Sunday, November 17, 2013

Still learning after all these years!

Are you still learning new things? In addition to reading a lot more books lately, I've also been picking up a few other things.

Although I now have three nice degrees from esteemed universities - 2 bachelor degrees and a masters - I'm still not done learning. If anything, I find being back in the 9-to-5 working world even more of a learning curve. I'm constantly having new concepts, new technologies, and new policies thrown at me. And my curiosity keeps me looking for exciting new things to learn.

Here are a couple of things I'm learning at the moment:

Plants

Though I'm familiar and fluent in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Florida and Swiss plant species, I'm still learning my British flora. So I'm on a mission to teach myself as much as possible through books, other experts, and time spent outside on my hands and knees with a magnifying glass (loop). There is a test called the Field Identification Skills Certificate through the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland which I can use to test my abilities by next summer.

JavaScript

Being in a technical job now, I need to know more programming and because JavaScript is one of the most commonly used programming languages for software applications (or apps as the kids are calling them these days), API connections and mobile devices, I thought it'd be a good time to brush up on a new language. I've programmed using Visual Basic, Python, and HTML languages before, but this one is new for me. So I'm using an amazing game-like online school called Codecademy to learn JavaScript. It's actually really fun!

It's a fun time to learn new things! Especially with winter coming, I have to resist the urge to curl up and hibernate. So keeping my mind active is a great way to avoid the winter blues. And there's a method to my madness. I'm hoping to someday be able to help build an amazing app or perhaps a new technology to help people discover, explore and identify plant species in the wild. The available apps now don't quite meet my needs!

Are you teaching yourself any new skills at the moment?

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