I’m a programmer. Learning new technologies and techniques is essential to what I do. However, I have noticed lately that learning has become burdened - burdened with time pressure, lots of time pressure; burdened with the sheer volume, diversity and complexity of all the things it seems I must learn to keep up, burdened with the feeling that I am falling ever further behind the hundreds of thousands of brilliant programmers that are constantly pushing our field forward, in every direction, a constantly expanding universe that includes everything from server administration to user interface design to unit / integration testing and a plethora of languages and frameworks that are used to develop web applications. Sum all that up, and to me, learning has become burdened with a fear that I simply won’t be able to keep up.

The truth is that I really enjoy learning new things. I feel that’s one of the reasons I like programming, why I was attracted to it in the first place. And you know, looking at it clearly, my fear is entirely justified. There is no way in the world for a working programming to keep up with the whole field. It’s just too bloody big. And complex. So how can I deal with this situation?

Here is my proposal, to myself. What about taking one small bite at a time? What about simply enjoying the flavor, the taste of learning something new, as it is happening? On a practical basis, I don’t have a choice. The field is waayy too big to consume in one go. But on a personal level, I do have a choice.

So this blog is my space for learning new stuff. I’ve decided that I’m going to redefine my attitude toward learning. Until now, it has seemed that if I’m going to keep up, I have to gulp everything down as quickly as possible. Well, that doesn’t work. I’m left somewhat confused and overwhelmed, and I don’t really learn anything, not in a way that I can practically use.

This blog is for taking small bites, chewing things over, and enjoying what I’m learning.

Or at least when I must gulp, writing it down here may help me digest it better!