So I'm admittedly a bit jealous of my brother Mugs because today he's attending this mini ActionScript conference in New York.
I'm not really jealous that he's going to learn a lot about ActionScript. I'm not really interested in learning ActionScript. I am a little bit jealous that he's spending the day in Manhattan, but that only accounts for a small portion of my envy.
I'm really jealous because he's actually spending the day learning stuff that will further his career, and having fun in the process.
The last time I had any training? About two years ago. That's frustrating. Sure, I could go get some training on my own, and I'd probably be reimbursed...but I'm not going to take a week of my vacation and three grand (or more) of my own money (which I can't really do) to go get some technical skill. I know there's self-study as well, and I already possess a number of useful programming/development texts on subjects I like. For me, though, nothing beats a slightly more formal atmosphere with an experienced professional providing direction.
Of course, Mugs isn't on a company-sponsored training day. As the link explains, he's at a free workshop. He's taken the day off to attend, but the day otherwise only cost him gas and subway fare. He lives in Delaware, but he stayed at my Dad's house in Jersey yesterday which makes his travel today pretty easy.
But here's the kicker - sure, today will be helpful for Mugs. He's a burgeoning web developer, and ActionScript is useful knowledge for him. It's not his primary job skill, however. He's more of a PHP/CSS/XHTML kinda guy (at the moment), and even though ActionScript is a very real skill he can and will add to his "developer's toolbox", this is more ENTERTAINMENT for him. He's in the process of teaching himself, for leisure, everything he can about object oriented programming and associated technologies, so he enjoys this at the core.
I want that - I want some of my day dedicated to learning about something that I enjoy. This notion actually makes me miss certain aspects of college, where I could choose (to a certain extent) what to study and down which path my education traveled.
Maybe I'll just have to sign up for some classes at J-Sarge to get my learnin' fix.
I'm not really jealous that he's going to learn a lot about ActionScript. I'm not really interested in learning ActionScript. I am a little bit jealous that he's spending the day in Manhattan, but that only accounts for a small portion of my envy.
I'm really jealous because he's actually spending the day learning stuff that will further his career, and having fun in the process.
The last time I had any training? About two years ago. That's frustrating. Sure, I could go get some training on my own, and I'd probably be reimbursed...but I'm not going to take a week of my vacation and three grand (or more) of my own money (which I can't really do) to go get some technical skill. I know there's self-study as well, and I already possess a number of useful programming/development texts on subjects I like. For me, though, nothing beats a slightly more formal atmosphere with an experienced professional providing direction.
Of course, Mugs isn't on a company-sponsored training day. As the link explains, he's at a free workshop. He's taken the day off to attend, but the day otherwise only cost him gas and subway fare. He lives in Delaware, but he stayed at my Dad's house in Jersey yesterday which makes his travel today pretty easy.
But here's the kicker - sure, today will be helpful for Mugs. He's a burgeoning web developer, and ActionScript is useful knowledge for him. It's not his primary job skill, however. He's more of a PHP/CSS/XHTML kinda guy (at the moment), and even though ActionScript is a very real skill he can and will add to his "developer's toolbox", this is more ENTERTAINMENT for him. He's in the process of teaching himself, for leisure, everything he can about object oriented programming and associated technologies, so he enjoys this at the core.
I want that - I want some of my day dedicated to learning about something that I enjoy. This notion actually makes me miss certain aspects of college, where I could choose (to a certain extent) what to study and down which path my education traveled.
Maybe I'll just have to sign up for some classes at J-Sarge to get my learnin' fix.