The ways to learn tech

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Technology has become a major part of all of our lives. As a result, many want to understand the best ways to learn tech. This can be to better use it day to day, at work, or both. Some have even decided to start a career in technology.

There are many different ways to learn tech today, all with different impacts and aspects to consider. To help you better understand the right way for you to move forward in tech, we will explore some of the most common approaches available. The goal is to provide some insight to help you best meet your goals in tech.

Ways to learn tech

As discussed there are many different ways to learn tech. To help you choose the right path for yourself we will explore the most common, as well as which ways we think are often the best.

Of course it is important to recognize that there are many different paths to success. Also, a path that is right for one person may very well not be for another. With that said, let’s take a closer look.

Most common ways to learn tech

Below are some of the most common ways that people learn tech.

Classical school based approach

One of the most common ways to learn tech, or really all subjects, is to take technical courses while in high school or college. You may even then look to get a technical specific degree.

The advantages to this approach is that courses are generally free when taken before college or highly discounted when taken at community college. Also, since many times you need to be at school anyway this can be good use of your time.

The disadvantages are that many times technical teachers in high schools or even colleges do not have professional technical experience. As a result, their insight and direction may not be as practical for you. Also, many schools have limitations and rules on the curriculum they can use.

Finally, school based instruction, even technical degrees, are starting to hold much less credibility with employers when not paired with proficiency and technical work experience. Many times schools struggle to effectively partner with employers to provide this important training for their developing students.

Technical certification approach

Many schools often pair this approach with the academic approach because they think aligning to technical certifications in their training is important. Further, many schools also do this because they receive funding for courses when they tie them to certifications.

The advantage to the certification approach is that it is pretty measurable and often consumable. You identify a certification to go for, you study for it or take a class, then take a test. You pass and you get certified, you don’t and you can often retest until you do.

However, there are many disadvantages to this popular approach. First, there is absolutely no alignment between getting a technical certification and being technically proficient. So just because you get a certification does not mean someone will want to hire you.

Also, there are thousands of certifications available in technology. All of which do not consider each other and overlap. If you were to take all of them you would be studying for your entire life, and then some.

So in the end, this approach leads to a lot of false hopes and negative impacts for the technical learners that choose this path. This is even more troubling considering this approach is so popular.

Machine gun approach

Also known as the Coursera, Linkedin learning or many other bulk on-demand training platforms out there. These learning platforms let technical learners choose the right trainings to align to their development needs and then take them on demand and on-line.

These platforms offer the advantage of affordability and accessibility from anywhere because they are online.Also, many times the specific training is very good.

However, there are also many downsides to these platforms. First off, they can be overwhelming for learners as they provide so many different training options. Since new technology learners may not have the base navigation skills to guide them they often take unneeded courses. This can lead to a lot of wasted time and money taking the flavor of the day (or 8 weeks) taking courses that don’t best align to your goals.

Another disadvantage is that these trainings are not all tied together. So they may overlap or teach competing concepts.

Also, learners take on-demand format individually. This can make them lonely and misaligned with the team-based nature of how many things are done in tech.

Finally, and most important, while these training platforms provide good instruction, but they do not let users practice the technical skills they have just learned. So even when the instruction is top notch, which it often can be, it still does not let learners become proficient as they truly need to be.

My parents made me do it

We see this one a lot these days in our high school or even our community college courses at CyberForward Academy. In this approach, tech learners take the programming because their parents or someone in their family make them.

The advantage to this approach is that generally the students do the work and learn the concepts. The downside to this approach is that if you don’t love tech, it may be hard to want to continue to learn, master and then work with it in the future.

If forced, do it as cost effectively as possible.This is usually accomplished by taking school-funded courses.

Trust others to tell you approach

This approach is also very common, but also in our opinion the most dangerous. In this approach, tech learners do not get an initial understanding or perspective about tech training from instruction, such as our technical foundation training. As a result, they are unclear of what tech training they should take, or how to make informed decisions in their development.

Instead, they depend on the advice of schools, technical training providers and the like to tell them which training they should take to learn tech. While a most common approach, the potential impacts are most dangerous from this one.

Developing learners often pay too much and waste a lot of time for training that ends up not helping them to meet their objectives. For something as important as your time and money, this just does not seem like a great approach.

However, it is understandable, as it is common for many to trust the advice of others, especially teachers in their learning journey. But if you can get the insight yourself to make these decisions, you will always be better off.

Bootcamp approach way to learn tech

Closely aligned to the trust others to tell you approach is the bootcamp approach. In this approach, training providers offer training over a short time frame, say 3-9 months, for often a high price. Trainers may teach this training live or in an on-demand format.

The advantages to this training approach is that they can move you forward quickly. However, just because they move you forward quickly does not mean they move you far enough to meet your objectives. They often don’t.

