What is learning in public?
The core of ‘learning in public’ is simply sharing what you have learned with others. This could be a short tweet about a new topic you’ve discovered, a deep dive Youtube video into an area of research that interests you, or anything in between.
Why should I learn in public?
If you can’t explain or show your understanding to others, have you really learned a topic well enough? The act of researching information and editing content that you’d be happy to publish online can really highlight gaps in your knowledge.
Should I write about topics that are already well known?
Learning in public is primarily about helping yourself reinforce learning first - who cares if it’s already been written about?
As a nice secondary benefit - sharing content as a beginner can help others approaching your own level of ability.
In my own experience learning how to code, there have been many times I’ve been unable to understand a feature in official documentation, only to read a blog post with examples and it’s finally clicked. Don’t underestimate that a slightly different approach in explanation can be just what’s needed. Experts can sometimes suffer from the ‘curse of knowledge’ - forgetting that beginners may not have some pre-requisite knowledge required for their explanation. Beginners are more likely to remember the points that made it difficult for them to learn.
Why am I writing this?
I have upcoming exams in May ‘22 for Algorithmics, User Interaction and Data Science modules at university. To reinforce my learning and push myself to remain consistent in my approach to studying, I am going to write blogs covering my revision topics.
Check back soon and shout at me if I don’t post blogs.