Good Morning from my Robotics Lab! This is Shadow_8472 with another installment of How I would Relearn Linux, a series where I drop tips about the lessons I’ve learned writing about Linux. Let’s get started!
Document Your Work
This blog has been invaluable to my self-studies of Linux. The weekly push has been vital to keeping my various projects alive. If I were relearning Linux, I would highly recommend blogging as one thing I got right early on.
At the same time, another medium might be right for you. The Linux community self-propagates through everything else from videos and books to forums and chat rooms. A private journal would not be inappropriate – as a matter of fact, if I were relearning Linux, I would write for a few months directly into a word processor and buffer it on a hard drive while I research a host, domain name, and blogging software. Whatever you medium or two are suitable to your talents will provide you a resource to look back on later.
Audience and Frequency
Let’s take a closer look at my own blog as an example, Let’s Build Robotics With Shadow_8472. My content is online for the world to see, but my primary audience is myself as I write. I’m of course excited to talk about my projects, but if I cared about having a constant stream of fans jabbering away about me, I would have either paid closer attention to audience building or given up long ago. My main purpose is to give myself a regular push to learn.
The one piece of advice I’ve followed closely is consistency. I’ve posted Mondays at noon (Pacific) with few accidental exceptions since learning to schedule posts. Not every post is my proudest work, but that’s OK. Progress is slow with projects outside familiar parts of my niche. When projects turn out to be much bigger than I judged, I can talk about what’s not working, call it “Part 1,” and hope someone has a solution. If all else fails, I’ve afforded myself the flexibility to switch to a smaller topic when I burn out. It will be there in a month when I return.
Takeaway
This blog remains one of the most important pillars of my continuing to develop my Linux skills. I would totally recommend something similar for anyone looking to learn a technology skill.
Final Question
How do you record your long-term progress?
I look forward hearing your answers in the comments below or on my Socials.