Mastering the Art of Learning: Navigating the World of Tech Mastery

TLDR: Start with the Azure Fundamentals Course

This Journey took me about three days of my time after work in between playing games and running a small YouTube channel any support is appreciated.

If you want a job in IT and don't know where to start, starting with the Azure Fundamentals Training Path is a good idea. This should prepare you for the Azure Certification Exam. Of course, a lot of businesses use Google or Amazon for their infrastructure, but most programs and technology concepts generally carry over from one service to another.

What is Water?

I have a strong desire to work remotely and in a field that works more closely with software and technology. Sometimes it takes other people to tell you where your strengths lie The IT manager at my office often tells me that I’m a talented young man, but it has nothing to do with talent. Mainly I just love technology, much more than nature, if I could live in a computer simulation like the Matrix you might not see me around. Although 30 years from now if we’re living in a cyberpunk dystopia I might miss nature. My inline manager often tells me the same thing

"Wow! You could get a job in IT with these skills".

One day I woke up to the realization that I have the potential to work more closely with technology and work remotely by getting a job in IT.

Stepping Stones

My ultimate goal is to own and manage my own company revolving around my interests. Like anybody, I have a host of interests and I have trouble fitting them all into my life. Part of the allure of technology is that it has the ability to make things more efficient, so my desire to learn how to use technology more optimally is due to the selfish reason that I want to be able to accomplish everything I set out to do in my life.

As I delve deeper into my career I have found that many small to medium-sized companies are not utilizing the full potential of technology. Even simple digital literacy skills like copy-and-paste shortcuts go unused by the majority of the workforce. Beyond the simple tools such as shortcuts which have probably saved months of my life, more advanced software systems and functions often remain unused. This might be due to a lack of knowledge, or training, or the fact that practical operations sometimes get in the way of systems building and development.

Finding Solutions

Where I used to see problems and complain, now when I see a problem I take action to find a solution. A problem I've found with multiple organizations I've worked with is that digital or technical literacy is not as widespread as I once thought it was. My mom often tells me "I'm a technotard Marco, please teach me". In this, I saw the opportunity to start creating articles like "How OneNote has Leveled Up my Productivity." I plan on making both more advanced guides as well as easier guides so be sure to follow me to see when I release new materials.

This new approach to finding solutions with tech has caused me to adopt the "learning in public" model which solidifies and helps to point out gaps in my own knowledge.

Just How Deep Does this Rabbit Hole Go?

The more I learn about technology, the more I realize how many things I don't know about it. While before I found it hard to admit when I didn't know something, thinking people would perceive me as unintelligent, I now see it as an exciting opportunity for growth. Seeing that my basic knowledge of technology and utilizing Microsoft's Office 365 platform has been so transformative in my workplace and in my own personal life I decided to try to dive a little deeper.

I realized that even I only knew about 10%-20% of the functions of tools I use every day. Tools like Word, Excel, and Sharepoint are the backbone of my current organization, so I thought I'd sharpen up my knowledge of even those tools. I went to one of my favorite resources, Microsoft's Learning Platform, I was actually more confused than when I started. Finding good pathways and usage guides for even Microsoft Office 365 basic office tools is hard let alone the advanced functions I was trying to bring into my organization and life.

I've Always Wanted a Cortanta

When I was a kid one of the people I looked up to had an inseparable A.I. assistant named Cortana. It's been exciting, but also scary to see the amount of progress made in the artificial intelligence field. In the future, I predict that everyone will have their own personalized AI trained on all the data they output. Not knowing what to do I turned to the revolutionary ChatGPT to ask it questions. It took me about three prompts to get an answer I was happy with.

Let me Google that for you

From here, I made my way to google, as I think I'm more familiar with Google's SEO than Bing, despite the recent advances.

It took me two searches before I came up with something useful.

The Internet was Built on Forums

The most valuable result from my search ended up being a post on a Forum. It seemed I wasn't the only one struggling to find a way into the IT world.

From there it was following the recommended links to finally arrive at some official Microsoft documentation. It was a slide deck that was hosted on their site somewhere. Finally, I had some clarification on where to go it, in the information age information overload is often the problem.

Official Microsoft Materials

Using my favorite Application, OneNote, I was able to write directly on the screenshots I'd taken with my other favorite tool, my IPAD.

With some more digging and searching, I was able to find another page place that might be useful to start off on my new adventure.

The Lost Technology of Language

Sometimes the easiest thing you can do is simply ask somebody in your local community. Perhaps it stems from my Ego's desire to be seen as a knowledgeable techy. Like many people, I've tried to quiet that voice and simply do what would bring me closer to where I want to be in ten to twenty years. I went to my IT manager and asked.

"I'm trying to get a job in tech, do you think this Azure Fundamentals Course is a good place to start?"

We had a great conversation about technology and he said that it's an excellent place to start.

All the research and writing for this post took about three days. If you found it useful or have any suggestions please let me know or give me a thumbs up. Although I'd like to say I'm above being motivated by things like likes and shares, small things like that make me feel like my time is being used in a good way.

Much Love ??,

LaidbackMarco