
Who Participated In This Survey?
Aiming to help our “fresh” students avoid issues concerning the organization of the training, we have conducted a brief survey among some of our “old-school” students. So, if you’re wondering what like-minded people “look like” and what problems they face during the learning process, let’s shed light on that. Below, you’ll find answers from CodeGym’s users who kindly agreed to devote their time to our survey.Geography

Age

The Background

Goals

What Do They Say About Organization of Training?
It’s really important to choose consistency over speed and don’t overwhelm yourself with new information, even if you have plenty of free time. Ideally, you should spend 1-4 hours per learning daily. And most of our students follow this recommendation and stick to this timeframe. More than 70% of our learners devote an adequate amount of time to learning on a regular basis, whereas about 20% study chaotically.
What May Happen If You Underload or Overload Yourself?
To start with “underloading”, in the best scenario, you will simply scratch your learning for too long and may end the course after a couple of years instead of the potential 12-18 months for beginners and 6-9 months for users with some experience behind the belt. In the worst scenario, you may give up the learning process because the studying gaps will result in poor knowledge and losing faith in your skills. On the other hand, if you overwhelm yourself with new information, you may quickly get exhausted and, again, quit. That’s why it’s vitally important to keep the balance and load yourself adequately. Ultimately, any student risks becoming a lifelong Java learner with no defined timeframe, so what can help you at this step is a thought-out plan.
How to Create an Effective Plan
It’s really important to build an efficient roadmap tailored to your specific requirements. That’s why we suggest that you created the study plan based on your needs. It would be wise to break down your main goal into small steps and draw up a daily/weekly/monthly schedule depending on them. It’s a notable fact that CodeGym offers a concise plan that you can follow according to your needs:
How Breaks May Influence the Learning Process and What Can be Done about Them
According to our research, students take breaks from time to time (actually, about 50% of all the CodeGym’s users who completed the survey). For someone, it may be just a couple of days, whereas for others the “hiatus” may stretch up to 6-7 months. Needless to say, taking breaks (especially that long) may lead to quitting or, at least, dragging yourself back. Lots of our users have learned a lesson that ”regular studying with no breaks” is the key to success. So, below, we’re going to explain how to resume learning without losing already-acquainted knowledge and motivation. Here are the main things that may help you out if you happen to experience hiatus:- Analyzing and eliminating the reason for your “stop”.
- Reviewing goals and, hence, modifying a plan and schedule.
- Creating a comfortable environment for learning.
- Maintaining the optimal life/study balance.
- Limiting distractions.
You can read more suggestions in our article How to Get Back to Learning after a Hiatus? |
Extra Helpers
Speaking about the other extra tools that may help you stay “on the path” we can subdivide them into:Distraction blockers. You may benefit from using StayFocusd extension and Anti-Social app.
Pomodoro technique tools. If you’d like to follow a tried-and-true time management method created by Francesco Cirillo in the 1980s (read more here), you can download Pomodairo or Tomighty.
Habit tracking apps. There are tons of different habit-tracking apps out there, but what we can recommend to our students are Momentum (a Chrome extension offering to-do list sidebars, helpful links, and inspirational quotes, etc) and Habit List (a well-known app with numerous tools for habit creation).
Study apps. Need an extra helper to push yourself forward? Then, you may benefit from special services helping you to organize the studying process. We like My Study Life for its user-friendly design and help in organizing classes, tasks, exams, and assignments. Evernote needs no presentation. It’s an old-school tool that still boasts lots of functional tools for its “modern” users. A note or memo in any format? Not a problem.
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