[atsushin]

I've often found that "skipping the details" and learning only as much as I -need- truly is the most useful thing you can do to learn something new.

[asdff]

This strategy becomes a mess when you finally learn the crippling problem was due to one of these details you've skipped. It's important to read all the documentation at least once if you can. Sometimes a lightbulb might go off that saves you a lot of time.

[thelean12]

This completely falls apart at big tech. If you read all the documentation once for all the components you're working on, you'd be out of commission for months just for your first project. Actually understanding what you're reading takes a career.

Learning only what you need to is essential in this environment.

[ternaryoperator]

My experience is just the opposite: there is far too little documentation of most components and I have to scramble to places like SO and other forums to get the basic info I need. In my experience, it's principally the big enterprise packages that suffer from the problem you describe.

But, of course, YMMV.

[chrisbaldauf]

Glad it resonated! You have to choose where you invest your learning time or it is too easy to get overwhelmed and lost.

[asimjalis]

How did HN figure out you were the author and render your name in green?

[thelean12]

Green just means it's a new account.

[dazc]

Yes, me too, making mistakes and finding solutions is also a great way of learning although it doesn't feel like it at the time.