getting the most out of Treehouse

I share your pain. I know all about accruing points but not retaining everything that I've learned. Particularly from the advanced courses.

I can't offer you anything from the perspective of Ruby but I do say this....

You won't learn to your maximum if you're not practising your skills. And I don't mean just memorising the quiz answers or reminding yourself about the code challenges. They help of course but you'll need to apply your skills to a real world project. So that even if you don't memorise everything (my brain can't memorise everything I learn) then you have a project to refer to during the tough times.

At the moment I'm doing WordPress Development. I'm excited about what I'm learning in the Theme Development Course. Every day I'm learning something new. I'm pacing myself not trying to cram so much in one topic as I have done in the past... It is helping... but you know what? Some days I do find myself sitting and thinking... where has that knowledge gone? Have I actually learned everything? Have I forgotten it all? Has it all been for nothing? But there are times when I do feel on top of my learning potential.

What works for me is taking good notes. I don't move on from a video unless I'm happy with the notes I make. Writing down the bullet points you get from Treehouse videos. Bookmarking any links provided in Treehouse Teacher notes. Watching the video a second time, or a third time until I'm sure I've understood what is being taught. And practice. Take what you've learned and build a project step by step. Something to fall back on if you get stuck out in the real world.

But above all, stay strong and don't give up. As I say, I can't really comment on the Ruby courses as i haven't taken them, Yet. But Treehouse is such a great place to learn. The best think I've done in the last few years anyway. :)

Make projects! After every course, take what you've learned and just make something. Anything! It could be something useless that you delete directly afterwards, but just do it! I've completed the Ruby track, and after every course, I fooled around with the things that I've learned by creating some random classes. I've made tons of Android apps since I started learning Android. Actual doing something is what helps you learn. And make sure to follow along in code when doing the courses; don't just watch the videos. Some take notes and other code along, but the ones who don't remember are those who do neither.

I'd just echo what is being said here for the most part. I have to always play with what I just learned. Treehouse is a great source for tutorials and interactive tests, but it is heavily guided (and that is the way it needs to be for an online source). If you were to join any sort of dev bootcamp, you would also be expected to work on projects. Everything is normally based on experiences, not just tutorials or class blocks. You need to play with things. Be curious. Go to many sources, not just the one.

That being said, it is surely possible that this isn't the resource for you. I just recently came back to it after figuring out how to learn from Treehouse better. Now, I always have something to work on and apply whatever I'm learning.

Dustin

[Deleted]

No substitute for hard work. Making a name for yourself requires talent, getting published in mags, and getting awards.

I am really impressed with these responses. I was expecting a try house employ to reach out to.

I thank everyone who has posted to my question, my fire is re ignited to dive back in. I am going to take your guys advice and start this up again.

These comments are better then anything I was expecting.