Learning journey

To start off I would like to apologise for the length of this entry. I fear it will be a long one.

During Fridays ICT lecture the group was asked to explain what their short (1 year), medium (5 years) and long term (10 years) learning goals were.

I have been working through this process since last year when I have an earth shattering realisation (I think that is te best way to put it without going into to much detail). The outcome was that I realised just how much I disliked my job and the career path I had chosen and was effectively locking myself into. The next phase of this thought process was to actually decide where I wanted to go from here. So I began to formulate my short, medium and long term plan. Beginning this time last year, here it goes;

Short term goals 1 year.
September last year I saw that I needed a significant change in my life so I hatched a plan to return to education. University to be specific. The course I chose, Forensic Computing. So everything I did was essentially geared towards achieving this goal. Something I am proud to say I achieved. Lastly I have enrolled on two short courses this academic year and plan to continue this every year.

Medium term goals 5 years
Being on a 3 year course my primary goal here is to obtain my Bsc (Hons), and embark on an Msc. However my biggest medium term goal is to learn as best I can from my past mistakes. Ofcourse none of my future learning could be achieved without first finding a stable job. This of course will involve its own learning curve.

Long term goals 10 years
This is a tough one to sit and think about. 10 years in the IT industry is more or less equivalent to 30 'real' years, such is the pace of new technology. Thankfully I recognise the need for life long learning and so intend to keep abrest new developments and take courses in order to keep my qualifications up to date.
Somewhere between the later part of my 5 year plan and the early part of my 10 year plan I hope to have a family of my own. This will be the focus of my 10 year learning plan.