Probably most of us, when we were little, we were told about how important was to go to college, get a degree to ensure we could get a well paid job. Some of us did it, attended to lectures, passed exams, and earned a diploma as a proof of our hard work. Others did not go to college, maybe attended a course to develop some skills or directly went to work as a trainee and learned directly from a more senior person who taught all the necessary skills.

The way you learned how to do your profession does not actually matter, as long as you are fit to carry out your tasks effectively. However, something that usually happens, and this an error I made myself, is not to keep your knowledge up to date. Learning doesn’t end in college, or after your completed your initial training at work.

Of course you don’t need to be constantly studying a degree or attend courses all the time. This is exhausting, expensive, and you’ll probably everything you forget. What is more, not everybody likes sitting with a textbook, or go to classes, or not even have the time.

However, if there’s something that can be applied to all professions is that they all evolve. Medicine finds new treatments, engineers develop new and more efficient technology, laws change, so do accounting regulations. Even language evolves and language teachers need to know about changes in grammar and spelling rules. As things change, we also need to evolve if we don’t want to stay behind.

Therefore, it’s important, from time to time, to keep knowledge up to date. As said before, you don’t need to attend courses all the time, but you can choose the options that best fits your needs, either formally, which would take you to courses, attending conferences, or informally, by reading books, watching videos, among many other options.

It’s always a good choice to find topics that we find interesting. This can help us stay motivated. Also, it would be wise to avoid “education overload” by trying to learn many things at the same time, which can lead to burnout. In my opinion, we should try to find ways, if possible, that can make the learning experience as enjoyable as possible.