Everything Starts with a Note-taking System
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ก.พ. 2025
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If you're new to my channel, I'm Mischa van den Burg. I help ambitious professionals break into tech and scale their DevOps careers. Our community brings together over 400 paying members who are transforming their careers in tech.
How I got here...
28 yrs old: Left my nursing career to start from scratch in tech
29 yrs old: Taught myself DevOps while working full-time
30 yrs old: Landed my first junior DevOps position in just 6 months
31 yrs old: Doubled my salary by securing my first consulting role
32 yrs old: Built an advanced Kubernetes homelab, started sharing online
33 yrs old: Became a Microsoft MVP, grew to 34,000+ TH-cam subscribers
34 yrs old: Built the fastest-growing DevOps community on Skool
Today: Running multiple 6-figure DevOps contracts while teaching others
Our community now has:
• 400+ paying members
• 40+ hours of premium courses
• 92% success rate in career transitions
• Members doubling their salaries in less than 12 months
Want proof this works? Google me.
Check my GitHub (400+ stars).
Look up my Microsoft MVP status.
Thousands of 5 star reviews on several platforms.
To all the career changers and ambitious engineers: Your past doesn't determine your future. I went from nurse to highly-paid DevOps consultant in 18 months. The worse the struggle, the better the comeback.
You either level up your career or get an epic story trying. Both mean you win.
Keep building,
Mischa
FULL DISCLOSURE
I create content to build trust with ambitious professionals. The best ones join our premium community, where we help them accelerate their careers. Simple as that.
Get access to ALL of my note-taking & productivity content:
👉 skool.com/kubecraft
de caga
Thank you for actually laying a foundation instead of rushing in. It seems so rare that people share this critical step.
Thanks, friend. I'm glad you recognize the importance of this step. I'm planning to take my time with this. Rather be calm and provide quality than rush in and leave value on the table.
Thank you, Misha! It was one of the videos which you have to keep yourself seated. No dopamine, no cheap attraction, just pure knowledge. Appreciated.
There are several people commenting that the video is too long for its purpose, but I totally disagree with them. The information is too valuable for just one short. Thank you mate!🍻
I appreciate that you took the effort and wrote that in a comment. Unfortunately many people have lost the ability to focus more than 30 seconds due to the proliferation of shorts and reels, and subsequently demand that all content fit their goldfish attention spans. It’s unfortunate, but it will be very easy to compete with these people in business and in the job market.
@@mischavandenburg This comment kept me watching. I realised im falling victim to information overload and I need to slow down and watch everything.
I disagree, while yes the information is valuable the format of the video is very slow. People want to get to the point about how to actually take notes in a concise way and productive way. The first 30% or so of the video is very slow and I would recommend everyone watch it at 1.5x to 2x speed. This has nothing to do with brain-rot or the proliferation of reels and shorts.
Clear thinking becomes clear writing, one can't exist without the other. Interesting quote.
In my case it was life changing
Can clear thinking not exist without clear writing? What about people who can't write?
@@mTsp4ceof course it can, it's the other way around actually, clear writing can't exist without clear thinking. It's called confirming the consequent, and it's a sylogistical fallacy.
Or denying the antecedent, I don't remember, I always confuse them.
@@johndoe8091 You are right and this quote is bullshit.
0:56 🏆 Achievements: Misha's notes have helped achieve significant milestones like career change, blogging, growing a TH-cam channel, and obtaining certifications.
1:54 🚀 Career Shift: Misha transitioned from being a nursing assistant to a DevOps engineer through dedication and passion for tech.
3:32 📚 Learning Techniques: Productivity TH-camrs like Ali Abdaal and Tiago Forte inspired Misha's organized note-taking system.
4:17 🗂️ Organized System: Effective note-taking requires a structured and intentional system to manage and utilize information.
10:03 🖊️ Creation: A robust note-taking system fuels content creation like blog posts and videos.
13:29 ✍️ Writing as Thinking: Clear writing is a sign of clear thinking; practicing writing improves overall understanding and communication.
