Juggle Act

[Ron Sering CDS <ronaldse -at- MANX -dot- CDS -dot- TEK -dot- COM>]

On June 9, 1997, Robin Allen wrote

I feel exactly the same way you do! I'm a contractor and I feel like I
work 24/7. I don't even know what I enjoy anymore.

I subscribe to a lot of technology mags that I never have time to read
(never mind my personal magazines) and even the thought of a new
operating system from Microsoft causes me grief -- it's just another
catalyst for more information and even newer technology that I don't
have time to absorb.

It's hard enough keeping up with my clients, their industry, their
software, and their corporate culture. Sometimes I wish I was doing
anything *but* working with computers.

I do try to take time out for me, but when I do, I feel guilty. Isn't
that insane?

____________________

Indeed, it is, Robin. Let me (briefly) tell you a story:

A couple of years ago, my wife and I chucked everything: job, house, etc. and traveled through Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia for about six months. The trip itself has produced dozens of good stories and (mostly) fond  memories, but the return to normal life truly opened my eyes to the pace of change in our country and most especially in the computer industry.

I consciously avoided contact with computers; the only time I really got within typing distance of one was at the Peru/Bolivia border, where they were using a brand new Packard-Bell 486 to enter immigration data. When we got back to the US,it was on a small scale like the television series "Sliders," in which the characters drop in on a parallel universe, similar to the one they left, but different in subtle but disturbing ways. While we were gone, Windows 95 was introduced and commercial use of the WWW had hit big-time. I hadn't even heard of Netscape before leaving, but when I got back, their stock had quadrupled in value. With my experience, I was hired again quickly, but was writing about different software and hardware, so there was _that_ to absorb, along with a new glossary of terms,concepts to understand, and tools to grasp. And don't even talk to me about acronyms!

My absence had opened a gap in my technical knowledge that I haven't quite been able to close. It was a sober lesson in the pace of change in this field. But you have to have respite from it. Maybe you can never keep up; IMHO, it's best to focus on sound project management skills and identify the technical areas most important to your career and let the rest go....

$.02 worth, adjusted for inflation....


- Ron Sering

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