Study habits etc.....

N2IT

I'm currently in a place now where I am not pursing certifications, but focusing on hard skills such as scripting. With that said, I find myself going through cycles, one month on and 2 months off. Not completely but for the most part, especially in the summer. Personally for me I find myself recharging my batteries when I utilize this schedule.

How do you manage burnout etc? For the IT vets how do you keep at it or do you take another approach?

I'm pretty much done with certification I just don't have the draw to them, but I find myself even more hungry for hard skills.

I guess what I am asking is how has your professional development progressed over the years? Has it been altered etc......

anoeljr

Those are some good questions N2. I'm kind of at the place where you're at now. I'm burnt out on certs, even though I don't have many. And a lot of times there's a point where I want to learn multiple things at once, but I end up doing none of them. Sometimes for me, I have to let the motivation come to me, kind of like an artist or writer. Just this past weekend out of the blue, after playing some Witcher 3 I decided to create an entire VMware workstation lab at my house. I worked on it for the whole weekend. I'm not one that is contantly motivated like other people are. I like IT and always have, but I'm not one who eats, sleeps and breathes it. A lot of times when I go home I don't want to work on IT things. I have to find something non-IT to do because if I don't I'll go crazy. I'm not sure if this helps, but just know I understand how you feel.

N2IT

Sometimes for me, I have to let the motivation come to me, kind of like an artist or writer

I really like this line anoel! Well said.

dave330i

Per Gordon Gekko,"Greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures, the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge, has marked the upward surge of mankind and greed, you mark my words, will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the U.S.A."

philz1982

Forget that, go find that motivation and put it in a sleeper hold until it stays put!

Seriously though, what is your goal? What is the purpose for what you are doing? Figure that out and build a plan around it.

I'll be straight up, studying every night sucks. I'm going to school, studying, and working. That is my life right now. It sucks, its lame, and its not fun.

But there is a bigger picture, I don't want to be stuck at 50 working to earn a 200k salary that allows me to just eek by. I want to wealthy, I want to be able to do what I want when I want it. Every second of every day not spent working towards a goal is wasted.

Now that goal maybe better health, family, ect.

Really I put people into three camps: The driven, the unmotivated, and the average.

The driven early on figure out what their goal is and they don't stop at anything to achieve it. They may have failures but they keep charging.

The unmotivated, no matter what you do these folks won't move. These are not the guys who "can't get ahead", "can't find a job", ect. These are the guys who will tell you straight up, why try? I collect a check so who cares.

The worst is the average. These are the folks distracted by common day living. Get up, go to work, come home spend a little time with the family, watch some tv, read some news, ect. They continue life thinking they are progressing but in reality they aren't. At least the unmotivated are honest about where they are.

I ask myself sometimes why I post here, is this a good use of my time? Am I spending my time wisely?

The reason I share my thoughts is because I want to help people succeed. I want to help people realize that with technology and hard work money can be had, goals can be reached.

So with my ridiculously long segue finished, it simply comes down to finding your passion, setting a plan to reach that passion, and then measuring your success. You may feel like your trodding along and you are unless you measure success and can look back.

So how the hell does that answer your question about burnout? Is it burnout, or is it a job? Is it boredom or lack of passion? Is it frustration or lack of a clear plan? Only you can answer this.

The truth is burnout is not really burnout. True, noone can operate 100% all the time, but just because you are at 50% one day does not mean you are burntout. I see many people quote burnout as a reason to stop working. Look at athletes, they get sore and tired, but they have a concept called active recovery. Use active recovery to drive your actions.

First layout a plan

Step 1:
Layout your goal/passion/idea

Step 2: Layout what you will be able to do when you achieve that

Step 3: Layout your plan to get to that goal, Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Yearly.

Step 4: Measure your actions are you moving towards or away from the goal adjust as needed.

Step 5: (The most important) Surround yourself with like minded people to keep you motivated and find an accountability partner to help drive you.

When you get "burnt-out" (I don't like this word by the way). Find a way to do active recovery. If you're "burnt-out" with studying scripting study something else, don't stop studying just find a related topic and build there.

Ok,

I've ranted enough. I'm out!

-Phil

the_Grinch

As always philz, your wisdom is appreciated! My issue has always been laziness. You would think that after years of saying "I should had worked harder on x" that I'd get it, but alas I am a slow learner.

To reiterate philz, honestly just set aside an hour a day to work on whatever skill you are trying to build. I believe there was a Ted Talk about the myth of the 10000 hours to be an expert. The guy explained that in all actuality if you spent 45 hours on any one task you would be, not an expert, but more the proficient at the skill. Very easy to find an hour to devote to a skill and still have balance. You could always do more, but I wouldn't do less.

N2IT

Really great advice all. I am going to start dedicating a few hours a week to the great good. Maybe writing them down on a calendar or creating a reminder on my phone.

anoeljr

Philz always give a different look at things, which is great.

philz1982

People tell me I'm special not sure if that is a good or bad thing :-p

anoeljr

Well from my end it seems to be a good thing.

paul78

The idea of certifications came late to me in my own career. I didn't hold a certification for the first 20 or so years of my career. I never really had the interest. I would describe myself more like @anoeljr - whatever caught my interest, I would pursue for a short time. What I liked about certifications is that it defined an end-goal for me - i.e. to pass that exam. It was more of a personal challenge to myself and forced that discipline and study agenda.

I am fortunate that I simply just enjoy IT so it's also a hobby. I tend to be very scattered about how I explore different technologies. I don't characterize what I do as studying - it's more exploration of interests.

Maybe if you change your mindset about setting time for study but instead think of it as setting time for exploration. It may seem less tedious and less like something you have to do.

Mike-Mike

the_Grinch wrote: »

My issue has always been laziness. You would think that after years of saying "I should had worked harder on x" that I'd get it, but alas I am a slow learner.

.......

honestly just set aside an hour a day to work on whatever skill you are trying to build.

this is me.

I get bored or procrastinate easily, so I'm trying a new method. I have the luxury of working solo. The first hour and last hour are pretty slow, so I've taken to trying to get an hour of studying in at the beginning of my shift. So far it I have stuck to it, and this might be something I can stick with.

N2IT

Mike - Mike

Does sound like a bad plan. I've begun doing 1 hour monday through friday at night when I am home from work. Going through some CBT training which seems to spoon feed some concepts making it easy to learn after a long day. It's sustainable as well, which is a big deal obviously.

Paul78

I've known that about you for a while . What you said is true, at least for me. Make sure you are interested and make it more of a hobby. I find scripting and that type of "IT" to be interesting so I move forward with that