On our learning journeys, we constantly meet other learners who are learning something either for their career growth or their passion. Everyone seems to have their own unique learning preferences, tips and tricks to learn.

Since Proftrack is about helping users easily find learning experiences that fit their needs, we figure it would be interesting to see what we would discover by having a chat with 100 learners of Berlin (#learnersofberlin).

Bastian, electrician turned developer/entrepreneur: “The world of web development is an exciting field where you have to learn new skills every day.”

The first learner of Berlin that we chatted with is Bastian. Despite his passion for computers, his working career started as an electrician. His goal was always to do something with computers, so he started his own company and learned all the skills needed to program and create tools for the web. This motivation lead him to his studies of computer science and enter the start up scene in Berlin.

What are you currently learning or recently learned that you considered your best/worst learning experience so far? 

I am a Front End Developer and sort of an AngularJS evangelist. From this background, I am learning a new framework called ReactJS and in the last few weeks also API design, NodeJS and MongoDB. In my spare time I try to do some little projects with Lisp.

The worst learning experiences are when you see blog posts and you have no validation if this is good or bad quality. A trust indicator would be really helpful. And also from which date is this post. Maybe it’s using outdated software or tools.

Why are you interested to learn this skill/competency? 

Starting from my free time, Lisp is a great language to shape the developers mindset in the right way. My professional environment is a start up which wants to restructure and rebuild their IT environment. Therefore I am responsible for a lot of different fields where new skills are always needed. So what is important for me are three aspects:

• My professional work (because there is money coming in)
• My interest/need to stay up-to-date (in case for job changes etc)
• My free time interest on topics which I like to learn

What are you doing currently or have done to learn this skill/competency? 

I am using Safari Books Online to read books online. Scotch.io is great tool for JavaScript/NodeJS tutorials. With HackerNews I am staying up-to-date about the latest Tech related news. Egghead.io  provides great video tutorials.

A few examples:

• Learning how to make authentication with NodeJS
• Learning JavaScript Design Patterns
• JavaScript applications 
• Blog post about JavaScript objects
• First steps with ReactJS

In my spare time I’m reading books like:

• Hackers and Painters
• The Pragmatic Programmer
• Getting Things Done

What would you recommend to others who are trying to learn this skill/competency? Or what best learning combinations from the above would you suggest?

Following are some resources that I would recommend:

• Learn Javascript [online course] and Programming JavaScript Applications [book]
• JavaScript Objects [Blog]
• Asynchronous Programming at Netflix [Video]
• Eloquent Javascript by Marjn Haverbeke [Book] 
• JavaScript: The Good Parts [book]
• JavaScript: The Definitive Guide [book]
• Delivering the Goods [Video]
• ECMAScript 6 [E-Book/Tutorial]
• You don’t know JS: Scope & Closures [Book]
• JavaScript Allongé [Book]
• JavaScript Design Patterns [Book]

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