I was asked to give guideline and opinion on how to study IT.
Firstly, I would like to make myself clear that I am not an expert, just an amateur who are learning, just like you. :) I wouldn't say giving you guideline or advise, but sharing some of my experiences.
I found that the main thing is you have to be clear of why you are in this field and what do you want to achieve at the end of the journey. I have many juniors who get into IT because IT is cool; IT is so popular; their parents want them to take IT... etc. At the end of their day, they join sales and marketing field. So, what's your goal?
In IT world, you have to get yourself as exposed as possible, in terms of knowing what's happening around. You need to be resourceful in terms of when you need information, where will you head for the reference, eg. Internet, eBooks... etc.
Master the concepts. In programming, there are many basic concepts which we learn in college or university level. We tend to ignore it after the exam. Many of these are very important and useful concepts that you need them when you apply it in your job. If you have better grasp of these concepts, it helps you a lot in designing and writting better system. I experienced this when I was preparing for my Sun Certified Java Programmer Exam.
Get your hands dirty by practically apply things that you learn. There are many tutorials or articles that explain certain technology, many of these provide sample code, which you can try them out to understand it more.
Just my two cents.
First of all, I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone Happy Chinese New Year! Gong Xi Fa Chai! How's your CNY? Received a lot of Ang Pao?
As for me, it's a very different Chinese New Year- one that is full of feeling! My family and me celebrate it in Penang (both my parents's hometown) this time. We departed on Tuesday morning, around 4am, drove two cars up the highway. As I always sleep during a journey, so I started driving while my younger sister take her nap; in the other hand, my elder sister drive another car while my younger brother slept first. The journey was smooth and we reached Penang Island around 10am as we rested a while at Sungai Perak R&R.
We went straight to 1st aunt's house, then we went for breakfast with grandma, auntie and cousins. The subsequent days continued with food as grandma and aunties prepared a lot of great food for each meal. I became 'Satay Man' for one of the dinner. :) I met up all my relatives, whom I have not been meeting them for quite some time. Having great chat and sharing with them. Full of cherish!
Hope that you also having great times like me for your CNY.