How to keep your IT knowledge fresh?

[mit74]

As an IT company/engineer how do you keep yourself motivated to learn and keep your IT knowledge fresh and up to date?

With such massive changes year by year it's almost impossible to keep up with current trends and techniques especially when it comes to the web and its languages.
As someone who has always naturally found an interest in computing I find just working around computers you pick up most the new PC technologies but not the advanced stuff. I only just delved into the world of XSLT and XML after all these years and realised how handy it can be. Because I'm so busy most the time I tend to bury my head in the sand when stuff comes out especially networking technologies and convince myself I don't need to know that.

 

[Parrot Hosting]

Having had 3 computer repair stores I can assure you the only way of keeping yourself up to date with IT knowledge is to DO it. By that I mean always build the latest PC's, always buy and install the latest cards, make sure you keep up to date with all the repairs and upgrade paths and always read the forums.

In addition to that make it a matter of policy to buy a copy of all the magazines as a company expenditure and flit through them whenever you get a quiet moment especially the help pages and the new product reviews.

 

[mit74]

Having had 3 computer repair stores I can assure you the only way of keeping yourself up to date with IT knowledge is to DO it. By that I mean always build the latest PC's, always buy and install the latest cards, make sure you keep up to date with all the repairs and upgrade paths and always read the forums.

In addition to that make it a matter of policy to buy a copy of all the magazines as a company expenditure and flit through them whenever you get a quiet moment especially the help pages and the new product reviews.

Yes magazines are handy but expensive and they don't really teach you how to do the more complex stuff.

 

[WebSensei]

A lot depends on what interests and motivates you. In any business, if you're in it just for the money, its harder to stay motivated (unless your making a killing!). If you do it because you love it, enjoy it etc you will naturally want to learn more, read more, find out what others are doing/thinking etc.

In I.T. the trick is to avoid information overload. Find magazines, blogs, forums, books which give you a snippet of information but direct you to more detailed sources if the subject interests you.

 

[Parrot Hosting]

Yes magazines are handy but expensive and they don't really teach you how to do the more complex stuff.

This is true but, you would be surprised how a little knowledge can earn you shedloads and often there are some real gems in those magazines and its always a matter of keeping up with the latest fads, without the magazines you would not know what your customers are going to come in and ask for.

It doesn't matter what level of the IT industry you work it is the current fads and trends that drive the industry forward and that means always paying attention to the publics perception and keeping current with cutting edge stuff. This also makes things very interesting as you are treading new ground constantly.

At the end of the day the industry you/we are in is all about new ideas and new ways of working and the journalists get right in there and give you ideas and keep you up to date. Why would you NOT spend £30-£40 a month on keeping yourself at the pinnacle of it all.

 

[WebSensei]

Yes magazines are handy but expensive and they don't really teach you how to do the more complex stuff.

Again, concentrate on an area which interests you and become a 'specialist' in that field. It's aking too much to know/learn about every latest development. Take Excel for example, one program, but how many people know every function/formula/macro? Even I can't look through a whole 'Excel Bible'. I only learn about the functions/formula's which I and others may find useful.

 

[mit74]

Again, concentrate on an area which interests you and become a 'specialist' in that field. It's aking too much to know/learn about every latest development. Take Excel for example, one program, but how many people know every function/formula/macro? Even I can't look through a whole 'Excel Bible'. I only learn about the functions/formula's which I and others may find useful.

Difficult when you're a sole trader. You really do need to be jack of all trades as a business will always expect you to know it. If they ask me what the best way is to setup their customer database so they can excess remotely abroad and can you implement it into their current system I can either say I'm not specialized in that field get another IT company or yep you do it this way using this technology.

 

[WebSensei]

Difficult when you're a sole trader. You really do need to be jack of all trades as a business will always expect you to know it. If they ask me what the best way is to setup their customer database so they can excess remotely abroad and can you implement it into their current system I can either say I'm not specialized in that field get another IT company or yep you do it this way using this technology.

Totally understand what you're saying. If I was the above company, and you decided its something you're not able to do, but gave me details of another recommended company - you will have gained my TRUST. I always trust people who admit they can't do something, rather than blaggers.

 

[Parrot Hosting]

The IT Sector is MASSIVE even the Networking sector on its own is MASSIVE - nobody can do it all and all of us are jack of all trades and master of nothing BUT, this makes us significant because if we all know our stuff, we also know the all experts in their respective fields. The Customer will always accept that you outsource sophisticated stuff to the experts and are often happy to pay for it. You don't have to know it all, just know the people that do. As WebSensei says above - you gain their trust and more than that you widen the expertise you have available and thats no bad thing.

 

[mit74]

The IT Sector is MASSIVE even the Networking sector on its own is MASSIVE - nobody can do it all and all of us are jack of all trades and master of nothing BUT, this makes us significant because if we all know our stuff, we also know the all experts in their respective fields. The Customer will always accept that you outsource sophisticated stuff to the experts and are often happy to pay for it. You don't have to know it all, just know the people that do. As WebSensei says above - you gain their trust and more than that you widen the expertise you have available and thats no bad thing.

good point

 

[pchealer]

Its impossible to be an expert in everything in IT I agree that magazine articles are a good way to keep up today but for example you don't have to buy PC Pro just read there website. I sent my homepage to igoogle and have lots of news RSS feeds coming in this way I keep my self updated for free.

 

[stugster]

I'd say all our clients accept and appreciate that we don't know the answers to everything. What they do require though, is for us to be able to research those problems we can't solve there and then, and do the research and find a solution within a reasonable given amount of time.

 

[computer storm]

I usually just build it all im VM ware and use that for testing latest software, as all hardware is really the same, setup multiple VM's and test your knowledge that way, at least you will get hands on. You would be supprised how much you learn about networking with VM servers and desktops.

 

[pchealer]

I'd say all our clients accept and appreciate that we don't know the answers to everything. What they do require though, is for us to be able to research those problems we can't solve there and then, and do the research and find a solution within a reasonable given amount of time.

Well that goes without saying most of what I have learnt is from customers problems I have solved.