How do you prioritize your learning?

[Andrew Zimmerman]

Hi Community! 👋 

I’d love to hear your thoughts on how you prioritize your continuing education. I consider myself a lifelong learner, someone who hungers for new knowledge and skills and is always trying to learn something new.

From connecting with many of you, in-person, on LinkedIn, or by reading about your expertise and accolades here in the Atlassian Community, I know a large chunk of this community falls into that category, too! 

The rate of change in technology is dizzying, and with the continuous improvement of AI, I only imagine that it will continue to accelerate, probably exponentially fairly soon.

I’ve concluded that I simply cannot keep up with everything I’d like to, at least not generally speaking, and that the time and resources I spend on continuing education are best served zooming in on specific areas, applications, and topics of which I’ve decided an improved proficiency would add value to my life or career.

Nowadays, I find it difficult even to be an Atlassian “generalist” given their rapid proliferation of features and apps, and this is just a drop in an ocean of tech ecosystems I could spend my time learning about. 🌊

So how do you zoom in? What strategies do you apply to your personal prioritization of continued learning?

I’m especially interested in hearing how you tackle learning about cutting edge technologies when a solid comprehension of such topics may best be acquired if built upon an existing understanding of other technologies (which you may or may not have).

In such cases where do you start” – with foundational knowledge and slowly climb to more and more advanced topics like a ladder until you reach what you actually want to learn about? Or, do you look for “hacks” or comprehension shortcuts (if there even are such things) to quickly dive into the topic you care about? Maybe there are sort of “key learning pairs:” –If you are learning X, it’s helpful to learn Y and Z as well to fully grasp X. 🧠

Thanks for any insight you would like to share. I often feel anxious about a widening gap of knowledge I feel I need (and lack) in order to sufficiently comprehend some of the latest and greatest trends in technology, so I super appreciate hearing and reading about your tactics to address this. 

And, know that if you feel similarly, you are definitely not alone! 💙