5
iceb
330d

Unpopular opinion: reading a doc != training. How is this different from reading medium and stackoverflow

Comments
  • 8
    Unpopular opinion: "unpopular opinion" is used wrongly just as often as "literally".
  • 0
    @Lensflare Even as my previous questions on devrant suggested. Most people prefer to read async?
  • 5
    reading a doc != training.

    there's nothing unpopular or controversial about this. that's just a fact.

    maybe try: reading a doc is _far superior_ to training.
  • 0
    Sensei cared so deeply about this they said it twice ^
  • 2
    @tosensei I would say it depends, for some things docs is the best way, for others training is good, at best you have a good mix.

    But you will always find someone that disagrees with you no matter which opinion you have :)
  • 1
    This is my current company.

    Every time I expect someone to explain things to me as "training" ended up being "read these docs"

    fml
  • 3
    @Voxera "But you will always find someone that disagrees with you no matter which opinion you have :)" - no.
  • 2
    @MammaNeedHummus nah, devrant's just buggy AF
  • 1
    I always felt like college taught you to learn how to learn on your own. That seemed to be the primary goal. So I seek out docs and related videos on youtube. For some clarification I find solutions on SO.

    Docs for a reference to get my head around the basics.

    Videos for overall or theme based info.

    Question and answer sites for nuanced details that are not always available or straight forward in the docs or videos.
  • 2
    @Demolishun I agree that college teaches you how to learn.

    That being said, no documentation or even video do a good job of reflecting the nuances that only comes from experience.

    I think it's more efficient to conduct face to face (metaphorical) training to go over the docs together.

    Point out the important things to look at and where the example documentation applies and when it goes beyond of certain things.

    Otherwise I feel like I'd have to run into the same issues people had run into to get to their level of understanding.

    At least that's how I conducted training for juniors at my previous company.

    Not only was it a chance to audit the documentation, it's also a chance to validate our design and collect feedback as we can then see what kind of questions we get and what part confuses people etc.

    I feel like saying "read these documentations. and you'll know how to do certain things when the time comes" is pretty sink or swim.
  • 0
    @iceb I feel like I got that through videos on youtube.
  • 1
    Don't underestimate a good software book btw - there are some classics I've found transformative and are a joy to read and can pick up vverry cheaply on eBay or library.

    E.g.
    * Working Effectively with Legacy Code (a beaut)
    * The Pragmatic Programmer (20 year anniversary edition is most up-to-date) [also a beaut]
    * xunit test patterns: refactoring test code (equally beautifully)
    * Many others I've yet to read!
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