Generally speaking, most of us obtain a copy of the software we are interested in learning and quickly install it, anxious to get started right away and discover all that it might have to offer. This usually provides some amount of instantaneous gratification, but it also provides some eventual reworking, reinstalling, reconfiguring, or even revisiting the source (of the software) to secure a new copy once the initial discovery phase has passed.
In addition, it is always advisable to thoroughly understand the environmental cost, configuration options, and perhaps how to troubleshoot or diagnose certain behaviors of any software you install and use.
Lastly, to make the most productive use of your time, it is a good idea to understand the bigger picture or the long-term vision for where the technology is now, how it is being used, and what might be the future opportunities for it and for someone who is proficient in it.
To this end, the following are some general tips on establishing a formal ongoing learning process and sustainable environment:
Understand any software prerequisites
Understand any hardware requirements (for the installation and for ongoing use)
Know how to determine the specific version and build numbers of the version you install and potentially upgrade to
Understand specifically what occurs during the installation process
Understand what you are agreeing to when you acknowledge the software licensing agreement, including what to do if/when evaluations expire
Know what to do to uninstall and how to restore your system to an appropriate state
Know what the (at least most popular) configuration options might be
Be aware of performance baselines—know how to tell whether the response times that you are experiencing are reasonable or not
Know how to diagnose errors or exceptions during use
Know where to go for help and support
Learn the product roadmap, where the experts see it going, so that you can best position yourself to take advantage
Be aware of general industry-proven or best practices and become familiar with them, making them a habit from your first exposure to the software, rather than retraining yourself later
The preceding points are just a few suggestions for optimizing your Splunk learning experience. These suggestions apply to any computer software but warrant mentioning as part of your experience in mastering Splunk.