A few weeks ago I had lunch with a former colleague that I hadn’t talked to in several years. During the course of our conversation I learned that they are still maintaining vb.6 code and classic ASP in the current generation of the product. Now this isn’t meant to condemn anyone. It happens. The reason I bring it up is that the question of how to keep up to date was raised. He said he’s still learning about some of the features in .NET 2.0 and here we are getting ready for 4.0. So how do you keep up with what’s going on in the here and now when day in, day out you are working and thinking about ten year old technologies?

Here are a few suggestions I made to him and I pass them along in the hopes that they might spark some ideas in someone else.

Work on personal side projects. It doesn’t matter if you ever complete the project. It matters that it be something your interested in. Build it with a technology you’ve never used before. If you can complete it and get it out in the world then all the better, but don’t get hung up on having to deliver something, you may never get started. The world is full of deadlines and commitments, have fun and learn something.

Re-think what your currently doing and about how you might re-architect it. You may be working with older technology out of necessity, but there is nothing stopping you from taking notes about how you could update things. This can also be the basis of a modernization strategy for your company. Not a bad way to help your career either.

Read. Not just technical books either. Read about trends in your industry. If you’re in a situation where you need to seriously up-level your skills, you may have several choices as to where you go. For example if your only getting started with .Net for VB or classic ASP why not learn C#. Interested in mobile devices? How about a little objective-C? The point is there may be trends in your industry or specialty that help determine where you go.

Read technical blogs. This can be a good way to keep up with what’s coming down the pipe, and give you ideas for personal projects. It can also be good if you only have limited time. Be careful here. It can be addictive, and also a bit overwhelming. If you find you have too may entries to keep track of, think about cutting back on a few. I have a few that I skim and then mark them all as read, and I have others that I try to read every entry. Be realistic as to what you can read, and be consistent with staying on top of it. That might mean checking in once a week or once a month. Find out what’s right for you and stay with it.

While this isn’t by any means an exhaustive list, I hope it gives you some ideas, and that you come up with even better ones you can share.