The Students Who Start Building Before They Feel Ready Have One Advantage

There are two types of engineering students. The first type reads the documentation from start to finish, takes detailed notes, watches a 15-hour video course, and then, feeling adequately prepared, begins to build their project.

The second type opens their IDE, starts typing, hits an error instantly, Googles the error, copies a StackOverflow snippet, hits another error, and repeats this process until the app works.

The second student will always, always beat the first student in the long run.

The human brain is terrible at storing abstract information it doesn't immediately need. When you read about Redux state management without actually having a complex state bug to solve, the information passes straight through your short-term memory.

But when you spend three hours trying to pass props down six levels of a component tree, and you are ready to throw your laptop out the window-that is when you read the Redux documentation. And because you have the context of the pain, the solution sticks permanently.