Aspiring IT Professional: Seeking Study Tips & Note-Taking Advice for FreeCodeCamp

I Love Programming
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Hi everyone,

I’m new to the community and wanted to say hello! I’ve officially started my journey into computing and am currently working through the Scientific Computing with Python certification.

I’m a big fan of “building in public” and documenting my process—I’ve been keeping a dedicated A5 notebook to map out my learning, habit-building, and technical notes. I’ve attached two photos of my current progress so far.

My goal is to gain as much mastery as possible in computing, as I am transitioning into a full-time career in technical support. As someone with learning difficulties and on the autism spectrum, I find that structured documentation helps me stay focused and disciplined.

I’m really looking forward to learning from all of you. Does anyone have advice for staying consistent with these certifications, or resources that helped you when you were first starting out?

Please see 3 images attached to this thread of the new A5 note book I made today with 9 pages of new notes I made (up to step 41 on scientific computing spending maybe about 6-5 hours , the whole day on it while also doing a water only fast to help concentration).

Please give me any feedback/criticism on how to improve my note taking - so far today I have just done ‘paper personal note taking’ as shown in the picture, but I have also in the past tried digital notes for coding - I am actively experimenting with different note-taking methods to see what helps me best with long-term retention and memory .

Thanks for having me! :neutral_face:

#Introductions

learning

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I would advise against notes like this.

The things you learn, and especially these early lessons, you are going to use SO MUCH in every project that they will quickly become second nature.

You are going to be using print() (lowercase btw) so often that I can almost guarantee you will not need to refer to notes about it.

That said, how would you find your notes for the print() function? It’s extremely easy to revisit an fCC lesson or do a web search for docs about any function that is going to have much better explanations than any notes you can take.

Unless writing notes down like this is essential for you and really helps, I’d advise against. Wait until you get to something really difficult to comprehend that is also something you won’t be using all the time.

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LOGSEQ

I’d also like to maybe suggest LOGSEQ (pronounced logseek).

It’s a digital note taking tool and I’ve found it pretty useful to keep track of anything using hashtags (as you have at the end of your post). You can quickly write down any note, hashtag it, and now it’s indexed using that keyword so you can find it easy later.

It also has many other useful features (easily create TODO lists for example.)

EDIT: It’s fully #selfhosted as well.

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For a physical notebook you might also want to investigate something like the Cornell notes method:

https://www.goodnotes.com/blog/cornell-notes

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Hi, thanks for being the first person to reply to this post.

‘advise against notes like this.’ why would you say that?

‘you are going to use SO MUCH in every project that they will quickly become second nature.’ but that’s entirely what I struggle with having awful short term memory problems - is there a better way than paper note taking?

‘going to be using print() (lowercase btw)’ I haven’t been using that in the 'scientific computing with python course much as all so far.

‘find your notes for the print() function?’ what do you mean?

‘Unless writing notes down like this is essential for you and really helps, I’d advise against.’ - because of my short term memory problems I wouldn’t know what else otherwise to do?

P.S. while reading your first comment here, I had 3 other questions I could ask you …

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Welcome to the forum @timbourner311,

Everyone learns differently, and if writing stuff down helps you to reinforce what you learn, keep doing that.

You might also consider saving the code you write for fCC challenges on your own system and when you meet something that seems difficult to get your head around, add comments to your code about it.

That’s what I do, and as I learn better approaches, I also refactor my code and just comment out the replaced code so I can still see it when I go back to review.

You may also find this Python Code Visualizer helpful to assist your learning.

Good luck and happy coding!

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A privacy-first, open-source knowledge base - is that it? (then realised i don’t have permissions to post links)? its a software? Yea - I don’t think the hashtags in the post worked, but thought i would just leave them in, was just testing htem.

You like how the software is able group things by tags?

(easily create TODO lists- right now I maybe just have google for cluttered messy to do list notes? so maybe it could help me.

P.S. I had at least 1 other question to my mind reading your second comment here, thanks ’

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I specifically studied Cornell notes method online articles about 3 months ago maybe - tried it but reacted when i tried it for online ‘azure’ course I felt like it didn’t work for me, I am looking for something else since, or maybe it was more to do with how the azure course was formatted? have you tried it yourself?

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Thanks for your comment.

Yea writing stuff down seems to be the only way i can learn stuff with my short term memory problems.

IDK what are fCC challenges - you mean on my profile on this website, there is some section to save notes? I haven’t seen it yet, maybe i should look?

Maybe it would help if you showed me how exactly you study on this website? thanks very much.

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I’m talking about the workshops and labs included in the Python curriculum

I always save my code from those on my own system.

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thanks, I will have to try to study it later ’

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I would not say written notes are useless, they can be a really useful tool to help you absorb and metabolize the topics

some people just use them in that phase, and never look at them ever again, and some people use notes as a reference and review tool

there isn’t a wrong way to learn, there are ways that work for you or don’t work for you instead

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Thanks , I really wouldn’t know how else to learn without writing notes with my short term memory problems, I do sometimes struggle to know how to tailor my notes sometimes to support my learning however, do you have the same issue?

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no, but because I have stopped taking notes once I stopped attending lectures lol

at the time I had experimented with many different types of note taking, and not really found one I liked most

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why did you not do notes in lectures?

I am the same, I do many different types of notes

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that’s not what I meant, I don’t have attended lectures in years, so I also have not taken notes in years

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You can still copy the code to your own system from the workshops and projects you do in the “Scientific Computing with Python” curriculum and make notes in the form of comments in your copy.

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Welcome to the forum @timbourner311

To help with remembering stuff, definitely take notes. I’d recommend an A4 notebook, as an A5 will fill up fast.

I’d reserve the first few pages for the contents page, about one line per step, then an extra page in case you go over.

Write the title of the module at the top of the page, so you can reference it.

As you progress through a module, write down the main things you learnt on a piece of paper. After you finish a module transfer that information to the end of the contents pages. When you review your notes, for example Learn String Manipulation by Building a Cipher, tie variables, functions, and strings to building a cipher. This way you can reference the various computing concepts to each project.

EDIT: changed “work” to “walk”

Eat food and drink water, not just drink. Your blood sugar levels will drop otherwise, and you’ll find it difficult to concentrate. Every few hours, go for a short walk, exercise, or do some chores. This will give your mind a rest.

I’d also recommend not spending six hours studying when you are first starting out. You’ll have a lot of information to process, and may end up forgetting most of it. Aim for about ten to twenty steps of a module per day.

Later on, spend one hour doing the lessons, then spend four hours like this:

  • notetaking
  • build simple projects with the knowledge you learnt
  • review current and past notes (also in the morning and before going to bed)

Take one hour for lunch, as that is what you’ll be doing when you get a job. Also, take morning and afternoon breaks to rest. Listen to music, play some games, read the newspaper. Don’t spend the entire day coding.

Happy coding

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I also take a lot of physical notes and find it helps my retention. I don’t even keep the notes. It’s the process of taking notes that seems to help me solidify ideas in my head for later.

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quote 'One of my specific thoughts was there was x user who shared idea ‘like wouldn’t take notes, some people don’t re read notes, so I could specifically ask that 1 person what he would do instead?’ “some people just use them in that phase, and never look at them ever again, and some people use notes as a reference and review tool” - what would you suggest to do instead of looking at notes and never referring to them again?