By some estimates, the half-life of technical knowledge is five years: that is, at the end of five years, half of what you know will no longer be valid, or will no longer be relevant in the workplace. While that estimate is probably pessimistic, the fact that remains is that those of us in technical professions are faced with rapid and accelerating change. In order to remain viable in the profession, we need to adapt to this change. How can we keep up? This talk will present some examples of how technical change has accelerated, and what it has meant for technical professionals. We will explore various avenues for charting out a career path, and for updating our technical knowledge and skills to help us keep on track.
Biographical Sketch:
Gregory Donohoe has had a long career in technical research and development at Sandia National Laboratories, the Air Force Research Laboratory (Space Electronics Branch), Kestrel Corporation, his own software company, the University of New Mexico, and the University of Idaho. His work has spanned seismic signal analysis, night vision, robot vision and control, medical image analysis, and high-performance processor design. He holds a Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of New Mexico, and is constantly learning to re-invent himself to continue to play in the technical sandbox.