My brain is full

I haven’t blogged very much over the last few months, mostly due to Real Life taking over my internet activities. I really don’t have anything like as much time to be fart-arsing about the web these days.

I’m finding this not a little bit depressing.

However, at least I’m doing something productive with my time. I’ve started an Open University degree in Computing and Systems Practice and began my first module a couple of months ago. So far the subject matter is pretty easy (I managed to achieve 90% in my first assessment!) but the learning process is rather interesting. I haven’t done any “proper” education for 20 years so I’m finding the whole thing a very intriguing challenge.

I have another assessment to submit at the beginning of January and I’m a little bit behind in my studies for this one, but I should be able throttle back my internet activities a little more in order to do it on time.

I’ve also been lucky enough to have done an ISEB Foundation Certificate in Software Testing through work. This is one of those industry-standard qualifications that actually means something to prospective employers. It’s also linked into how I should be doing my job, although much of theory seemed to aimed more at test managers rather than testers like myself.

This course was actually pretty intense with at least a week’s worth of knowledge crammed into 2 and a half days teaching. We took the exam (which was hard) on Friday and I should find out the result of that in a week or so. I think I did OK but I have to get at least 65% to pass and there were a lot of tricky questions in the exam.

All this learning is filling up my memory with useful things. Stuff that I might actually have a use for rather than some of the useless crap that’s been stored in my head for a long time. I might have to attempt to forget some of the more frivolous bits of knowledge that I’ve gained over the years in order to make room for all the new stuff I have to fit in my brain. Either that or see if Firebox have started selling micro SD cards for the cranium.

All this activity has meant that I’ve had to be far more efficient with my time. I see this as a good thing but it’s not that easy to organise me. My new iPhone is helping with that as it’s calendar integrates wonderfully with my iMac but all this planning isn’t part of my genetic coding. It’s just not normal; not for me.