Column Hard Earned Learning Maybe the Method Wasn’t Right #

Hello everyone, I’m Shawn, the editor of the “Master Android Development” column. I’m glad to share with you the stories of our students in this column. The novelist Marcel Proust once said, “The real journey of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” The column provides you with the perspective of an “expert” and allows you to re-examine the way you handle problems in your work, acquire new skills, and become a true master yourself. This process is definitely difficult, but as long as you persist, you will definitely achieve great results.

I’m Kenny from Guangzhou, and I joined the “Master Android Development” column to deepen my understanding of advanced Android knowledge.

The process of learning is always dull. My method is to maintain interest and freshness. You can think of the column’s lessons as a martial arts secret manual, with each issue representing a new move, which creates anticipation. I usually study the column as soon as it’s updated, and then combine it with Google searches for related topics to fully understand them. In addition, I also try to solve the exercises provided in the column on my own, and then verify them by writing demo programs and comparing them with the samples provided by the teacher to analyze the pros and cons.

If you’re feeling lost in your studies, I suggest coming to your study sessions with questions. For example, after an update, think about whether you have encountered any technical problems related to the current topic in your work. Also, always maintain interest in technology. Having an enthusiasm for learning will give you more motivation and generate more valuable thoughts during the learning process.

The biggest takeaway from my current learning journey is a change in the way I approach and solve problems. I also became more wary of “black technology”. Most importantly, I have learned to think divergently and consider alternative approaches when solving problems.

My “small goal” for 2019: I am currently working on optimizing product performance and I hope that in 2019, our product will have the best performance among competitors!

I’m ZYW, and I have been working in mobile development for 10 years since 2008.

I mainly read the column content on the same night it is updated, and then do the exercises afterwards. If I encounter something I don’t understand, I will search for related knowledge points.

In both work and study, anxiety is inevitable these days. Persistence, learning is never a one-time thing. It has been 10 years since I graduated, and I have been coding for 10 years as well, but I’m still persevering. IT technology updates rapidly, so it’s important to do the right things at the right time. Don’t be afraid of difficulties and never give up.

My “small goal” for 2019: Work well, take care of my family, continue on the Android development path, and persevere.

I’m Owen. I have worked on OA and mobile projects for 3 years, and I am currently responsible for overseas tool development at a listed company in Shenzhen. I subscribed to this column mainly because I heard about the “legend” of Teacher Shao Wen from the tech community, and I’m also interested in the content he teaches.

Usually, after the column is updated, I will listen to the audio as soon as possible. I do this either during my commute on the subway or before going to bed. I use my fragmented time to repeatedly listen to the audio and spend the entire duration reading the course articles, and then I personally practice with the samples provided. Because during practice, there are many challenges to overcome, and additional knowledge points mentioned by the teacher need to be supplemented. The column has limited space, so I need to search for information to learn those extra knowledge points. Therefore, I reread the articles, review the relevant knowledge points, and practice repeatedly. If I encounter something I don’t understand, I ask Teacher Shao Wen, classmates, and colleagues, and then form my own understanding and summary, hoping that I can also write a summary to share.

Throughout the process of persistently studying, I feel that my knowledge has been broadened, and my understanding of certain knowledge points has deepened. The mobile development field is filled with experts and masters, so I must constantly learn and communicate in order to truly comprehend and reach a certain level.

Overall, this column is suitable for climbing towards advanced levels. If you persist and complete the course, you will reap many rewards. Some of the knowledge points covered are things I didn’t pay much attention to before, and some I have never even heard of. After learning, I realized that application development is not simply about building apps, there are many intricate aspects to it as well.

Hello everyone, I’m Seven from Chengdu, Sichuan. I am currently an Android developer at a medical company, mainly working on camera development and real-time analysis of camera preview data. I previously worked on video-on-demand and live streaming at the lower level for a year. In the past two years, I have always wanted to solidify my mediocre foundation.

By chance, I used Tinker in one of my previous projects and joined the Tinker communication group. I had been communicating in the group for some time. One day, Teacher Shao Wen recommended his column in the group. At the same time, many famous Android experts and public accounts were promoting it as well. I could no longer resist, the wave of technology was coming towards me, and I couldn’t avoid it. I also hope to have an opportunity for deep personal growth, so I chose to subscribe. It’s also a responsible choice for myself. At the beginning, I listened to the audio lessons diligently every day and also did the sample exercises seriously after class. However, when I found it difficult to complete the sample exercises, I changed my attitude towards learning. Instead of focusing on completing the exercises, I started to read the column updates promptly. I would leave the unfinished exercises aside and continue reading the column synchronously. Sometimes, I even left some unrelated comments in the column, thinking that this was enough for learning. It was not until one day when an article titled “Make the Sample Run | Q&A of Hot Topics (Issue 1)” was published in the column that I suddenly realized that my learning attitude was wrong. I shouldn’t have approached learning in this way. I should have been meticulous and down-to-earth. “Back then, I only appeared to be studying, but in reality, I didn’t gain anything.” So, I corrected my attitude, reopened the first issue, and started to study again, reading and understanding every word in the article carefully. Whenever I came across something I didn’t understand, I would read the provided links in the article or search for information on my own to find the answers. Later, I discovered that although this learning process was slower, I felt more grounded and solid. “Moreover, I learned more than just the content in the column because while searching for information, I would come across other things to learn and take notes on.” This is pretty much my current learning status, and I am satisfied with the changes I have made.

