Learning a few things

Last week I was on course for Advanced Server Administration for Solaris 10. The whole experience was eye opening and insightful. Some really nifty features that we covered were Zones, AutoFS, RAID and JumpStart. In the process are started to wonder if maybe there could be something here?

Lately, I’ve been in a slump. It’s not a depression but a cross roads. I’ve been trying to find ways over this little bump. I’m at a stage where I’ve gone through and figured out what I’ve been natural at. I’ve made inventory of things I like and things I’m good at. I’ve also started to work on finding new things that cause a peak in my interest. But I’m at a bit of a stop sign because I’ve come to a point where I look at my inventor and say “great….now what?” Maybe some of you are in the same phase. I look at my little lists and try and devise a path or goal or career out of it. But from my limited knowledge of jobs, I can’t figure out what applies.

Some of this could be my artistic and renaissance nature. It can cause a bit of a conflict with todays specialist society. However, I’m not thinking so.

This is where I bring in my education. This is where, I believe, the act of learning can help. Not only does education or courses break up a day or work week. Not only do they push with labs and tests and timelines. Not only do they introduce you to new people, new things. But they shine a light on what I like to call “you-don’t-know-what-you-don’y-know”. They can add a perspective or two and maybe connect a couple of the dots. Perhaps you find out about a career or job that connects a couple of dots.

This of course is not the end of the journey, but in looking at my list, I’ve finding things that connect the dots. As we search, as with all journeys, each time we find something that connects the dots, when we follow it, there is something else, followed by something else. The journey is endless. But, at least along the way, we learn a thing or two.