Old Dog, New Trick

Recently I had a problem.  I wanted to learn something new – very quickly – to help my nephew.

I wanted to learn how to create a website.

This was not a totally selfless act, mind you, since any skills I learned could be used on my own website.  Challenge was that I kept running into negative roadblocks everywhere I turned.

• “You can’t do this; you’re too old”.
• “Remember how bad you are at programming? You made your first ever “D” when you tried to learn FORTRAN in college”.
• “Websites are tricky; best to leave it to the professionals.”
• “What the %$#@ are you thinking?”

And those roadblocks were just from my own thoughts, my own lack of confidence with computer technology. ME, trying to tell ME I couldn’t do it.

So typical for someone whose first experience with computers involved punch cards, a giant main-frame and hours waiting in line for your program to print-out, only to discover that one do-loop buried in your code had sabotaged the entire program.

No wonder I was afraid of trying something new with computers.

I mentioned my frustration at trying to either find someone to create the site for my nephew or someone to teach me how to do it to a new colleague at a networking lunch.  There was no time to enroll in a lengthy class; this was a two week assignment. As luck would have it, this new colleague knew websites.  And he volunteered to help me.

Hallelujah!

It was a business deal, for sure. He was going to do the hands-on work and build the site. In return I would review copy for a series of video tutorials he had been developing aimed at teaching others how to build their own websites.

Ah-ha! It was my light-bulb moment; the opportunity I had been looking for.

I became his ‘test student’, reviewing the course and putting the lessons to work to see if I could build the site by myself.  I assured him if this “old dog” could learn to build a site from the tutorials, then anyone could do it.

Was the prospect of trying to learn something new scary?  I’m not gonna lie; I was a bit nervous.  Nightmares of FORTRAN and punch cards came rushing back to me.  My dreams became giant do-loops.

But just like most things, the anticipation was far worse than the actual event.

And before I knew it, I had actually built a website! Complete with photos, video, text, multiple pages, etc.

Truth be told, with proper training it wasn’t that difficult to learn.  Honestly, I’m mad at myself for not trying to learn sooner.

Do I know everything about websites? Of course not.  It was only a few lessons and there is so much more to it.  Yet I am still impressed with my results and so grateful to my colleague for helping me.

Many of you may not consider this a big deal and are wondering why I’ve bothered to write about it.  After all, computers have been around for ages and it’s hard to understand why anyone would be afraid of them.  Plus you can Google just about anything these days, including “how to build a website”.

It’s just that many times I meet people in their forties and fifties who say they are too old to learn, or don’t have time to learn, or don’t have an interest in learning.  That makes me so sad – for them.

When these same people tell me that, based on their own job search experience, “There are no jobs out there for older workers”, it makes me wonder if it’s because these people refuse to learn something new.

I know, I know – there’s age discrimination and other factors.  Yet I still believe that having marketable skills that show you are current, paired with a desire to learn, may help get your foot in the door.

Besides, when does learning stop at a certain age?  I know plenty of octogenarians who are regulars at the community college and are constantly learning new technology just to keep up with their grandchildren.

Even if we’re not in the hunt for a new job, learning keeps us engaged and is good for our brain health.

Yes, you can teach an old dog a new trick.