I'm a 17 year old Colemak user who discovered Colemak by using a forum. I used Dvorak at one point but gave up after two days. Then I decided to try Colemak in mid-April, and I stuck with it. When I was using a QWERTY keyboard, I wasn't a touch typist. I only typed with a few fingers on each hand. I remember showing the keyboarding teacher at my school the way I typed, and he said that he had never seen someone type that way before.  The weird thing was that I was so used to typing with the QWERTY layout I wouldn't have to look down at the keys. I would estimate that my typing speed was around 45 WPM. I was typing with QWERTY for as long as I can remember.

I decided to do colemak on a whim. I admit it was difficult at first, because I had to learn how to touch type while learning a different keyboard layout. Now though, it is natural to me. I practiced around 1-2 hours each day, in addition to being a high school student. At first, I used QWERTY to type up my papers, while using Colemak for everything else. After around two weeks in, I disabled typing on QWERTY on my Mac.

I used several different methods to learn the Colemak layout, but I never did have a layout chart next to me. I first tried to use the recommendations from the Learn page, but I felt dissatisfied with it. I used keybr for a little while, before getting dissatisfied with words that didn't exist.

Then I discovered Type-Fu around one and a half weeks in. I basically learnt the whole Colemak layout from this typing tutor. I started from their lessons at level one, and I moved up through the levels at the time they wanted until I reached level 9. I reached this in two days. I had a little difficulty with the letters P, J, and L at first, but Type-Fu straightened this out. A few days after getting to level 9, I disabled QWERTY. I would highly recommend using Type-Fu, because after I progressed through the lessons, I had a good understanding of the layout. It also shows you which letters you mistyped the most, and gives you detailed graphs on your speed and your accuracy, over a period of time, and in that session.

I then registered for Typeracer. I got frustrated at first, because I was a beginner, and left the account for a few days. During this time, I went back to Type-Fu and began practicing some more. I managed to get my speed up to over 40 wpm which almost matched my QWERTY speed, and began racing again. As of right now, I have an average of 45 wpm. I don't race much though on there, and in the practices I can get to above 50 wpm. I just took the typing test on hi-games right before hand, and I got 53 wpm. My accuracy varies, but it hovers in the 90% range.

Now I am extremely glad I decided to switch on a whim. Typing feels natural for me. I was beginning to have hand pain with my typing method. Now, when I have to use a QWERTY layout, I try to use the converter on the site if I can. Otherwise, I have to look down at the keys before I start to type, and then revert back to what I did before.

The only tip I have for people who are trying to learn Colemak is to practice. I still practice using Colemak in hopes that I will break the 60 wpm barrier on a typing test.