A question that needs a heart to answer
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It was about a week ago, when we had this interesting conversation between me, Arly, and Glen in IA (Imaging and Animation) class. The conversation was begun after Glen (if I am not mistaken) talked about his interest on MAYA, Autodesk (3D software). He said that it is probably the one that he is going to take it very seriously into the future, the point is He wants to learn MAYA seriously now and later in the future finds a job that requires a specialty in MAYA probably game development (character development and stuffs). The next second (at this time Arly wasn’t joining our conversation yet, he was still looking at his attic modeling), Glen told me that He somehow lost the interest to learn this MAYA software, the reason is (probably) it’s kinda hard for a newbie such as us, there are EXTREMELY a lot of tools to learn in MAYA and plus you have to know the technique to properly use them when you model something. When you have the willingness to learn something new, the way to learn them is not easy, it’s hard and it’s always be. (Arly out of nowhere joined the conversation, I didn’t remember the detail though but I’ll tell the point) Arly said it is somehow not right to learn something just for the future, coz it’s probably the reason that slows down the process of learning itself. Glen on the other hand still argues that He should learn MAYA to help him find a professional job later in the future…This conversation goes back and forth (it was pretty hot that time though, I wasn’t talking much that time but I was listening)

The point is now, not to judging who is right and who is wrong. I myself (after the conversation was over and we left the class) start to think, what’s the purpose I am learning all the stuffs in university life? what are they for? Am I going to find a job that suits what I have learned back then? This point onward I am thinking. Finally I come up with own conclusion…for me, ‘Learning is a fun process’ and I don’t wanna lose the fun part because I have to learn these stuffs for my professional career later in the future. Well, that also doesn’t mean that I don’t care about my future; I do care and I always do but I don’t wanna force and push everything into my future, I just want to let it go.

After these years, I guess I am still the old me who says "you’ll never know what the future holds, The very least thing you could do is sit back, relax, and have fun of life". What I learn right now is things that are required to be fulfilled by my course provider, some of them don’t but it’s my hobby. There are four different things I am learning right now for my courses: Adobe Flash (Design for Interactive Media 1), ASP.NET (Web Development Technologies), JAVA (Software Architecture and Design), and MAYA (Imaging and Animation). Out of the 4 choices, I put a huge amount of interest only on ASP.NET and Adobe Flash. I shaped out my future and later I probably will find a job that requires specialty in Web Development (Web Designing is more preferable). Everything I learn about new things on web, my heart beats so fast and even faster like it wants to dig out more and more. I don’t know why but I guess it’s my nature and sort. Besides those two, I now learn ASP.NET AJAX, Microsoft Silverlight, Microsoft Expression Blend, and Adobe Flex. All of them are tools to help me visualize my wildest imagination on web. This is I guess the purpose why I learn them all, it is to fulfill my hobby, not only for my future and sort.

Probably some of you come out and do not agree with me. You may have your own opinion and conclusion about this topic on top of mine. There is definitely no right and wrong answer here, but as the topic says (if you read on the top) it does requires a heart to answer such question: Learning? What is it for? Your future? or Else? The point is like I said "You’ll never know what the future holds, does all the hard work you’ve done so far will bring you into a bright future? or The other way around?" Consider the old saying "Life is like a wheel, it keeps on turning upside down as long as you’re on it"

Cheerz,
~PeterAoKi ["I'm not creative enough as you are, @orangedan.net"]

NB: I don’t have any intention to discredit and offend Arly and Glen, but it is very interesting topic for us I guess.