In the world we live in today, technology is rapidly changing. To me it seems like about every 2 years you have to learn new technologies just to keep up and in the know. As an independent IT Contractor i constantly feel the need to update my skills in the latest technologies that i can offer to the market place. On Monday morning i could easily be told that I don’t have a job anymore so i need to be constantly ready for the marketplace if needed.

So what’s the best way to keep up with all this information? In the past i have been guilty of trying to learn to many new things at once. I have tried it and it just doesn’t work. I think the best strategy to use is to focus on one thing at a time. That way you can dedicate whatever time you need to really learn that product inside and out, and once you have mastered it you can move onto the next product. For 2011 I have set my goals to learn as much about  virtualisation as i can. My methods are to spend as much time as i can on each technology and really eat, sleep and breathe that product. Go over design docs at work, get involved with as many tasks related to the product that come in, play with the product in the lab at home during the evenings. So my chosen product learning’s for 2011 are:

• VMWARE V-Sphere
• Citrix XenApp
• Citrix XenDesktop
• VMWARE View
• Storage

Wish me luck!