Staying motivated about improving my skills

I set off on a quest to learn the top open source languages to get access to what is happening in technology. I having being toying with this idea for a year now. Finally got the inspiration from the Julie and Julia movie last weekend.

It has been interesting. I have been plowing through several books this week. I read the book, make note cards and learn them while hiking or during down times. The first 2 areas, PHP and Python were fairly straightforward. They are very similar to other technologies that I am already familiar with.

Then I started on Java. Wow, it reminded me of why I never could get through my Windows programming books back in the 90's. I found myself walking up Windy Hill Friday evening, wheezing my brains out, and trying to remember FontRenderContext. It was the first time I couldn't get through a stack of cards before I got back to my car.

However, picked it back up this morning and pushed forward. I will only know toward the end of this year whether I see any new opportunities due to the effort I am putting in now.

The only thing that I have to relate it to, is during the startup phase of my dating site. We would often reach a point where there was a technological hurdle in the way. The choice was often, we could hire someone to solve it. This always seemed to cost upwards of $20K or I could read 2 $45 books and figure it out.

It was real easy decision back then. I didn't have the $20K so I read the books. Since then it has been more difficult to find the motivation. You often hear the advice to outsource everything.

Here is my take on this. If you have already found a successful business model, then outsourcing or hiring an employee to take care of details is totally appropriate. Heck, it is the only way to scale any business. However, if you are in the initial phase, and don't really know what twist and turn your idea will take, then I'm not so sure. It is often better to pick up the skill set within the sweat equity team. Preserve capital and keep iterating.