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How do you get things done when working on something unfamiliar?

5 points by rcd2 ↗ HN
Hi! Very often I seem to struggle to get anything done when I’m working on an unfamiliar subject, specially when I struggle with the documentation. This is not a rant about bad documentation, but an attempt to learn about some stories and strategies from people that can always seem to get things done even in a situation where the documentation isn’t for total beginners and they don’t also have the correct background.

A good example is Prometheus. I struggle with their documentation, but I feel I’m missing some background knowledge as well, but I don’t even know where to get it.

Another one is AWS. I’ve tried to use AWS ECS with an EC2 launcher but I failed to do it by myself. I later found a GitHub example, but I really don’t know what I’m doing.

How do you get your work done in these situations (let’s assume the final answer is not just a couple of Google searches away)? Do you just go down the rabbit whole of whatever seems to be the required background knowledge? Is it trial-an-error? If so, how do you it’s done right and you’re not overlooking anything major when you don’t understand all the variables involved in the problem?

I hope this question isn’t too vague and you’re able to understand the kind of advice I’m chasing.

5 comments

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afarrell
First, get yourself set up with sources of feedback that can let you play around with things safely and get rapid feedback. This could mean setting up a sandbox environment. This could mean finding someone more experienced and asking, “Hey towards the end of the week can I walk you through what I’m building and you let me know about the implications of things?”
yuppie_scum
Could be that you are a visual leaner more than a reading learner. YouTube has a lot of good tutorials and info. And Udemy courses are often cheap - you could buy an AWS course and skip to the ECS section for example.

I will also echo the poster who mentions sandbox environments. Myself I am more of a hands on learner.

We all start somewhere, despite what management and other stakeholders sometimes think, nobody is born knowing all this stuff. Hang in there.

rcd2
Thanks, that makes sense. However, sometimes it looks like some of the best engineer's I've worked with can get work done even before technology gets popular enough to have courses :)

Also, it can sometimes be hard to create sandboxes. It's easy for Prometheus, but maybe a bit harder to AWS (I tried LocalStack before).

Nevertheless it's all good advice, thanks!

mejutoco
I would recommend to take a log of what you are learning/debugging using Obsidian or any other system. What tasks do you need to go through; what do you know? what are you trying to prove/find out next?

With time you will be able to use your log to search for context. In case of interruptions/distractions it is invaluable to immediately see where you were in the problem.

rcd2
This is very interesting advice. Sometimes just the writing things down helps us clarify my thoughts (like before we post a question here or on SO).