To become proficient in any aspect of tech, it will take you at least one to two years, if not more. The bootcamp model just does not offer enough time for most people to become proficient. Further, along the way, they are also super expensive.

Entry level job approach way to learn tech

Technical learners seek entry-level jobs at organizations for on-the-job training. This can also include formal tech apprenticeships.

People may or may not use other approaches, such as certification or traditional schooling, before implementing this approach. The overall goal, however, is to get hired by an organization in an entry level position.

The advantage is that training is provided by the employer if hired. This is often very realistic and even better at not cost to you.

The downside to this approach is that there are few entry level positions available today. This is because they are very expensive for employers to provide this extra training.

So this makes them highly competitive. To the point where they are either not entry level or you must have experience to win one.

Favorite ways to learn tech

Ok, so aside from the most common ways to learn tech, let’s now look at our favorite ways.

The tech tinkerer approach

Some people just love playing and working with tech. They get into working with computer systems and technology on their own and learn from doing.

The advantages to this approach is that it is always best and easiest to learn something when you love it. Tech tinkerers generally do love what they are doing so they teach themselves. This lets them with the tech and build proficiency. This can succeed and can also be very cost-effective.

Also, aside from just teaching themselves how to learn technology of interest, they also practice how to work with it. This is probably the most important aspect to the tech tinkerer approach because they gain proficiency through doing.

Eventually, the tinkerer will need formal training to work in tech, which is the drawback. They will need this formal understanding of standardization to work in large and more complex environments. They will also need experience working in teams. The longer they take to get this more formal training the harder it often is for them to monetize their technical skills.

Learn on the job approach

Similar to the entry level job approach, one of the best ways to learn tech is to get a job that will invest in you and teach you technical skills directly or pay for your training while you work. This approach saves you money in paying for training and lets you get paid while you develop.

The downside is that there are just not many jobs that will pay for you to learn. Instead, they want you to bear the cost and time of training yourself and then hire you once you are producing value.

As a result, this is a great approach if you can find an opportunity, but the key is you have to find an opportunity.

The work and hop over approach

A closely aligned strategy to the learn on the job approach is to start in a company first doing any job you can get hired to do. Once there and doing a good job, look to hop over into a technical position. From there you can then get then use the learn on the job approach.

This approach is highly recommended as you get all the benefits from the learn on the job approach, however you also increase the likelihood of getting such a position.

Experiential way to learn tech

The experiential way to learn tech is to learn it by experiencing it. Like trying new food, this method let’s you try to see if you like it first, then you can go for more if so. This can be similar to the shotgun method, but not always.

The advantage to this approach is that you can see if you like, or as importantly do not like something, through experiencing it. Then you can make decisions to either pursue or not pursue using the insight from what you learned. Often times this experiential learning can be affordable and does not take a huge time commitment.

The downside to this approach is that experiencing something does not make you proficient at it. It is important to understand that experiential learning is best used as a stepping stone in technical skill development. We offer access to this approach through our CyberForward Academy Experience Tech Skill Pass.

Learn how to learn tech first approach

In this approach, learners first learn how to get started in tech, what is technical skill development and get a tech foundation understanding. With this in place, then tech learners can move on choosing their next development steps to meet their technical objectives.

The advantage to this approach is that it gives you the insight to make informed decisions about your technical training. This insight can then be used to build your technical skills through these future learning and development decisions. This can save you a lot of money.

The downside to this approach is that it only starts you on your journey, it does not make you tech proficient. This is important to recognize if you think you can take this initial training and then just get hired. We offer this type of approach through our get started in tech skill pass.

Live team based training approach

Any time you can get live based training in a team based environment the better. These programs are often delivered through schools or even private technical training providers.

This approach can be powerful because everything in tech is done in teams. So learning this way best aligns to how you will then use tech skills. Also, learning in teams is just more fun and less lonely.

The downside to this approach is that it is often more expensive for the training provider to deliver, so also more expensive for students. We offer many live courses and training environments at CyberForward Academy.

Linear technical lifecycle approach

The technical skill development lifecycle approach is a linear model that aligned to the technical skill development lifecycle. This lifecycle includes first teaching people how to learn tech, providing learning and experiential development opportunities, training, as well as then work opportunities to build proficiency.

The advantage to this approach is that it is effective at developing proficiency in technical learners. The downside to this approach is that it takes time, often years, to get from start to finish. Also, it requires a variety of learning, experience, training and work programs during development.

CyberForward Academy Development Approach

The CyberForward Academy development approach is to offer a series of linear and connected programs across the technical skill development lifecycle. So in many ways, and yes we are biased, but we think that the linear technical skill development lifecycle approach is best.

One of the best ways to know where you are on this lifecycle is to measure your current level of tech proficiency with a tech skills assessment.

Next steps

To assess your tech proficiency level and create an effective development plan, get a tech worker readiness score to establish the best way forward for you.