My wife might say that this post is long overdue…
At any rate, if you haven’t realized it by now, I am going to rant a bit about how obsessed I have become over the last year with learning various technologies. Someone out there might say, “I’m more obsessed than that…”, and it may be true, but don’t spoil this post, because I rarely have anything to write on here as it is (because I’m learning ALL THE TIME!!!…[snicker]).
So I’ve got a ton of books (Visual Web Programming in VB.NET, JavaScript in 24 Hours, XML, Prototype and script.aculo.us, Visual Basic 2005, PHP/MySQL, Flash Programming, yada yada yada…the list really does go on), I just completed another semester of 2 courses (one on VB.NET and the other was advanced Web Programming), and my IPOD is stacked with audio on similar subjects. Additionally there is an overwhelming amount of knowledge (some not worth a dime) on the Web that I enjoy referencing.
Hopefully it’s clear that I have surrendered myself to the “Power of Learning”. In doing so I have recently found that I need even more ways of gaining/storing all of this knowledge to feed my addiction…
Recently at work I was helping a colleague learn a bit of Flash and some ActionScript 3.0. I’m not an ActionScript “guru”, that said, I also won’t claim to be a “guru” of any other sort. Back to the point…I was teaching him all these things, but in the process teaching and reinforcing my own knowledge of the subjects. It was amazing and gave me sort of a “Rainman” type moment.
After that, I explained to my colleague that in helping him grasp these concepts, I also helped myself…
He agreed and said that it was one of the best ways he knew how to learn(he had previously studied for tests in this way).
The point is, I AM MISSING OUT on a key ingredient to successful learning…
SCHOOL works to some degree as I have recently built a small network of friends who I contact through email, but let’s be real, we’ve all got full time jobs to juggle as well.
BOOKS and lesson tutorials can only carry you so far. Especially with programming/tech books…
The WEB…Admittedly it is probably the number 1 source of information for Tech Professionals while on the job…”No, I don’t have stats to prove it, let’s just call it a wild guess”.
By leveraging all three of these tools a person is truly able to gain essential knowledge. That’s where I currently stand…but there’s always room for improvement!!!
To break out and get great at something you need to actively engage in shared thought of the subject on a regular basis. At least that’s what I think would work best for me right now…Unfortunately at my current position I am the only one looking at things in a developer-oriented direction. This alone makes it hard for me to constantly give and take the type of information I need to accelerate my learning in this fashion. That might be my greatest (maybe my only?) concern at my current workplace. I haven’t been there too long, but do not want to become stagnant within my field. Which brings me back to the first line of this entire post…
“My wife might say that this post is long overdue…”
She knows better than anyone, that most of my time outside of work is spent keeping up with the technology curve. With all that off my chest, it’s time to go…
