How to approach a new technology

Someone asked me to write a post about how I approach new technologies. There isn't really one way to do that and what works for me may not work for someone else. Having said all that let's explore the different options standing before any developer who wants to explore a new technology. TL;DR Put time in your calendar and go for it.

Τα πάντα ρει, μηδέποτε κατά τ' αυτό μένειν - Everything flows, nothing remains the same - Heraclitus

We are living in a world where you see a new framework or a new language pop all the time. It was less than a year ago that Angular took the web by storm and went head to head with its predecessor AngularJS and React and then VueJS popped it's head to say Hi.
Who would have thought Python would become the go to language for cyber security, or that Go would become the next hot thing.
So let's stop beating around the bush and get to it.

Go Online

When I started to plow my way through technology all we had was BBS message boards and noisy modulators/de-modulators (better known as MODEMs). Later on the first websites started showing up. And then online books, blogs and finally... online courses. I will not go into the different sites and their quality. Ask your colleagues, friends and your favorite search engine. The important thing is to find not only a site with the content you seek but also for the format used to present the content to you, be to your liking. When it comes to how content is presented results will vary.

Find the time

If you are like me, you have to balance work, children, house chores etc. So how do I find the time for it? Well I won't be the one to tell you how to arrange your day. However you have commuting, lunch break and the evening. Figure it out. It is your time. It is your career. What I can tell you though is this; put it in your calendar. Make a recurring event in your calendar. If you are using Google calendar then you have a feature called "Goals", it helped me a lot.

Language vs Framework

Sometimes we hear about some new framework written in some shine language we know nothing about. So what do we do first? Learn the language or the framework? As a friend of mine once said (while scribbling design patterns on some hard surface, bless you Ran wherever your are...), a language's syntax and intricacies is cheap technical knowledge. So you might as well first learn that by writing the classic "Hello world" program and be done with it. Once you feel comfortable with the language itself then you can charge at the framework that drew your attention.

Do or Do not, there is no excuse.

The best way to pass a message isn't this you say? Disagree I would. 

Seriously though... There is no excuse. Every time you dismiss your calendar event and procrastinate,  you are in fact finding excuses for yourself.

Don't try to learn every language 100% in one go

Self explanatory right? Learn the things you need now, get the gist of a language or framework if it is for your own knowledge. The rest will come.

And finally...Have fun learning!