Learning new skills vs. Family

Rama Krishna Vavilala

Manique wrote:

? I have to keep a Software Development book in the car (at the moment it’s on WPF) and read it when ever I am waiting outside the nursery/school/hairdressers/shop/house waiting for the wife to finish getting ready.

Yes. I do that too. I have finished many books like that. I also wake up early in the morning and continue with reading/exploring.

Manique

Children always wake up before the parents - its in their nature.

R Giskard Reventlov

You have to make the wifey/sproggets realise that your ability to learn and remain employable are entirely dependant upon you having some quiet time to read and practice new skills and that these times should, ideally, not be just as you are dozing off for the night. Maybe set aside a specific time and day to do this: it is important.

me, me, me

Simon P Stevens

I don't have kids, but I do read in the car while waiting to pick my wife up. Works well for me. Also, try generic portable audio player downloads. (I think some people like to call them "pod-casts" or something like that, but I don't happen to have a "pod" to which I can cast). You can listen to them in the car, or while running or something like that. Basically, look for ways to multi task. How about teaching your kids to program; then you can learn new things under the guise of spending "quality" time with them :laugh:

Simon

J4amieC

Good idea, plus as an extra bonus you could send them out to work for some nameless monolithic corporation. It'd be like a modern-day Fagin. * you can go but be back soon * whistle * whistle *

NormDroid

Days of spending countless hours doing R&D when I get home are long gone. Schedule it in with work time, after all it benefits the company in the long run.

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benjymous

I've been planning on getting myself a cheap netbook that I can carry around with me and do codey stuff in dead time (like the two hours every day spent sat on a bus)

Help me! I'm turning into a grapefruit! Buzzwords!

hairy_hats

The locks on bathroom/toilet/restroom doors were designed to give you time to catch up on your reading. A portable music player with noise-cancelling headphones can help you ignore the bangs on the door and sounds of cross-legged relatives jumping up and down outside.

I hope you realise that hamsters are very creative when it comes to revenge. - Elaine

Rama Krishna Vavilala

Not in my case. I wake up way early these days 4 AM. My daughter wakes up at around 6:30 or 7:00 AM. SO I have full 2 hrs.

Kevin McFarlane

Manique wrote:

Children always wake up before the parents - its in their nature

Except when they become teenagers! :)

Kevin

Mustafa Ismail Mustafa

The problem is when you've been on the toilet long enough for your legs to go numb...

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Dalek Dave

I have a netbook and do just that. Sometimes in the loo if it looks like being a while! Sometimes I go to bed early and just play around with a few things. (No, stop it I didn't mean That. I even do some dev work on it, although it is hmmm...difficult. (Not from a technical point, but because the screen is small).

------------------------------------ "When Belly Full, Chin Hit Chest" Confucius 502BC

Dalek Dave

Lemonade Arse! I get that sometimes. (My son called it Lemonade Bottom when he was young, and the name stuck, (and evolved)).

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Mustafa Ismail Mustafa

I've never known it by any name other than "numb ass/arse". Still, Lemonade ass/arse sounds funny :-D

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i j russell

There is such a thing as too much information. :)

Nemanja Trifunovic

Manique wrote:

For those of married with children, how do you dedicate time to learning new stuff?

Learning new technology is a work related activity. What's wrong with dedicating 3-5 work hours a week to reading techincal books?

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Nemanja Trifunovic

Norm .net wrote:

after all it benefits the company in the long run

Even in the short run.

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NormDroid

Not wrong there. Too many people got into this "I must work long hours for free" and "when I get home with the little time I have I must learn the next big thing that may or may not be a hit". As you get older, you get wiser. Work for free - "no way baby!". Learn outside company hours - "Why, the conmpany should be putting me on a training course".

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