I did finish the book “The Google Cloud Certified Professional Cloud Architect Study Guide” to prepare for my exam. I did want to post about everything I was learning. The start was great, not “chapter-by-chapter describing everything perfectly”-great, but I liked what was going on, I did get some nice summaries of the chapters. Up until chapter 6.
I did start writing about the networking concepts in chapter 6, but, to be honest, I can not put them quickly into words in a way that I would find easy to understand. As for the rest of the chapters, I got impatient. I know that writing out what I have learnt would have helped me cement my knowledge, and find the gaps easier, but I just really wanted to finish the book. I did learn from the later chapters, even if most of the things on software development lifecycle and SRE concepts I was already familiar with from my workplace.
Besides the technical and business knowledge I’ve got, here’s what I’m taking away from the preparations themselves.
Note: this is all very subjective.
Learning is like a bit like working out – the more you do it, the easier it gets, and the more you will like it.
Sports can teach you a lot about this. Because most of the time you don’t feel like working out. Or at least I don’t. But I am aware that once I am there, and I am in the flow, the voice, that earlier was very convinced that I am too tired and hungry for pizza, will disappear. Once the workout is finished, I feel proud and cannot stop smiling.
I am sure the processes behind learning are very different from sports. But accepting that voice, and knowing it might not be saying the things that will help me in the long term, is the same process. Taking cold showers is another example of how to get better at this.
Once you are doing it, focusing on one thing at a time, it can be quite meditative. I observed this at my workplace as well, as I was struggling with procrastination. Once I applied the same principles to getting started on my tasks, I felt like I got things done in a more timely manner.
If something needs to be done, it can be done even if it takes staying up until late.
I do not advise anyone to lose out on sleep, do not underestimate the power of it! (see “Why We Sleep” by Matthew Walker) Actually, I do advise against doing this in general.
But for me, I used to put things aside, to go to sleep early. Just to end up watching TV for 3 hours, but this time from the bed. So now I did sit down to learn, even if it meant starting after 10pm.
I do feel a certain satisfaction after finishing a chapter/section.
You know the tiny dopamine hit you get after finishing a task, any task? I got it after finishing a chapter. It made me want to do another chapter, and then I had to remind myself that I value sleep a lot and that I want to be productive at work the next day.
Getting into the flow makes it easier to get through the chapter.
After managing to sit down and start reading and taking notes, it was also important to eliminate distractions. I had to turn off the TV, put my phone away, and maybe even turn on my Pomodoro timer when everything else failed. Actually focusing on what I was reading, and trying to understand, and writing down pushed me into a focused mood. 1-2 hours went by quickly.
Regular breaks are important – especially to protect my eyes.
My eyes do hurt when I sit in front of a monitor the whole day. I do try not to overuse them, but working in front of a computer the whole day, scrolling on my phone and watching TV does make them hurt. So to protect them, I do take breaks. At some point, I want to look into other ways to help them, but for now, taking regular breaks away from anything that requires focusing my eyes, and just looking out the windows, like an old lady, does help.
Writing down what I’ve learned is still the best way for me to make things stick.
I do not know anyone who does this. I received doubtful looks from my teachers for this. One of them even asked if it does not take too long. It does take a long time and requires effort. But the effort is spent on the material you want to learn. You reflect on it, you think about it differently, and you understand it even better. If you’ve never tried it, I would say give it a go. If you have a friend to study with, maybe tell each other what you’ve learnt, ask questions, and challenge your understanding. I usually like to do things on my own, that is why I prefer writing.
Notes don’t have to be perfect or pretty for me – that part does not add to my learning experience.
Okay, I did enjoy using different colours on my notes. I like to look at them, they do make me feel good about the notes. But I also like to look at my handwriting. I did have to change my handwriting in university because others could not read it. As a result, my handwriting is pretty and resembles printed letters more. Different coloured lines and drawings do not add enough to the experience to make it worth it. Unless worthiness is not the point, and I am learning for fun.
Learning from a book and taking physical notes is very nostalgic, and reminds me of the hard-working and high-achieving student I used to be – past Lilla was impressive 
The whole experience did remind me of who I was in school. I never needed to take physical notes since university, which is completely fine. But doing this did make me feel closer to the highly driven person I was, always learning, searching for new books, and getting in all the knowledge. I liked that person. That person did not need to think about adult things.
