How Do I Research?#

I typically receive a generalized assignment, then I conduct some preliminary research on the topic, gather resources, and dive deeply into those resources for about one to two weeks. I have used my previous undergraduate research experience as a template for how to approach any given assignment. I use Google Scholar, look for peer reviewed articles, search for recommendations throughout the forum world, and, if possible, ask experts for their opinion on which sources are the best.

After gathering a list of materials, I typically use a library or buy the material to consume it. I highlight, take notes, and create Anki cards for certain bits of information that I find useful and would like to hold onto. I typically learn from the bottom up. Because of my background in math and physics, it often feels like I am reading code or understanding a new language from the bottom up, which makes it all feel more intuitive.

Of course, you cannot dismiss knowledge acquired over years of training, which is why I make sure to read roughly two hours of source material a day, even if I am not in the initial preliminary stages. Each language has its quirks, but they all seem to do similar things in different ways.

After I have done this initial preliminary research, and after I feel as though I have a strong understanding of the foundation, I use AI to assist with more resource gathering or to help speed up the process of applying the knowledge I have gained to the problem I am trying to solve.

While I am a visual learner, I typically need to combine this with some sort of action, as I do enjoy applying knowledge to a project to solidify the learning process. This is why I also do practice problems given to me in source material, or run through tutorials to help me understand the topic at its lowest level. Things like Integration Testing make more sense to me once I have built a web app from scratch and developed my own integration testing suite for some practice project. Then I can start to apply this knowledge to either legacy or new systems.