Pushing your skill set

Are you doing anything to keep up your skills? Some of you don't have a choice--especially if you're doing client work where each new job "forces" you to learn something new. But for those of us who--like me--are mostly working on our own stuff, we can get... a little lazy. The techniques we've been using are like old friends. Doing it the way we've been doing it feels comfortable and less risky.

Why learn a new API when the one we know works just fine? Sure, it's a little less efficient, and wasn't really designed to do everything the way we use it... but at least there's no new learning curve. It's more efficient to bend the things we know, then start up a new learning curve from scratch. Who wants to go through that initial "I suck at this" phase again?

At SXSW, the guys from skinnyCorp said that when they were finally earning enough from Threadless to quit doing client work, they noticed their skills began standing still. They tended to do only what they were already good at. They decided that if a client wasn't going to push their skills, they'd have to push themselves.

So, they chose to start a project that would force them into new knowledge/skill territory--Extra Tasty. I can't remember now which aspects of the drink recipe site were new for them, but I was impressed that they recognized they needed to keep pushing. Of course, these guys have about a million ideas, so I shouldn't have been surprised.

Nobody wants to go through the suck stage. Being past that--where you start working in flow and everything clicks and you're good at what you do--is one of the rewards for going through it in the first place. But that whole "use it or lose it" thing applies to our brain. And by "use it", I don't mean using our brain to do the things we're already good at. If we don't continually keep pushing our brain in new ways, it starts to slide, just as parts of our body atrophy if we don't keep adding new physical stress (heavier weights, longer or faster runs, etc.)

What to do about it? I have only a few tips, so I'm hoping to hear more from you:

* Use the Threadless approach
Deliberately start a new project (even if it's just for fun) that you know will drive you into new research, experimenting, learning, etc.

* Study for a certification exam.
Yes, I'm biased on this one--I've been the lead developer on several of Sun's Java programmer and developer certifications, and I've written some certification books. But the reason I ended up working at Sun in the first place is because I was already a big advocate for certifications--devoting much of my free time to helping others prepare for and pass exams, although not for the reasons most people assume (and long before I ever thought about writing a book). I do think certifications are often a lousy way to evaluate a job candidate. And although the Sun exams are extremely difficult (and increasingly more "real world" than trivia-memorization), they certainly aren't a great reflection of realistic practical skill.

BUT--and this is the important part--studying for a certification exam forces you into new knowledge and skills before you need them. Most of us (and especially programmers) tend to use the same APIs and solutions that we've used before, applying them to each new somewhat related problem. We've gotten literally thousands of messages from people (between javaranch and emails from readers) who've said that they learned things from preparing for an exam that they wouldn't have otherwise known... and in some cases, those new things gave them a better perspective when it came time to choose a tool for the next new problem. Studying for a certification exam gave them a bigger toolbox. Not everyone needs this kind of forced-learning approach. But for those who do, it can be the best kick in the ass to a skill upgrade that you can get.

[update: I forgot one of my favorites!... conferences]

* Attend a conference
And I'm not talking about your party skills. The best experience I've had at a conference was one where I actually left both my laptop and cell phone at home. Making wireless access available at conferences is, for me, a big mistake. When you're learning, you should be learning, not keeping up with work or surfing. I think people accomplished much more learning back in the days when you were forced to queue up to those few little stations where you could check your email.

Still, the beauty of most (by no means all) professional conferences or even just trade shows is that you absorb a lot more than just new technical knowledge. You learn what other people feel is important and useful, especially if you listen in or participate in hallway conversations. And for me, the enthusiasm you get by being around so many people who are also interested in the same topic is infectious. You can also get some of the same benefits just from attending user group meetings...

Some of the best experiences come from attending conferences or trade shows that are in a different domain. Yes, conferences are expensive, but often just the sub-$100 floor-only pass gives you much of the same benefits. [More on conferences in a separate post].

* Blow your own mind
Kevin Shockey (editor in chief of TUX magazine), sent me a couple of good links to brain-training articles:
1) Simple ways to make yourself far cleverer (is "cleverer" really a word?)
2) Brain training takes aging Japan by storm

So, what are you doing to improve your skills?

"You know, like nunchuck skills, bowhunting skills, computer hacking skills... Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills."

[p.s. Does anyone have any idea what the guy in the photo at the top of this post is doing on that chalk board? I have no idea if it's real or random.]