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Author Topic: Specialization and Age: Blessing, or Curse?  (Read 821 times)

TarrVetus

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Specialization and Age: Blessing, or Curse?
« on: April 03, 2010, 10:36:36 am »

I worked on a computer for a friend a few weeks ago; it was having a problem booting to Windows, and I think the boot sector was corrupt.  I remember being able to fix these sorts of problems like they were nothing--swap out a couple of parts, format, install, transfer files, and 'the works' with barely any effort.  However, after spending two days bashing my head against the system, I couldn't make it work.  I felt like I had forgot to do something critical, and embarrassingly had to give the computer back in the same state it was in, before.

I work in a tech job, but its database work.  Over the past few years, I've been making leaps and bounds in educating myself on everything database and DB front-end coding, but I feel like I'm losing that innate sense of how the hardware in a computer interacts (and fails).  I swear, my improvement in one skill is proportional to my loss in the other.



Has anyone else had something similar to this happen to them?  Ever try to do something you used to do and realize that you just don't know what you're doing, anymore?  Do you think it's wise to try to avoid specializing and forgetting old talents, or is going with the flow the best option, sometimes?
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