Learning New Technologies: My Framework for Getting Up to Speed Fast

Learning #learning #career #productivity #tutorial #growth
4 min read

As developers, we’re always learning. New frameworks drop monthly. Languages evolve. Tools change. Here’s my systematic approach to learning tech without burning out.

The Framework (30-60-90 Days)

First 30 Days: Fundamentals

Goal: Understand the basics and build something small.

Week 1: Overview

  • Read official docs (intro pages only)
  • Watch 1-2 getting-started videos
  • Understand: What problem does this solve?
  • Install and run “Hello World”

Week 2: Core Concepts

  • Learn the 5-7 most important concepts
  • Build trivial examples for each
  • Don’t worry about best practices yet

Week 3: Small Project

  • Build a TodoMVC equivalent
  • Use official tutorials
  • Ask questions in community Discord/Slack
  • Struggle is normal

Week 4: Review & Reinforce

  • What confused me?
  • What clicked?
  • Write a blog post explaining what I learned
  • Share with community for feedback

Days 30-60: Going Deeper

Goal: Build something real. Hit limitations.

Pick a project that:

  • Solves a real problem for you
  • Requires multiple features
  • Will take 2-4 weeks
  • Uses the technology’s strengths

Learn:

  • State management
  • Data fetching
  • Error handling
  • Testing basics
  • Deployment

Don’t learn yet:

  • Advanced patterns
  • Performance optimization
  • Every edge case

Days 60-90: Advanced & Mastery

Goal: Understand trade-offs and best practices.

Now learn:

  • Architecture patterns
  • Performance considerations
  • Common pitfalls
  • When NOT to use this tech
  • Alternative approaches

Contribute:

  • Answer questions
  • File bug reports
  • Improve docs
  • Build a library/tool

By day 90, you’re not an expert. But you’re productive.

My Learning Stack

1. Official Docs First

Always start here. They’re usually better than tutorials.

What I read:

  • Quick start
  • Core concepts
  • API reference (as needed)

What I skip:

  • Advanced guides (for now)
  • Migration guides
  • Internal architecture

2. Build While Learning

Don’t:

  • Watch 40 hours of tutorials before coding
  • Read entire book first
  • Try to understand everything

Do:

  • Follow tutorial, then modify it
  • Build something immediately
  • Break things and fix them

3. Join the Community

Where I hang out:

  • Official Discord/Slack
  • Reddit (r/javascript, r/reactjs, etc.)
  • Twitter/X (follow core maintainers)
  • GitHub Discussions

Pro tip: Lurk for a week. Understand culture before asking questions.

4. Read Other People’s Code

Best sources:

  • Official examples
  • Popular open source projects
  • Starter templates
  • Netlify/Vercel templates

What I look for:

  • Project structure
  • Common patterns
  • How they handle errors
  • Testing approaches

5. Take Notes (Obsidian)

I keep a note for each technology:

# React

## Core Concepts
- Components
- Props
- State
- Hooks

## Gotchas
- useEffect dependencies
- Key prop in lists
- ...

## Useful Resources
- [Official Docs](...)
- [Tutorial X](...)

## My Questions
- When to use useCallback?
- ...

Searchable, linkable, forever.

The Projects I Build

Level 1: Todo App

Yes, everyone builds this. For good reason:

  • CRUD operations
  • State management
  • User input
  • Local storage

Variations:

  • Todo app with API
  • Todo app with auth
  • Todo app with real-time updates

Level 2: Dashboard

Features:

  • Data visualization
  • API integration
  • Multiple views
  • Filtering/sorting

Good for learning:

  • Data fetching
  • Loading states
  • Error handling
  • Performance

Level 3: Mini-SaaS

Features:

  • Authentication
  • Database
  • Payments (Stripe)
  • Email
  • Deployment

This teaches:

  • Full-stack integration
  • Real-world concerns
  • Production deployment
  • User experience

