The best way to learn fast is to make some sort of project that you find interesting and useful. An alarm clock with an Arduino processor, a website (maybe just a personal one about yourself), or a mobile app that does something you think is cool. Pick something doable and create milestones you can hit within a few days. For example, if you wanted to make a mobile app to help pick where to eat lunch with friends: 1. Get a mobile app running that says "hello, world" on the screen. 2. Make it say "where should we eat" and have some options. 3. Add pictures 4. Make it so that the list of options change randomly 5. Put the list of options on a server 6. Allow people to enter options onto the server Keep going with it past your comfort zone. Deploy it on the app store. Have friends try it. The floor for successful outcomes is that you stand out well beyond your peers. The ceiling is higher than any us of can imagine.