How to learn a new skill? — IoT
Around 8 months ago, my girlfriend invited me to work on a project which focused on converting normal street light to Smart Street Light. I am not going to go into the depth of the project but it introduced me with the world of IoT and micro-controllers. Since then I had in my mind that some way or the other I have to learn more about it since it offers various business opportunities.
Mastering a new skill can be a daunting task. It demands both motivation and a clear direction of what you aim to achieve. If you’re also learning something new, let me share my secret recipe with you.
Phase 1: Finding motivation
Motivation is what drives us towards our goal, and one needs to be motivated enough to work hard. Internet of Things is a vast field and it is pretty easy to get confused and eventually give up before even learning about it. I lacked motivation, and started finding ways to get motivated.
There was one strategy that worked for me, I call it the “Social-media makeover”. This strategy made me switch from Instagram(I ended up uninstalling it) to Reddit, Twitter, LinkedIn and Youtube. I forcefully changed my feed by simply clicking on the “Not interested” button with useless posts. I also started searching for phrases related to my goal (IoT, Raspberry Pi, sensors, business aspect of IoT).
One should surround themselves with content related to their goal in order to get motivated.
After following these steps for 2–3 days, it started working. My feed started bursting with posts that were related to projects built on Raspberry Pi and how IoT will change our day to day lives. Watching this content, made me want to build something on my own. There it was, the zeal I have been looking for, It was there hidden in my social media apps all along.
Phase 2: Taking the first step
When a baby takes their first step, it may not be the most efficient, but it marks the beginning of the gradual transition from crawling to running.
What is the first step when learning IoT? I still don’t know, but I have to start from somewhere. The best way is to start with a basic course of that topic. I enrolled into a course from Udemy which helped me build a basic project using Raspberry Pi. Even though that project wasn’t my end-goal, it did teach me a few terms and I can start preparing a roadmap of topics I need to learn.
After doing that course, I immediately started learning about sensors and also started making notes for the same.
Phase 3: Optimizing my steps
I have my social media accounts feeding me posts related to IoT and Raspberry Pi on a regular basis. I just hop onto my beautiful youtube app, and there I have, a list of projects I can start building. Obviously I have no idea how to build any, but now I have the answer of “What to build?”. To figure out “How to build it?” I’ll use my exploratory skills.
Eventually I will have built so many projects, and among them I would have figured out my star project that would help me build a business in IoT ;)
Keep it in mind that this requires consistency. To become a master in a skill, one should keep learning it and getting better at it.
These steps have helped me start learning IoT in depth. I hope this helps you get focused towards your goal too.
To take things up a notch, I am launching a #buildinpublic series on my Medium blog. Every week, I’ll be sharing my journey and progress, keeping myself accountable and hopefully inspiring others along the way.
Let’s learn together, Let’s grow together
