4 Questions to Ask When Learning New Technology

In this technology age, we learn, all the time. Sometimes it seems like a new technology comes out every week, intended to solve a problem that we have. And with the number of things we need to learn, it’s easy to think we understand a certain technology, and why it exists, when in reality this is not the case.

For some time now I have been asking myself what set of questions can I ask myself every time I learn new technology so that I will get the big picture as fast as I can. Eventually, I came up with this list:

What is it?

The first step to understanding technology is understanding what it does. So ask yourself: “What is this thing? What does it do? Why was it created?”

When will I use it?

The next step is understanding real-world use cases for this technology. Ask yourself: “When will I use this thing? What use case can I see for this technology?”.

What are the pros and cons of using it?

Everything has its strength and weaknesses, and when you learn new technology, it’s essential to know those. Ask yourself: “what does this technology do right? and what does it do wrong?”. This will help you understand better if this technology is the right tool for the problem that you are trying to solve.

How do I use it?

This is the part when things get practical. After understanding as much as you can about the technology before actually using it, it’s now time to use it. This is when you will watch tutorials, build side projects, and deep dive into documentation(You might find my other article useful at this point).

Conclusion

So those are the questions that I find helpful in the process of learning new technologies. I would love to know if you find those questions helpful as well, and what other questions you might ask yourself in your learning process.

Also published here.