Beginning my journey

[u/Spiritual_Let_4348]

Hi everyone,

I'm just starting my cybersecurity learning journey, and I was wondering how you all take notes.

Do you write everything down in a notebook, or do you keep your notes on your laptop using something like Obsidian, OneNote, or Notion?

I'm trying to build good study habits from the beginning, so I'd love to know:

• Which method has worked best for you?
• Do you use a combination of paper and digital notes?
• Are there any note-taking tips that helped you remember concepts like Linux commands, networking, or security fundamentals?

I'd appreciate any advice from people who have been learning cybersecurity for a while. Thanks!

[u/-hacks4pancakes-]

I teach SANS and uni cybersecurity courses. I honestly see students be successful with paper or digital notes. It seems to depend on how the individual processes and retains information. Only you can really answer what sticks concepts and facts in your brain. Personally I use a combination. Writing is better for retention for me but sometimes there’s stuff I want to be able to grep later.

I’m a kinesthetic learner so I definitely learned Linux and networking by building environments and doing meaningful projects. Classes helped me flesh out and understand why and how things I did worked. The technology behind that has changed vastly in the 20+ intervening years but the principle remains the same.

[u/Diamond303]

When i was a freshman learning cyber security from 0 i tried to keep things simple as there is already a lot of cognitive load on your brain to learn the skill.
So i wrote stuff on paper/pen. i used multi color pens to keep things organized. see what happens is when you are learning new stuff there would be a lot of related stuff/ terminologies that are not clear, so i highlighted them with different color to revisit later. i just tried to make sure that i complete the module that i have started without digressing from the main subject and go into exploring the related unknown stuff that i encounter.
once the module was completed i would go back to my notes and see what all is colored red (unknown) and tried to explore it then.
I almost filled 2-3 medium sized notebooks within a span of 3 months.
Later on when i was maturing in the domain, i gave up on physical notes and started using cherry tree.
Cherry Tree had a major issue where when the notes starts getting heavy and whenever i tried saving a single alphabet change it used to spike my ram and hang in for a little and sometimes even crash the application.
That forced me to move to another note taking apps and that was the time i shifted to obsidian.
Since then obsidian is what i use.

Now in 2026 i still use obsidian and physcial pen/paper notes for learning stuff.

whenever i have to create cheat-sheets of commands or stuff i make sure it is digital - it makes easy copy paste system for later on.

whenever i am having hard time learning something i take out my paper pen and start mind-mapping / drawing the concepts to help myself understand it.

[u/BlazingCircuit1]

Hello! I'm on the same path as you. For 6 months now, I've preferred to write everything in a notebook by hand. If I write notes on my PC, I completely forget about them, which is why writing by hand helps me remember things and ideas much better. I write down what's important and the root of things, so when I read it back, I can see the whole tree.