15:52 🏭 Input-Output System: View yourself as a factory processing input (content) to create output (blog posts, videos).
This post is more useful than the video itself.
fantastic job
i knew you were here, you, hero. ty.
While I haven’t kept up with my note taking like I did two months ago. I was already feeling the effects of a lack of structure in my work and personal life. The problem is that when you’re “surfing” the period of wave you are taking notes, you feel like you’re on the top of the mountain and magically know how to get to any part of the mountain but the moment you slip off even a little you start to lose grip quicker and quicker. Climbing never gets quicker, at best it’s linear speed but losing habit is exponentially faster.
So yeah, I agree, “EVERYTHING” begins with a good note taking system
It takes discipline, but the rewards are huge
Douglas Hoffstader told us the basis of all human cognition is the ability to find patterns analogous to our past experiences in the knowledge we seek.
That's bloom's taxonomy of learning level 4, of 6.
When did Douglas said so? Can you provide the reference?
bruh
Your advice on note taking gave me a new degree of inspiration, it reminds me of taking & creating notes whenever I faces new challenges to implement new features. But I realized that I should also share them with my peers whenever they get stuck on something similar. Thanks for such suggestion.
I believe i'm decent at my job, and i was able to go through college, and I keep improving, but unfortunately i never committed to a well structured note taking system. It all makes total sense to me, but i could never make it work for me, and now it is harder to find time to stop and optimize. I'm looking forward to your videos, maybe they will bring the insight i need. Thank you!
I agree 💯% note taking has taken my career on the right path. As much as we would like to retain info in our memory, note taking is a skill many take for granted!
Hi, Mischa. I'm just starting my career in technology, and thought the same thing you described at the beginning of this video, sharpening the axe. Grateful to have stumbled upon your video, thank you very much.
Thanks for this. My note-taking system is getting better all the time thanks to your courses on the topic. The better my intention, the better my notes, as you say.
That's amazing to hear! Thanks
I am currently 1 min in , and you already convinced me to subscribe to your channel. Props to you!
Great metaphor on imagining your brain as a factory, taking youtube, blog posts, ect; as a input, and writing, videos, and social media content as output!
Great material. I have similar experience as yours: my memory, notes, prepared in advanced statistics (just because I was amused about some question) helped me to become an employee who is referenced often as someone with the answer. Also I've always ready to write down simple instructions in wiki to faster answer repetitious questions. So it also helped me to maintain my skills to clearly describe any aspect of my knowledge.
Wiki?
As in wikipedia?
thanks for sharing, this is the best ever content about learning something.
"Clear thinking becomes clear writting, one cant exist without the other"
Glad it was helpful!
Hey Mischa! Highly appreciate this as I prepare for AWS SAA and KCNA :)
thanks youtube for recommending me this video about note taking. pretty helpful
I started to believe what he had to say when he fully described my PC's file structure.
This video is worth it's weight in gold. There's so few people in the industry that wouldn't benefit from this
Thanks!
Extremely insightful and relatable. I started note-taking and blogged. After 600+ note-taking blogs, I have published a couple of 800 books. Good note-taking skills will take you to the next level.
Do you mean “800 page books”?
Sir, you’re so inspiring
This Is exactly what I needed because I’m trying to make my way in Tech after economics studies.
Wish you all the bests ❤
From minute 2:00 to 3:00 is a very powerful message for every human being
Mate, With only 5min of video you gained a new Sub, Follower and Fan. Thank you for your work. I'll be watiching your content every day!! 🏆🏆❤❤
That's amazing to hear, I'm so happy my style resonates with you! Glad to have you along!
This is the Truth. There is very much wrong information about note-taking things in the IT industry for students in my country. I always found myself noting things, and blogging but was always doubtful about this habit. Thanks, Man!
Notes + blogging is the Way. It's how you stand out from a pile of CV's
@@mischavandenburg yeah man, looking forwars to more of your videos!!
This is really so amazing. I am so glad to have come across this content of yours on TH-cam. I actually love writing down notes on paper in my own words and as per my understanding in the simplest of terms
Great video Mischa, actually I'm working on similar one and I also use Obsidian.
