Practice, Practice, Practice is an apprenticeship pattern that is all in the name. The pattern encourages one to constantly practice their craft. The goal is to eventually rewire the way your brain works and thinks about things until it is old hat and you can move on to practicing something else. As a pattern, its uses and merits are pretty obvious. The more you do something, the more you get used to it and commit it to memory, and therefore the easier it becomes to do that thing again.
As the text highlights, an important part of practice is that it is not stressful. It is challenging for many to learn in a stressful environment where deadlines and other stressors may come into play. Therefore, it is important to separate your practice from your work. Although you can still learn plenty of lessons from doing things, it is practicing the basics that will lead to a stronger foundation to support new knowledge.
I could personally benefit from more practice. As I have moved on to more advanced topics in Computer Science, I have found it important to constantly refresh myself on other things that I have learned. It can be hard to try to retain so much knowledge, and I think employing more practice more often would help me with that.
A way I often practice is to repeat assignment I’ve done that I struggled with, especially before a quiz or exam. Doing the assignment over and over again helps the process become almost muscle memory and helps me retain the knowledge for the quiz. It is something I need to do more often, and during more times than just quiz or test periods, as I absolutely benefit from the experience.
Everybody wants to practice their skills, but sometimes it is hard to find really effective ways to do it. I certainly need to find more effective methods of practicing, especially when it comes to answering job interview questions, as it doesn’t seem to get any easier. I believe that in time and with enough practice, anybody can learn anything.
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