November, 2002 Issue

Print this page   Download as PDF This is one article from the issue of November, 2002. For other stories and articles, go to the Current Issue.

Career Development Eternal Learning Staying Ahead Of Your Challenges     One of the obligations of any professional is staying abreast of new trends and acquiring new knowledge.  If you're an engineer, there're new tools, technologies, skills and techniques you need to learn.  Sales people are constantly faced with new methods, new product features and there's always something new to learn about your industry.  You expect your physician to stay abreast of new knowledge; you owe the same to people who depend on you.     It's your career, not your employers'.  Some employers would rather not have you acquire more skills, because you might become exposed to advance beyond the opportunities they can offer you.   Most employers have educational assistance programs that can help defray the costs of learning. The time you spend, however, is generally your own     The larger the firm for which you work, the more opportunities you're likely have.  One of the advantages of a large company is they have the resources to invest in sending people to school, conducting their own educational programs, and offering access to courses via the Internet or the corporate intranet.  No matter where you work, your knowledge is your own; how much you have and how you keep it current is entirely up to you.     Since you work outside the traditional office setting, you're probably on your own for the learning that drives career development.  So, you need to be motivated to learn on your own.  Fortunately, the opportunities for learning are exploding on the Internet, and those add to the traditional sources of education at your disposal. Why Keep Learning?     The total knowledge you have today is losing value; it decays over time.  Some of what you know is obsolete (do you remember the route you walked to grade school?  do you still remember features of products no longer sold?).  Worse, some of what you need to know might not even appear on your personal radar screen (do you know how to protect your computer from viruses and other intruders?).  So, what you know is decaying, and you need to replace it with new knowledge to stay current. The Half-Life Of Knowledge     Some of what you learned in high school and college is no longer true.  Science, technology and ethics all advance.  Some of what you learned is flat wrong, new things have happened, making some of what you knew obsolete.  If you plot the amount you know on a graph, you can see that your valid, appropriate and useful knowledge base is decaying.  The time it takes to reduce that pool of useful knowledge by half is called the "half-life" of knowledge.  The New York Academy of Sciences has estimated today's college graduate has a half-life of knowledge of about five years; it's probably longer for a truck driver, shorter for a knowledge worker...even shorter for a consultant.             To keep the quantity of your relevant knowledge at the same level (not to mention even trying to increase it!), you have two options:  Go back to school every so often to replenish your knowledge, and make small, continuous investments in learning every day, every week, every month.  It's a matter of choice.  If you like the discipline imposed in a classroom, or other kind of course, you can spend your time that way.  If you like to take time every day, or a few hours a week, to privately explore new sources of information and learning, you can continuously replenish your store of knowledge that way.   Going Back To School     You might prefer to learn in a classroom setting or in other formal, structured environments where we're expected to deliver intermediate results on schedule.  You can always sign up for courses at your local college or university.  But, depending on where you live, you may not be able to find the specific courses you need to take.  You could travel to formal classes, but if they're spread over weeks or months it can make the process very expensive.  Popular two- or three-day commercial courses can only cram in a limited amount of information , and it may prove hard to remember.     The Internet has radically changed your available educational opportunities.  You can find available courses on-line; one popular website to explore (http://www.worldwidelearn.com) points you to a wide range of degrees, professional skills, and talents you can learn on-line.     You may need to take specific courses that will help you do your job better or prepare you for the next job you want to have.  But you might also just want to pursue a passion that intrigues you.  While specific skills may help you get a promotion, the quality of your thinking will be stimulated by such pursuits as liberal arts, languages or music.  Anything that's new and requires effort to learn enhances your mental agility.     You also have to decide whether you need specific information about a particular topic, or exposure to a new contemporary concept.  You can take a course, for instance, on how to better use a specific software product (say, Microsoft Word), or you can take a course on the underlying technology that makes the Internet possible.  The former is about acquiring skills that serve you in the short term; the latter is about understanding concepts, which seldom lead to immediate improvements, but set the stage for you to understand new trends as they emerge.  Again, it's a personal choice:  You may prefer learning fact-based skills, while others prefer (or need) to learn concepts and ideas. Continuous Learning     You may find classrooms and formal educational styles too limiting and prefer to learn at your own pace.  You have more options...and you should always remain aware that it may require more effort to learn what you need to know as you sort through lots of sources of knowledge, sometimes learning things that will ultimately prove useless.     You might prefer to subscribe to industry journals and trade papers and visit websites that expose you to new and useful ideas.  People who subscribe to a dozen or more periodicals beyond newspapers and news magazines—and who read them all—are making a recurring investment in their quantity of general and specific knowledge.     If you need to learn a new subject quickly, and you prefer the "self-tutored" approach, you can buy or borrow a stack of books and spend an intense few days learning what you need to know.  Some people really enjoy the intensity of this approach, but it really requires huge personal discipline.     Effective long-term learners keep a "read pile" of documents and periodicals, and they make a point of getting to the bottom of that pile every month or so.  They carry a magazine or a book everywhere, just in case they get a few spare minutes.  They might not read every article or story, but even exposing yourself to the headlines will add to your knowledge, because you'll be aware of issues that are being written about and read by others. Always Consider The Alternative     Even if you prefer one method of learning over another, sample the alternatives.  You may be surprised that offering yourself the opportunity to break customary habits will yield benefits.  If you like classrooms, go home and read a book.  If you read lots of books, try going to a course in a classroom once in a while.  You may be pleasantly surprised that changing the way you expose yourself to knowledge pays off. How Much Is Enough?     Only you know whether you're learning enough to stay abreast of trends and knowledge.  Here are some signs that you need to invest more: Your peers are using language and discussing things you don't understand, You're asked for a professional opinion, and you're at a loss, You feel the need for more challenges.     Your professional competence depends on staying abreast of new practices, new products, and new concepts.  Because you work away from the traditional office setting, and employer commitments to employees are waning, it's up to you to stay current.

 

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