Learning_a_New_Skill

Experiencing Recently I embarked on a project to cut costs in developing an online website related to my business. I had already paid a firm to build and implement a website for me. Updating this website was a difficult and time consuming process which produced little results. My knowledge of web based programing languages was limited and basic. To overcome this I researched all the available options and eventually settled on an open source website platform called Joomla. The goal was to replace the current website with one designed and developed by myself, which could be easily updated when needed. Looking over the documentation it seemed to fit the bill quite nicely. I was comfortable with the concept and how it all worked to produce the result I wanted. The platform is a module based one with no real progaming experiencing needed. My basic knowledge of HTML and PHP would be quite enough. Reflect The experience of learning something new from scratch was overwhelming at the beginning. I began to wonder if I had chosen the right platform as the amount of new information I had to decipher was huge. Nothing seemed to make sense. I felt as if I was going around in circles. Had I made the right choice' Did I really have the time to learn a new skill' Should I just pay someone to do it for me and spend my time more wisely doing other more productive tasks' Nothing I did seemed to work correctly. I followed all the instructions as I saw them but still I ran into unforeseen problems that were not covered in the documentation. I really felt many times during my learning process that I had made the wrong decision to even attempt to learn about this new technology. Conclude Gradually as time went by and I stuck with the task of learning I overcame my initial obstacles. At the time it did not feel as if I had accomplished anything but looking back at it I would say I did. My level of understanding of the technology has risen quite substantially in fact. Actually my level of understanding is very competent and I could very well instruct another person on its use. Right now a basic task requires only minimal effort as before it would have required a much larger effort to complete. My experience overall has been a good one. My programing skills have improved immensely and my knowledge of web based technologies has also improved . I have even recieved positive feedback on my website in areas that I had worked hard at. I feel that I have achieved my goal of learning a new skill and using that skill to the best of my ability. Plan/Test With my new found skills I am in a position to be more ambitious with my website. I have the ability to implement changes at will and with very little effort. The only obstacle is my imagination. I plan to carry on working on the website using more advanced techniques and technologies that I am in the process of learning. As a bonus I have been asked to build a couple of websites for other people which is a good indication of my own work. I have also been asked for advice on the platform used in creating the website. Based on on my initial learning experiences I am in a good position to carry on the learning cycle.