Subbed 💪
Though some folks said video was longer, I was at so ease through out. Maybe it's your voice🎉
WOah , bro just corelated the mind palace and note taking system , helpfull insights . worth a sub thanks
The way he touches his beard when talking how senior engineers came to him with a question 😊
"Writing is thinking on paper", couldn't agree more!
Great video! I wish i discovered this sooner. I already worked 6 years at a company and only took sporatic notes in oneNote.
Im going to try Obsidian for work and neovim/neorg for home
You'd be surprised at how simple, fast and easy notepad++ is.
BRO, I freaking just knew from the start that this was gonna involve obsidian in some capacity 😂😂
This is gold mixing with diamonds man. Outstanding content!
Much appreciated!
I'm looking forward seeing your vault organisation and some of your notes.
A PKM from a tech perspective is interesting to me.
I’ve been thinking how much information is skipped over and how it’s a shame no one is thinking about more than each individual video or doing how to’s that teach you nothing. I followed in the first 60 seconds this sounds like it’s going to be good. 👍
Thank you so much!
You are headed for the stars man! I see the next TraversyMedia here! 🔥
Wow, that's a huge compliment! I didn't know about that channel, but it would be amazing to even reach 10% of his size!
@@mischavandenburg I'm sure thousands of developers owe their jobs to him. I've learned so many things from him. From Laravel to React.
You are on your way!
Happy to be one of the early followers to see where this new path in your life takes you!
This was very well put. you talk more like a philosopher/writer than a programmer haha! good stuff
As a computer science student I always felt like the circle around me never reasoned with the concepts and would rather memorise, spill it on paper, and forget it after they've been tested. I always felt that reasoning and understanding each small component in mini steps and layering the whole idea would get me far ahead. THIS, this was the cherry on top this was exactly what I needed to ensure that I could understand a whole concept and build an idea with it. I'm young and being disciplined with this technique will get me years ahead. I really can't even express my appreciation. Thank you. You earned a new follower.
Thank you so much for your kind comment. It means a lot to me that my message resonated so well with you! If you pick this up properly while young it's going to supercharge your career.
Learning to use OneNote was a game changer for me.
Where can I find information on the OneNote paradigm / object model? I am familiar with note oriented note taking systems, but I understand Onenote is different.
One of the best explanation with its foundation.
Thank you!
You’ve clearly put a lot of thought into notetaking, and the ideas you shared in this video are proof of that.
I see so many notetaking adjacent content “missing the point” and forgetting to talk about the big ideas that make taking notes beneficial. And sure, whilst it is possible to get these ideas from just sheer experience, as I imagine you’ve done, a kickstart would be far from detrimental.
To build yourself a language that you can use to parse the world that is external to you; to think about every piece of your existence in a holistic manner and in terms of that language; having great reference potential throughout; these are some of the things that really matter. Great video!
Wonderful comment, thank you
I am super excited about this... Just signed up for the community.
That's great, welcome aboard! See you in the Q&A 😁🎉
Thanks for this video. I was just struggling to create my own note system and thinking if I was wasting my time. Now I know that I am not.
I’ve been curious about going into the zettelkasten method rabbit hole. I'll definitely check the course out, as youtube related content is all over the place
That's exactly why I created it. There is no other comprehensive course available of good quality as far as I know. I'm very proud of it.
That's exactly what I needed to organize my job routine. Thank you!
Great and relevant content. For now, you are our leader. Until we get promoted to management. Then we will, of course, possess all knowledge.
Hahaha well said
"NoteScript" by Laurence Faulkner Hawkins, published by Barnes & Nobles saved me in college. I came across this little book in high-school.
I generally use diagrams and mind map to structure the information
So happy that you doing this and sharing how you were successful! Will be checking out your Udemy courses soon! Thank you!
Excalidraw!! I also use this and obsidian for Note Taking
Great video! Question, which software did you use to zoom in/out while recording?
