If we go back and think about the topics or subjects we are most comfortable with, we all will find this one particular pattern. In subjects where we went ahead to learn something by putting effort on our end, subjects where we practiced more and shared an active involvement, these are the ones we are most fond of. And these are the learnings that have stayed with us for the longest.

So I think you’ll agree that no amount of lectures can work if the one who is learning is not actively participating in it. Living by this philosophy, we apply a similar approach while learning in ColoredCow. Be it the interns or the team, each one of us learns by doing things, and over time we have seen the benefit of it.

With hands-on learning comes a strong sense of accomplishment which helps you in independently working on things. Further, it pushes you to not just look for an easy way out but develop an intuitive problem-solving approach towards things. Because of these reasons we were clear when we started CodeTrek that there is no other approach we should follow.

In all the CodeTrek sessions, mentor introduces you to the problem area and then first lets you gain an understanding of it before giving you a solution. The mentor walks with you throughout the session but rather than serving the answers directly, he probes you in the right direction so that you can find the solution. With hands-on learning, you try, experiment and try again to find a solution that is yours and to reach there you simultaneously learn things that can help in solving that problem.

The mentors are always there to come to your rescue. But see it this way, at the end of the session it is you who found a solution and created something with some guidance versus, someone, lecturing you on how things work but you don’t know whether you will be able to do it yourself or not.

With hands-on learning, you develop an approach to not just learn skills but also to implement them with confidence in future.