How to Learn Complex Things Quickly: A Guide In my 20+ years as a software engineer, I’ve constantly been asked or expected to learn complex things. In his book Deep Work, when talking about the knowledge economy, author Cal Newport writes, “If you can’t learn, you can’t thrive.” New languages and platforms are launched, projects get new requirements, libraries and frameworks release new versions — in software, the only constant is change. A friend who was recently starting a new role asked “Got any tips to help me learn this new landscape quickly?” When I sent him some very rough thoughts he said they were “gold” and encouraged me to publish them for the world to see — I hope others can find them even a little bit useful.