Thank you. It's my recording tool called Screen you can find it here mischavandenburg.com/screen/
Thank you @Mischa,
This video is so valuable to me.
I just register your Udemy course on `The Zettelkasten Method in Obsidian
`
Silly question, but when you draw - such as the factory, do you draw by using a mouse?
Or do you have some sort of tablet with stencil?
Love the content, as always!
There are no silly questions :) I have an iPad and this factory was drawn on on the iPad with an Apple Pencil in Excalidraw. I want to do more of that in the future!
@@mischavandenburg Very cool! I've been wanting to get more into drawing notes and, more specifically, architectural diagrams. I would like an iPad, but it seems to pricey for what I would need it for.
So I've been looking into drawing tablets, like the qualcom. I'll give that a try and integrate it into my note-taking.
Thanks a lot
Such a wonderful video! Super informative! Thanks a lot :)
Glad you enjoyed it!
I used the PARA method for over a year but have struggled in the last couple of months after switching some workflows around & stopped doing it, this video has made me realize I need to get back on that track.
I like your pragmatic approach in discussing this topic👍 I just picked up your Udemy Zettelkasten Method class.
Thanks for the support!
Hi Mischa,
Great content as usual. I saw you handwriting in a few of your videos and was wondering what do you use to take handwritten notes? Is it a dedicated digitizer tablet or a regular iPad or android tablet?
I've used both tablet & iPad at times.
Mischa hi!
What is the app you're using on 2:43? Is it a mac app or an ipad app?
Looks to still be obsidian
I recognized the app he is drawing with as the Excalidraw community plugin for Obsidian. In a reply above he Mischa confirms this and says he is drawing with an Apple pencil on an iPad.
It’s funny that you haven’t added timestamps to a video about how to be more productive and have nice notes
It's done by design, not out of laziness. The information shared in this video is of high quality and should be consumed with full attention while taking notes. I'm not in favor of creating timestamps for videos which leads to superficial consumption.
Timestamps don't make any sense for this type of video. It's not a tutorial, it's a college class.
@@mischavandenburgit is done because of entitlement and keeping viewers for idiots.
Users can easily also timestamp which creates a community guided approach, appreciate the mention of why timestamps are useful and why they aren't. Timestamps should be personalized--meaning I create them because I know what that time means for me. Yes, a timestamp is nice--but overall it isn't effective unless you are the one who is using it (I believe)
20 mins of blabbering only to reveal a udemy course, thanks for wasting our time
Thanks. Interesting video. Writing aids your understanding...much appreciated.
thank you. have you ever seen Dr. Campbell ? he uses a kind of 'overhead projector' view. The drawing on screen is kind of like this. however the paper projection method is very flexible and legible for the viewer.
He even takes notes while taking notes
Thanks Mischa for the presentation, when you mentioned that you were documenting the project in your system and the "proper" documentation. I assume the proper documentation was your shared work documentation something like confluence. What is your approach when you have to document in both work systems and your system? How you avoid duplication and how you maintain both systems with the same information and keep things efficient?
My ciforth compiler has a log file that starts in 2000. It is a simple text file. It is focused. My other activities are less important. There is a PROJECT folder with 50 subfolders that is fairly organized.
Congratulations on all your hard work, I completely agree with what you've expressed here.
Thank you kindly!
Thank you for your clear and insightful explanation along with helpful examples. I really appreciate it!
The thing I have struggled the most is when to take a note on something. That trigger never goes off in my head, thus I have no notes
It's a habit, a skill that needs training.
When you're consuming content, look for moments where you have confusion, or excitement about some idea.
your whiteboard system used here is interesting. Hard to get good at I expect, but worked well. going from analogue to digital whiteboards is a hard transition that I've never found.a perfect solution ot
Your knowledge is invaluable!!! I think I’ll join the community because I have NEEDED guidance on note-taking for the past 5 years or so…
Thank you for the kind owrds recs. If you decide to join, you won't regret it. Hope to see you soon.
