My whole life has been spent learning. In fact, my strength as a consultant, and author, and a trainer has always been that I can learn things very fast, and then use them to help you, or teach them to you. I am learning pretty much every day, even if I'm not working on a project at the time. 30+ years ago, it was Internet programming, or Windows programming. I learned HTML, and so many frameworks to generate HTML, and .NET, and so much C++. I still learn new C++ all the time. I am also learning Carbon as we create it.

But here's the thing: I control that learning entirely. I read blogs, I watch videos, I attend talks, and so on. I spin up scratch projects and try things. I can go as fast or as slow as I like. I can stop and come back later. I can pause and back up if I need to. Nobody is watching me, nobody knows whether I get it right away or need to go try it myself to really understand it. Sometimes, I chat with friends at conferences in the good old hallway track, and I learn a lot there too, but it's still pretty private, and I'm in control. If I'm not interested I can tune out, change the subject, or head off to the next thing I want to attend.

But in September, I started attending actual lessons taught by an instructor. They happen at a particular time - three hours a week for 12 weeks - and I have my webcam and microphone on. Not only do I have to pay attention and consume the material in real time (a challenge for me after literally decades of not having to do that) I have to participate. Several times each lecture I am called on to perform the skill I'm learning. Then I get a critique, and then "ok, do it again". And I get better. The classes are recorded, so I can see that I get better each time. It's been quite a surprise.

Do I regret the years of steering my own learning? Not at all. Do I think people should stop doing online courses like the ones I write? Again, not at all. But I wanted to share that some time in the same room as someone who really knows their stuff, and is there to help you get better, can be astonishingly useful. Online training has a lot of advantages: you can do it when and where you want without travel expenses, proceed at your own pace, skip bits that don't apply and redo bits you didn't "get". But I had forgotten that in-person training has advantages too, because it's two way. I hear the instructor and the instructor hears me. I also hear the other students learning, which assures me I'm not the only one who finds parts of it hard, and also gives more lessons that perhaps the instructor hadn't included in the powerpoint.

I'm glad both kinds of learning exist. If you've forgotten all about in-person learning with the rise of online and other choose-your-own-adventure materials, give it some thought. It might have value for you, too.

Kate