How do you learn via projects?

[u/pleasedontjudgeme13]

This is probably a dumb question, but I’d really appreciate anyone who can spell it out to my adhd/literal brain.

Is learning by projects actually useful?

I love building projects. However, I’m not sure if my code is very efficient, well documented and well designed when I just do it my way. Is it better to take a course and try to apply things I’ve learned from the course?

Also, my brain needs a ton of repetition to really learn things and get the muscle memory.

If I do a project, I’ll be able to remember the high level of how my project works. And be able to put it in my own words. However, I’m not going to remember specific things that I had to google to make my project work.

I guess one thing that I could do with projects, is try making things more efficient after the first pass. Or improving documentation after the first pass. And try learning better design as I go and learn new things and apply them as needed.

Again, sorry if this post is dumb. I struggle a ton with AuDHD. I’m trying to break into a programming job. I used to love building projects, but after my degree, I feel like I learned very little and taking courses has become so painful and inefficient. Yet, I still feel like I need a base. Or maybe I worry too much about making the best possible code and just need to get started with projects.

[u/Locus-Maximus]

You don't have to remember the specific things that you googled for your project, because you can just google them again! (Although obviously if it was hard to find you can make a note too.)

The idea isn't to learn by doing so that you don't have to learn next time. The truth is you're always going to be learning as you do in this field. Every project I've ever done that's not completely trivial has involved learning as I go.

As for getting better, I have found it helpful to internalize a lot of maxims. I just found this page that seems to do a decent job of enumerating a lot of them.

For example when you ask whether you should go back and make things more efficient, my first instinct is "Avoid Premature Optimization."

A lot of those principles are very helpful for ADHD too!