“I always thought I would marry someone more tech savvy!” my darling husband grumbled. You see, John is a cyber wizard and I rely on him for all of my tech support needs. I was somewhat amused by John’s grousing; after all, he has admitted that he never dated ANYONE who is technologically savvy. Furthermore, I never misrepresented myself as a computer savant (in fact, the first time he picked me up for a date, he upgraded the security on my laptop!).
The comment was provocative and continues to haunt me. I am way too young to let technology pass me by, and over the past few months I have contemplated the ways in which I function technologically. At work I operate on three different networks and have successfully trained to use a myriad of databases (i.e. MIDB), search engines (i.e. WISE, M3, TAC), and numerous other programs (i.e. Analyst Notebook, Microsoft Office, SharePoint). As a member of a team researching Analysis, Correlation, and Fusion tools for Air Force analysts I have been in a position to learn about the Department of Defense Metadata Library, Cross-Domain Security challenges, and witness first hand the Air Force’s struggle to move toward a Service Oriented Architecture. Yet, I still do not have a smart phone and I regularly rage against my MAC. Clearly I am not a complete troglodyte, but I do admit there is room for improvement.
Over the past several months I have been taking steps catch up. I will never overtake our friends, more than one of whom manages their own computer servers, but one must have goals. In the meantime, I have been enjoying feelings of serendipity as a result of the synergy between my increased use of technology and my quest to develop my creative muscles.
- I took over the website John developed for the District 31 Fall Conference in order to blog about events associated with the event and to post announcements. I still need to learn how to build a website from scratch, but I have learned to navigate WordPress well enough to alter the page, blog, post pictures, link URLs, and monitor website usage statistics.
- I have begun to blog on AllisonTribe.com. Mostly in the hope that writing regularly will promote ideas and spur creativity, but also to open myself up to thoughts and suggestions from others.
- I took the plunge into social networking by developing my LinkedIn profile (as a result of Operational Security training I am incredibly nervous about having my resume free floating on the net, but I have dotted my i’s and crossed my t’s with the right office).
- I discovered a free website that espouses the view that ANYONE can learn computer programming code (www.codecademy.com), and I can proudly proclaim from the rooftops that I have finished “Getting Started With Programming”. I am confident that if I stick with it I will become something akin to a “coding ninja”.
John is still my “go to guy” for technology and I doubt that will ever change. I do love how he (sometimes inadvertently) pushes me to improve myself, and reviewing my list of recent accomplishments has done wonders for my ego. I will certainly point him to my blog so that he can wonder at how lucky he is to be married to someone so technologically savvy. And, maybe, just maybe, I will let him convince me to get a smart phone after all! After all, I can’t conquer the world if it is moving faster than I am!