Training Days

I've only had one day of "real" work in the last two weeks. I have been attending lots of trainings. Last week it was DoDAF and Cyber security architecture. This week it's Amazon Web Services. Next week it will be more Amazon Web Services. I haven't sat in class this much since college.

Now, I'm not complaining. It's great that my company is investing so much in me and is helping me to become a better software architect. It's just that I have a hard time with formal classroom-type training and so much of it at once is wearing me out.

I'm self-taught in most areas of software. Sure, I have a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science...but that was a formality. I had already learned (the hard way) just about every concept I was taught in my major courses. I suppose I learned something in my general education classes, probably. I'm not entirely sure that I would have been ready for a job as a professional software engineer had I not been writing and selling commercial software before going to college and working on cutting edge stuff on the side while in college. But that's just me.

I guess I have a Master's degree in software engineering as well. But I got that after already working as a software engineer for 12 years. I'm sure I learned something in the course of getting that degree, but it's all mixed up in my mind with things I learned on the job.

I really like to learn by selecting a technology of which I know very little and then building something with it. Academic exercises don't do it for me. I need to make something. I need to make something real and practical. That's how I learn.

It's been a struggle, but I'll survive. Hey, why don't you click on the picture below and look at the comic I made for today? You won't learn anything from it, I promise.

Amphibian.com comic for 22 January 2016