heard countless times, "if it were easy, everyone would do it".
Becoming a developer can be one of the most rewarding experiences that someone can have. And part of what makes learning how to code so fulfilling is how many challenges you'll need to overcome to succeed.
