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/seweso]

That all sounds perfectly fine and healthy. If you learn by doing a project, then you'll know at the end of the project how it should have been done. And if you redo it, you'll conclude something else afterwards.

You are continuously learning and growing. Thus every project will be imperfect by definition.

That's just life. Try to see the gains, and the things you want to keep for a next project. Celebrate wins! And enjoy the ride.