Enhancing your learning even while working
Tags: beginners, programming, learning, productivity
Published: 2023-05-07 14:41:28


![Dog on the computer with the title "I have no idea what I'm doing](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/oethu8taksyea6j1w1yl.png)

These days I saw an Instagram Post which said that you can only improve your knowledge when coding outside of work. Ok, maybe this can be true for some work environments, projects, and seniority levels. But I need to say to you, Entry Level Developer (or not), that _you can grab this time you are doing your task/project and high your knowledge level by at least 1%_ (that talk of continuous improvement and stuff).


## Really get out of your comfort zone (trust me, this is not a cliche)

There are a lot of ways to get out of your comfort zone even while you are working.

- Experiment to pick up a task you're not used to (f.e.: deployment, documentation, specific bugs…). I know that there is something which when you look at it, you think "Oh my god, this would be challenger for me". Is this task I am talking about!

- If possible, give support to another team that might need it. To get in contact with different projects can be powerfull!

- Try to get in contact with different languages. If your work is on the Back-End, you can talk to your manager and your team to see if it's possible to get simple tasks on the Front-End, for example. 


## Understand the problem instead of looking for the solution

How many times did you solve something, but not really understood what was happening? Our “treasure chests” like Stack Overflow give us solutions, but often take from us the ability to solve problems.

What I am saying here is not that you need to stop using these tools, but actually to _even when you need to use it, to seek to understand **WHY** the problem is happing, **WHY** this is the solution, and **HOW** this solution works._

Understanding this, you are going to not just solve the problem, but you will also finish it with a better **conscience** and **perception** about the project and technology you work with. 


## Cherish documentation

This topic is together with the last one! I know we have almost everything easy for us on the internet, but we can't disregard the documentation.
 
For example, if you work with ReactJS and you know that what you need to do has to do with States, probably you don't have to get it all done on Google as the answer will be on the React Docs and, consequently, I have to repeat: not just you will solve the problem, but you will also finish the task with a better **conscience** and **perception** about the project and technology you work with. 

> _To constantly read your stack documentations it's equally important, even outside your job. Courses, articles and workshops are great, but documentation gives us a great awareness of the tecnology straight from source and teaches us powerfull things._


## Take notes about your knowledge gaps

During your tasks is possible to notice some knowledge gaps. Maybe you are not understanding some functions on the Database, or it's being hard to use flexbox in CSS… when you notice this, don't ignore! Always have a place in which you write what your need to study more about in your free time and then improve it.

I really enjoy using Notion for this, for example. I have a page with article links, topics, and other stuff I need to evolve and focus my studies on it, but you can also use Google Docs or any other platform you feel comfortable with.

---

I hope this post has helped you in some way! It is based on my experience, so never forget to respect what works for you, always. ❤️

Feel free to give contributions in the comments if you have something to add. Let's help our community :)