Self-study + Full-time Job is Hard

It is hard.

It is hard to build up a good self-learning plan and keep up with it while having a full-time. The reasons are:

1. only a fraction of concentration can be used for studying, and
2. there are no clear and immediate goals of your studies.

Spare time is too short for reading.

What I Have Tried

It’s been 4 months after I started my first full-time job after graduated from my Master’s program. Learning is fun, and that’s something we should do no matter we are still a student or not. I’ve been trying to pick up more solid knowledge in Software Architecture recently. The final goal in my mind is to build up a strong skill in this area with a real-world experience gained from work. In the same time, I want to read as much and diverse as I can.

In past 4 months, I’ve done:

1. taking an online course, Software Architecture: Principles and Practices,
2. reading half of the textbook Software Architecture in Practice,
3. listening to an audio book Principles: Life and Work by Ray Dalio,
4. listening to an audio book When Breath Becomes Air, and
5. reading around 10 papers in Distributed System and Machine Learning areas.

However, there are the things I wanted to do but I didn’t:

1. reading books including Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software, C++ Primer (5th Edition), Software Architecture: Perspectives on an Emerging Discipline, 1Q84
2. writing notes for these books or other findings,
3. learning Learn Vimscript the Hard Way

Why It’s Hard

First, it’s hard because the learning requires a deep concentration; however, only a fraction of concentration could be used in learning. Usually, there will be around one hour of time I can spend on self-learning every weekday. During that period of time, what I can read into the memory is limited because a day of work had already consumed all energy I have for a day. A short reading like a paper could be doable for me; however, reading a chapter of a book is too much. Simply to say, reading long content requires much more effort I had left after a day of work.

Second, it’s hard because there’s no clear or strong goal in these studies. In my mind, although I do know that I want to improve my skills in certain areas, I don’t know that’s the exact plan to execute. Also, even if there’s a plan, it will have less priority comparing to the daily work I have. As a result, this made reading books less possible to be achieved.

It turns out I wasn’t able to consume many deep self-learning during the past 4 months. Although, I read a thick book, “Principle”, it was actually pretty painful and I didn’t take away much eventually.

How to Fix This

Learning in a university and learning while having a full-time job are very different. To fix this, first, I would update the expectation I had and match it up the reality. It includes realizing the time and energy I have for self-learning is fractional, and I will have to gain most of it under this given fact.

Second, I could refer to how others’ do their studies while they have a full-time job. I’ve seen professors still reading tons of paper and keeping themselves updated to the latest academic trends. I also have seen my father reading Business magazines on a weekly basis. On the other hand, I found people who planned to read books or take serious classes didn’t end up well.

Last, it’s time for me to come out with my own plan. Based on the things above, we can tell that reading short but deep papers could be a good choice for my self study. Also, doing audiobooks for less intense content could be another good way of reading which I can do it during my workout hours. I also think that I should write more during the weekends in order to keep the input and output of my brain balanced.

Learning makes you fly far.

Looking Further

Self-learning has been a very important part of my life since high school. Other than the serious learnings, I am also interested in learning more about photography, writing, and Japanese! For Photography, I do have a bi-weekly photography challenge with a group of friends where we set a theme bi-weekly, shoot photos of that theme, then discuss each others’ work together. However, I haven’t found out learning opportunities for writing and Japanese which fits my schedule yet.