Specific Strategies

Learning a New Language

My order:

  1. Syntax and types
  2. Control flow
  3. Functions
  4. Data structures
  5. OOP/FP concepts
  6. Standard library
  7. Ecosystem/tooling

Project: CLI tool or web scraper

Learning a Framework

My order:

  1. Project setup
  2. Component model
  3. State management
  4. Routing
  5. Data fetching
  6. Forms
  7. Testing

Project: CRUD app with API

Learning a Tool

My order:

  1. What problem does it solve?
  2. Basic usage
  3. Configuration options
  4. Integration with my workflow
  5. Advanced features

Project: Improve existing project with this tool

When I Get Stuck

Strategy 1: Rubber Duck It

Explain the problem out loud. 50% of the time, I solve it mid-explanation.

Strategy 2: The 15-Minute Rule

Stuck for 15 minutes? Ask for help.

Where I ask:

  • Stack Overflow (searchable forever)
  • Discord/Slack (fast responses)
  • GitHub Issues (if it’s a bug)

Strategy 3: Take a Break

Seriously. Walk away. The answer comes.

Strategy 4: Work on Something Else

Stalled on Feature A? Work on Feature B. Come back fresh.

Learning from Mistakes

My approach:

  1. Make the mistake
  2. Break the code
  3. Figure out why
  4. Write a test to prevent it
  5. Never make it again

Mistakes are expensive lessons. Don’t waste them.

Resources I Actually Use

Courses

  • Egghead.io - Short, focused videos
  • Frontend Masters - Deep dives
  • Free Code Camp - When free matters

Blogs

  • Official blogs (best source)
  • Dev.to (hit or miss, but free)
  • Personal blogs (often hidden gems)

Books

  • I rarely read cover-to-cover
  • I use as reference
  • “You Don’t Know JS” series = excellent

YouTube

  • Fireship - Quick overviews
  • Theo - Opinions and insights
  • Ben Awad - Real coding, not tutorials

How I Stay Current

Newsletter Strategy

I subscribe to:

  • JavaScript Weekly
  • React Status
  • Node Weekly
  • Frontend Focus

Skim headlines. Read what interests me. Archive rest.

Twitter/X

Follow:

  • Library/framework creators
  • Prolific open source devs
  • Tech companies
  • Conference speakers

Turn off notifications. Check once daily.

RSS Feeds

Still use them! Curated list of:

  • Official blogs
  • My favorite devs
  • Tech publications

Read during lunch or commute.

The Most Important Lesson

You don’t need to learn everything.

  • You can’t keep up with all of JS ecosystem
  • You don’t need every new framework
  • It’s okay to wait and see

Learn what:

  • You need for work
  • Genuinely interests you
  • Solves your problems

Ignore the rest. FOMO is a trap.

My Learning Routine

Daily (30 min):

  • Read newsletters
  • Quick tutorial or doc page
  • Experiment with something small

Weekly (2-3 hours):

  • Build on side project
  • Watch a conference talk
  • Read a technical article

Monthly:

  • Start learning something new
  • Contribute to open source
  • Write about what I learned

Yearly:

  • Review what I learned
  • Identify gaps
  • Plan next year

Signs You’re Learning Wrong

  • Watching tutorials but not coding
  • Reading about concepts but not using them
  • Collecting resources but not consuming them
  • Feeling guilty about what you don’t know

Signs You’re Learning Right

  • Building things
  • Breaking things
  • Fixing things
  • Sharing things
  • Teaching things

Conclusion

Learning tech isn’t about being smart. It’s about being systematic:

  1. Start small - Don’t overwhelm yourself
  2. Build stuff - Knowledge without practice is useless
  3. Share learnings - Teaching solidifies understanding
  4. Be patient - Expertise takes time

Remember: Everyone was a beginner once. Even that person whose code you admire struggled with the basics.

Now go learn something new! 📚

What are you learning right now? Let me know on Twitter/X!