Justin Lloyd's Thinkering

Somebody needs to think about this stuff...

Studying

This is a listing of the subjects I've studied either in college/university, Open University, random classes at various businesses and also online classes through websites such as Lynda.com, Udacity and the Gnomon graphics school.

Sometimes there is a reason to the subject I am studying, e.g. marketing or project management, and other times I just take a class in because the subject intrigues me.

Thanks to the wonders of the modern web, MOOCs and other online course ware I am able to indulge myself as much as I choose too. I prefer self-paced classes where the subject matter, tests and course work is not gated in any particular way.

I also tend to self-paced study because I am not too smart and get frustrated when the rest of the students in the class have raced ahead of me and done their assignments and I am still struggling to understand a fundamental concept or cannot do all the required reading in a timely manner. It is not fair to other people that I slow the class down or hold them back.

Over the years, since I first started to actively track and understand what I was doing, I've taken close to 400 different classes, and taken a stab at a few degrees and diplomas along the way. Some I've passed. Some I've failed.

The thing is, no matter how much I study I'm never going to be smart and I'm never going to be as educated or as literate as everyone else.

I'm always going to be below average in intelligence and education and I'm always going to be slower than everyone else in class.

It doesn't make me stop trying though.

Studying – Designing an infographic

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This month I am studying “Designing an infographic”

Who doesn’t love an interesting infographic

As I’ve always said, “An infographic is a clever and interesting way to show off how ignorant you are about a subject.”

Studying – Kanban project management

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This month I am studying “Kanban project management”

I was on a project once that was “kanban-style” and it was a fucking disaster.

I do blame the PM (project manager) quite a bit, but I want to see if it was the methodology or just the project manager.

This is a three month course so not anticipating it will take anywhere near that long.

Update: Done in three weeks. Also, I don’t like the methodology, but I think it could work in some instances, especially small projects where the goals are not clearly defined up front.

Studying – Agile project management

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This month I am studying “Agile project management”

Most project management courses I’ve taken deal with either non-technical, non-software projects or focus mostly on classic waterfall style of project management.

This time around I get to fill in the gaps in my knowledge about the specifics of agile project management.

Studying – Project management

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This month I am studying “Project management”

Second month where I go through month’s 5 and 6 of the course ware. Not anticipating any problems. Read a few books. Read a few studies. Take a few multiple choice tests.

Update: All done. Easy enough course. Glad I took it though. Hadn’t realised I’d forgotten some of the fundamentals over the years.

Studying – Project management

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This month I am studying “Project management”

Taking a refresher course in project management. Six months of work, including reading material and coursework. Thankfully I don’t have to participate in “class discussions” so I won’t waste my time there.

Update: Got through the first four months of material in the first month. Handed in my essays, did the two tests, read the required books. Ho hum. Should be able to wrap it up easily next month.

Studying – Ancient Greek

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This month I am studying “Ancient Greek”

This is the second month of a six month part-time college course.

Update: Ancient Greek. A lot harder than Latin.

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