Inventive Learning – Tuesday Tech Talk

Life after college, coming from a school where education is traditionally taught, is undeniably different. I used to think that working would nonetheless be just like how my teachers/professors teach me what to do. Though I have not been disappointed to learn much from the people I’ve been working with so far, a famous saying applies, “The more you know, the more you know not”.

Technology is so fast-paced that Computer Science, IT, and other technology related courses like mine need not to go through board exams. The industry has so much to offer – I can actually say that there seems to be an overflow in information. Therefore, I cannot know enough, progression is essential.

Demands of work are high. I needed not only to adapt to the changes in my environment, but as well as to the culture of technology.  And amidst all the pressures, similar to my co-workers, have time for learning to hone my craft. Surprisingly, to formally impose an informal invitation to learning, Ideyatech introduces T3, something that seemed to me as school reporting. What more can I say? Reality itself is a school.

T3 stands for Tuesday Tech Talk. It is conducted every other Tuesday, and is where we are encouraged to become a speaker. Through a draw lots, schedules are set. Speaker shall discuss a preferred topic related and relevant to the industry (I think it’s an advantage if it’s beneficial the project we’re currently into). A minimum of 15 minutes will do, as long as the essentials are tackled well.

I personally take this as a reminder not to cease learning, so I am geared with the knowledge significant to keep up with the current trends in IT.

I have yet to experience my T3, but on my observation and evaluation, I listed some of the benefits of participating in such an activity, which I’ve been looking forward to get hold of:

1. It induces continuous learning. Getting into IT usually needs an area of specialization. With T3, we get the chance to share our areas of specialization with each other. Not only is it beneficial to the audience’s learning but as well to the speaker, as teachers say, “you also learn from your students”, maybe through a mini-discussion or brainstorming during the talk.

Aside from a specialization, I personally aim to check out what are the things not on my cup of tea that’s worth giving a try. Discover and explore a software, methodology, or theory. Who knows, together with my co-workers, we can devise something better.

2. It motivates innovation. Not because the company, as a whole, makes good results in whatever applications, methodologies it implements, should we stop there. Maybe right now we’re in, and tomorrow we can be not. With this said we are motivated to strive and find alternative solutions to further uplift the quality of our services and have the edge over our competitors.

On the sidelines, perk up the presentation. Re-invent on how to make every discussion fun and worth listening to, also challenges our innovation.

3. Improves confidence. Thinking how much time I spend at home, resting, and spending time with my family with how much time I spend at work. I realized, majority of the time I am actually keying the keyboard, clicking the mouse buttons, and burning the hours facing my computer monitor.

T3 allows a talk time to let us speak out our minds once in a while. Not only does it develop public speaking for the shy types, but as well let the good speakers among us exercise their skill. Nonetheless, we all need this when interacting, especially with the clients, our boss, and co-workers.

And did I forget that for juniors like me, have the guts to for once, pretend to know more over your seniors. And to keep the confidence up, should I remind myself that they cannot know everything, I just need to be prepared for an inquest in case they know the topic more than I do, or plain interested.

4. Practice pressure handling Answering queries from seniors is one heavy pressure. Add it up to the demands of work, deadlines and all and sum it up to the best pressure handling improvement session.

No to forget that it too is an instant bonding activity – merienda party, for there’s free food we can dig in during or after every talk. Plus, it’s a thought-I’d-only-find-it-in-school activity that although a conventional way of learning/teaching, opens our eyes to the modern developments of our time.