The article I read today on http://thenextweb.com/entrepreneur/2011/12/23/to-work-online-or-in-new-media-theres-an-expectation-for-you-to-be-young/ reminded me of an incident which occurred way back in 2000 when we used to run courses on Microsoft Technologies and train people for MSCE, MCSD and other Microsoft Certified Courses.
One day , the computer room was full of students practicing their Lab Work and I happened to be on my own without any help to attend to all of them (a batch of 16 students) working on different technologies.
My younger son then 8 years old had a holiday that day and was present in the lab drawing on one computers using Paint . There were two senior people from reputed organizations who were approx. 50+ in age sitting next to my son trying to learn MS Word. As I was busy with some other students they were waiting for me to come and answer their questions. My son who was sitting next to them asked them “May I help you in the meantime she comes?” They were surprised but were amused and thought of having some fun. They said why not and started asking questions.
To their surprise when he started answering their questions and explaining them they were dumb struck and when they left for the day they said more than MS Word we have learnt a bigger lesson today . An 8 year old also can teach you something which we think is advanced technology and had a resistance to learn. After interacting with this child I think it is so simple and I had a mental block of it being something very technical . This child made everthing sound so simple.
That day I had a win-win situation my son’s confidence soared and that person left the office premise with an open mind all set to learn more.
I think more than age it is our mindset which makes us still have that thirst for knowledge and open mind to learn new things .
upgrading oneself and keeping pace with the latest technology and adapting to the mindsets of the young is the only solution for facing the uphill battle confidently.
The experience and knowledge of the senior people is an asset for every organization but as you advance in age one should not stop learning and updating oneself with the latest technologies.
If one can do that then the young and the so called aged seniors can supplement each other in the most qualitative way and both can learn a lot from each other.
Always keep the atmosphere and ambience of learning alive at home and office . If you add a little fun and liveliness to it its like an icing on the cake.Well my motto in life is to learn for the pleasure of learning.
Below the multimedia set up we had at home in 2000 when my sons were 8 and 11. Now they are in their twenties pursuing their engineering and management studies.