Esse video é um dos Presentes da Internet que eu gostaria de ter recebido a 20 anos atrás.
gracias
Thank you for the knowledge you are sharing! Could you share the name of the app you are using in this video?
I'm looking forward to next parts of this series! I've been doing the same - documenting everything I do. I use Emacs org mode for this, including the agenda views, clocking and other stuff. I am really interested to see your approach to things!
Thank you so much for this, I'm an idiot when it comes to tracking work and progress
What software are you using in this video to take notes and present?
Can you share? I am very interested in this software.
There’s a link to the tool in the description!
OMG! I though i was the only one who takes note. Every single line of code i explain it myself in the note. And i love doing that
Small question: Do you use mause to real time draw in this video?
Hi, may I ask what you use to draw in obsidian?
Is it excalidraw?
It would be interesting to see the structure of your notes. Because one of most important things for me is when you have a moment that you need to take a note, its critical to understand where to place it and which category it belongs. Because a bunch of unstructured raw text is not very helpful. Also the structure of a note itself, I like to start it with some title (2,3 words) so when I'm scrolling though it I just need to read that 2-3 words to understand what this note is about and if its the right thing
All of this is explained in my course.
Thank you for this video!
I moved to a new job that requires me to learn so many topics in few months time (azure, sccm, intune, and more stuff Microsoft) one thing I struggle with is retaining and organizing all the information related to the topics. Hope this helps me
Really profound!
Great video Mischa, can I know what's the font's name? Thanks!
great work sir
And suddenly you deliver as a senior whilst being paid like a junior
i do it the old fashion way, in a diary, do handmade drawing, and write notes on my language which i can revise any morning and remember 100% of the things, i use all sort of slangs and things thats easy for me.
i have seen my friends writting in bookish language and proper english, where i can combine hindi bengali and english and some slangs. xD
A well-organized note-taking system is crucial for learning, productivity, and professional growth.
Writing is essential for understanding and effective communication.
Think of yourself as a factory, processing information and generating valuable output.
Invest in learning and implementing effective note-taking strategies.
Utilize available resources like Misha's courses and community to accelerate your learning journey.
How is your mouse movement so smooth? I would love that
Starts at 21:00
You are lekker bezig, Misha. 😃 Keep it up!
I think that is very aardig from you, dankjewel!
Very good stuff, man! Fellow MVP here. What is your MVP in?
Hello fellow mvp! I was awarded in the Infrastructure as Code category
Hey! Loving the content I'm getting a lot more into Obsidian + Vim thanks to you!
I almost didn't click on your videos because of the ai thumbnail, I thought it was an add for some scam or something lol.(at least on my feed, is the only ai thumbnail, I scrolled for a while to double check)
My humble opinion is that can probably brand yourself in a more creative way that will be better for growing your channel.
Anyways congrats on the 10k!
hey man there was a video about taking notes in a cli based tex tbut i dont remember, I will edit my post so you can check it, i dont remember it is is with nano or with vim
Hello. I'm curious. Did you have a wife, kids, a physical exercise regimen and/or any other significant non dev responsibilities while you were getting dev explicit education and increasing your dev skills? Or was all of your energy and efforts directed toward your goal of becoming employed as a dev ops engineer?
8 hours of sleep, 1-2 hours of exercise a day. No wife, no kids. 0 energy spent on women.
4 hours of volunteer's work a week.
It's amazing what you can do when you don't watch netflix & don't play video games.
Mr Mischa can you make a video about how to connect our notes to an LLM agent that easily analyses and presents/summarises them to us? Thanks a lot for considering this important IT project.
I have this as a future video idea!
@@mischavandenburg would be sublime to watch that video. Thanks in advance
Show us how you prioritize tasks on your kanban
I also find taking notes in "the analog way" worked better for me. I think it needs a lot more work than typing in the keyboard. It makes the experience more memorable. I retain more information and for a longer time.
Handwritten notes are my favorite too. The tradeoff is that it's very difficult to find information when you need it. I often take notes by hand and then put them into my system. It's toil, but I'd rather have it searchable.
cant wait for complete playlist
Great content. Keep it going.