Why the User Group is Good For Me
by Andrew Tobin on Aug.20, 2009, under Uncategorized
Recently our local user group has had a bit of a break period – it’s relatively small and we had all burnt out a bit – especially those of us who are constantly presenting.
We returned last month, to basically an intro C# video fest, but it’s got me a little introspective.
I think the best times I have had to learn recently is when I have been cramming to learn something enough to pass on a somewhat educated review at the user group.
I won’t say I’ve learnt anything in depth that I’ve presented – even LINQ I feel like I’m swimming in the shallows of it, but that’s all I have needed day-to-day at work, and in contrast to the guys who don’t get to develop with these tools often, I do feel slightly more advanced.
So what I am thinking of doing, and blogging to at least get it down to motivate me – is to learn a topic a month. Choose some technology I have been hearing about, and devote enough time that I’d be happy to present some of the basics of it, over the course of a month.
That’s not to say I wouldn’t be learning other things – but I’d try to devote a bit of blog space, actually blog the links and sources I use online and discuss things in more detail.
Anyway, that’s the plan, so I’ll start with the new month!
Any suggestions?