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Education: Still a Hot Button Issue
If there's one issue that continues to generate controversy, it's education. In a nod to advancing technology, colleges have started testing students on their use of the internet. (Interestingly enough, some classes are starting to provide the kids with "clickers" -- kind of a remote-control, instant-response for the teacher) But no matter how you get education, everybody agrees that you've got to have it. So what's the problem with the general theories of education out there today? (Boy, am I going to get email over this one!)
It's the lack of metrics. You cannot manage what you cannot measure. Of course, you cannot measure what you cannot define, and part of the public school issues I see is the lack of a common definition of just what education is supposed to do.
How does this affect the workplace and your personal career? In the workplace, goals are sometimes more structured: learn how to do risk management, be able to maintain the department web site, understand how to set up an application server. We give people training because we have specific things we want them to do. If they take the training and can't do it, well it's either time for a refund or time for a new employee.
On a personal level self-training is much more complicated. This is the most important type of training of all and it's the one we often mess up. The secret to personal training is to learn how and where to push yourself. Some people push themselves all the time. Some don't ever get any training. Some people know exactly the right thing to spend their energy on while others follow after whatever wonders by at the moment. If you want to advance, you must anticipate the needs of your job field in the next year or two and train yourself accordingly. Note that for most of us that will consist of some sort of self-directed activity. You don't have to train all the time, but if you've gone several months without learning a new skill, the IT sector is passing you by.
Trickier still is when the organization wishes to apply this "smart" training. On a personal level, goals for long-term training are usually hard: better skills at presentations, better ability to create and maintain databases. For an organization wishing to enter into strategic training, the goals are a lot softer, and this is why this field is such a quagmire to get into. Its one thing to put in new light bulb where one wasn't before, it's quite another to turn up the light everywhere by 12 percent.
Along the lines of keeping your job and improving your skills, InfoWorld has a couple good articles. Seven keys to job security is a good list of what to do and avoid, and "Staying on Top in the Global IT market" is a good overview of the strategic situation facing American IT workers (with a little bit of "Fear Change!" thrown in to keep the readers interested)
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