After subscribing to the column for such a long time, the most significant improvement for me is my sense of autonomy. When I come across knowledge points that I don’t understand, I am no longer afraid. Instead, I think about how to understand them. I no longer have a negative attitude towards so-called “deep” knowledge. Now, when I encounter a problem, the first thing that comes to my mind is how to solve it. I try to solve it by myself first, and if I can’t, it means that my knowledge is not solid enough, so I need to delve deeper into the subject.

If you feel that the knowledge in the column is difficult, don’t be negative. Many profound knowledge points are composed of numerous smaller knowledge points. As long as you break them down and conquer them one by one, you can quickly build up your confidence. Furthermore, arranging and combining these smaller knowledge points will generate countless pieces of knowledge. Therefore, I suggest that you take the fundamental knowledge mentioned in the column seriously, such as the Linux-related knowledge. These are long-lasting knowledge that we should persevere in understanding together.

My “little goal” for 2019: Since 2018 has passed, I hope that in 2019, I can have a deeper understanding of the basics of mobile development. I hope to make progress in analyzing and studying the Android source code. Let’s work hard together!

I am Xiaojie, an Android developer with nearly 4 years of working experience. I currently work in Dongguan, Guangdong. The company I work for focuses on children’s smartwatches. In the team, I am responsible for performance optimization and componentization. Because my current work is related to the topics covered in the column, and also due to recommendations from colleagues, I wanted to learn and gain insights from the experiences shared by the teacher through the column.

Due to work reasons, most of my study time is in the evening. I choose to learn and complete the exercises based on my interest in the current content and whether I consider it important. Through this column, I have gained some valuable insights from the teacher’s talk on experiences and reflections on certain solutions, and my abilities have also improved.

I believe that learning relies on personal perseverance. Whenever I find learning to be dull or encounter obstacles, I can calm down and ask myself about the purpose of starting to learn again. By readjusting myself and continuing to move forward step by step, there will eventually be moments of enlightenment.

My “little goal” for 2019: I hope to achieve performance monitoring and analysis.

I am Xiyi, and I subscribed to the column in order to broaden my horizons and enhance my abilities. I mainly use my spare time to study professional columns and take notes, but I did not persist enough in doing the assignments and exercises for the columns (facepalm). I think it’s normal to find studying columns difficult. If it doesn’t feel difficult, it means that the column has limited improvement for you. I believe that persistence is the key. If you don’t understand something, read and practice it multiple times. Practice makes perfect. Learning always has this process, and we need to encourage ourselves.

Similarly, I think a solid foundation is really important in Android development. I feel that I have a lot of basic things to catch up on. Through this column, I have seen the newer technologies used by big companies in mobile development, which has broadened my horizons.

My “small goal” for 2019: I hope to use Kotlin and Flutter in projects, apply what I have learned from the column to practical project implementation, and also hope to have a higher income for myself.

My name is Zhiwei. I have been working in Android ROM development in chip companies since 2012 and have been doing Android development in mobile Internet companies since 2015. I hope I can have a more comprehensive understanding of Android development techniques from the column and learn the way of thinking and problem-solving methods that Shao Wen uses to deal with various technical issues faced by apps with millions of daily active users.

On the day the column is updated, I will study it carefully. I will practice using the external resources provided in the articles, search for other materials online, and use the samples provided by the column. From these, I will extract the knowledge I need. I will also combine my actual work and past experiences to think about how I would approach the problems presented in the column and what I would do.

The column covers a wide range of technical topics and has depth. It is definitely worth spending time to delve into it. For example, through studying, I have expanded my knowledge base, gained a deeper understanding of certain technologies, and found solutions to many problems. The column is targeted at “experts”, so it’s natural to find certain topics difficult or incomprehensible. This is an opportunity for growth and requires perseverance. In addition, we can directly communicate with the author in the comment section of the column, and I have benefited greatly from it.

Shao Wen has experienced the growth of several apps with over 100 million daily active users. The technical challenges encountered during this process are common to other apps, but not everyone has the opportunity to experience them. Through the column, we can go through these challenges in a highly condensed way, which is a very valuable gain.

My “small goal” for 2019: Work towards becoming an architect.

After hearing stories from classmates, do you have any stories you want to share with other classmates? Feel free to write about your methods and experiences of studying the column in the comment section. In the next Q&A article, we will select the top 3 comments with the highest number of likes and send out a “Study Encouragement Gift Package”. We look forward to your sharing.