I became interested in something. This is how I learned about it.

disclaimer: Turns out this list has nothing to do with testing, a lot to do with learning paths.

I write about it

I’ve written several articles:

• Front-end Testing and a tale of three users.
• Creating a culture of testing.
• Testing API calls in Vue applications.

As explained in Learning in public, I feel that writing stuff to your future self is an excellent way of improving. It is simple: Write the post you wish you’d found two months ago.

For example, today’s post is gonna remember my future self that there are several ways of learning. It’s also gonna be a reminder about the myriad of ways to learn if you have the right mindset.

I give talks about it

For me, speaking in public is one of the best learning tools out there.

It’s a win-win situation. On the one hand, I get to talk in front of people and get credit for the work I do. But also I end up exploring a topic deep enough for it to become second nature.

Imposter syndrome will still kick in, but at least I’ll get the most of the experience.

I take every opportunity I have. In-company talks, local Meetups, the VueJS Roadtrip, and soon I’ll be spreading the word at JS Day in Canarias and Commit in Madrid.

There’s no need to find a huge, industry-leading conference. Remember the main goal: to learn. Any public speaking opportunity will do.

I read about it

Reading, watching videos, and in general, consuming content, is obviously a great way to stay on top of anything. If it’s interesting enough, it makes it to my awesome reading list.

“Just” reading, though, will only get you so far. Make sure you combine theory with practice. Learn by doing. In my case, I try to write as many tests as possible. I mean, look at this blog: It is unnecessarily tested using Cypress ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

I get involved in an online community

One of the things that got me hooked into testing was the Testing Library approach. Keeping tests as close as possible to the end-user, staying away from implementation details, and providing a clear, concise API.

I discovered Vue Testing Library after taking the Testing JavaScript course by Kent C. Dodds, and I ended up being one of its maintainers.

Getting exposed to issues, doubts, and proposals is a great way of learning. Also, it feels great to have found an Open Source project where I can provide value.

I evangelize about it as much as possible

Discussing a topic with other people yields actionable results. Use those conversations to challenge your assumptions, and to find weak spots within your logic. When someone calls your opinion into question, use to improve your argumentation.

What if you aren’t explaining it clearly enough? Smarter people than I once said that if you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.

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You might have noticed that a lot of these strategies come with extra benefits. That’s a feature, not a bug.

Moreover, another added benefit of speaking in public is that, well, I improve at public speaking. The same thing goes with writing, the same thing goes with open-sourcing — practice makes perfect.