The Goal You’ve Been Waiting For…

In my previous post, I stated my first habit would help my learn a new career skill, specifically knowledge on the topic of Big Data. Below is the plan I created to help form this new habit and get one step closer to achieving my goal. The structure of this plan is based on questions asked at the beginning of an eDX course. I really liked the structure and added to it to include a little more information about the targeted goal and the habit. Each habit plan will answer the following 4 questions:

The What & Why

The new habit is to find time weekly, outside of work to learn a new skill. This doesn’t have to be as rigorous as attending a college course, but it enough time should be set aside to achieve a small step towards the overall goal. In this case, I have chose to attend an eDX course:  DAT229x: Big Data Orientation. This course is the first of 10 courses needed to achieve a verified certificate in the Microsoft Professional Program for Big Data.

The When & Where

This course requires a 3 to 4 hours a week commitment to meet all course content and assignment deadlines. I felt that this small amount of time would be a good start and eventually increase this time slightly as I progress down the program’s learning path. I plan on spending time engaging with the content of this course two evenings a week and if needed one weekend day. During the week I will engage with the course content in my home office, while on the weekend I will go to a public area (such as Panera).

The How

To ensure I complete the required course work, I will always review the upcoming week’s syllabus in advance to plan the week accordingly. This will ensure I set aside enough time the following week to completed the material. If I run into a challenge with the course material, I will first search the discussion board, then my good friend Google. If neither of those steps help, I will reach out to my professional network via work, LinkedIn or Twitter. My last option will be to post to the course discussion board and hope fore a response.