Old Dog..... New Trick

New Beginnings

If there were an auto-biographical movie on how I played the game of life; it would be titled “How to lose at money, love and technology; goolge of times.” Then it would be released straight to video. The YouTube views would register in negative side of an x and y-intercept graph. This tangled web of ever changing business information technology and its integration into everyday social and economic transactions is becoming exponentially difficult to distinguish when if ever; we are off the grid. When are we being sold to, marketed to, observed, monitored etc? Every time an email is sent and received, a text or video/face-time real-time connection is made, somewhere there is a record of it. There is some foreign/primary key that triggers a table created from a data base stored in data warehouse with how many times you logged in to Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare etc. Every post and every website you ever visited, every online movie watched, music video viewed out in cyber space unprotected by laws and sold to the highest bidder. Gathering this raw data and making sense of it; so another entity can maximize profits by marketing products and services. To a degree; individuals are viewed as what they buy. How their income is spent; is what helps determine ones virtual identity.
From Now Until Death Due Apart

In present times and moving forward, employment will be more heavily dependent on a work force that is business application savvy; maneuvering in and out of various information databases. Data mining IT careers are increasing at an alarming rate. Those who are currently employed and have not had prior experience with new tech will have to be retrained as technology integration is more broadly adopted. IT management, IT departments; it is challenging to fathom the expansion of IT jobs and necessity of knowledge in all forms of high-tech applications and communication; as it creeps into all aspects of our way of life.
 
Back To school

For a mature student returning to academics with hopes of acquiring the skills and knowledge necessary to hedge against future stagnation; learning to navigate the nuances of today’s business it proficiently is intimidating and overwhelming. “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks”, atleast; this has been the perception for more than a millennium. A culture of fear and intimidation towards advancements in technology has been handed down from parent to child. As a young knucklehead; I ridiculed my mother for never being able to figure out how to program a VCR. The thought back then that I would someday share the same bafflement whenever having to buy a new cell phone or laptop; never crossed my mind. She warned me….You Were Right Ma!
                                                                                                                                            Cowboy  Up!
 
Now; finally courage has given confidence the mordacity to adapt and adjust. With a gentle tipping of the toes into oceans uncharted with prayers of not getting drowned in a tsunami; business technology information systems will be subdued like a wild beast fighting desperately to avoid getting spit roasted. No one enjoys the feeling of becoming outdated or extinct by some fancy new office networking system that is going to increase overall productivity. So for the benefit of long term survival and anyone else traveling on a similar path;  embracing of  those misgivings like a newborn infant close to my bosom. I will ask the obvious and commonly known at the expense of my pride. There will be no stone left unturned.  IT capability is paramount in the new global work place.