Information Technology has carried our country places. As individuals contributing to this industry, it is important for us to keep up with the latest developments in our chosen area and perhaps be aware of the recent trends in other areas as well.

The Internet is now the best source for keeping one up to date. Newsgroups, websites, discussion forums, and many such sources have provided us with a wide range of content on a gamut of topics – from generic to highly specific. With the advent of Web 2.0 technologies such as Blogs and RSS feeds – it has become easier to obtain updates on our topics of interest. The latest addition is the Wikipedia, a unique mechanism of obtaining and contributing to a widely accessed source of knowledge.

Apart from all these we have vendor products and their roadmaps, which are rich in content. These vary with products (Functional or System software oriented) that capture latest extensions to echnology in packages by means of usable methods. Keeping track of the roadmap of products we use, their case studies and seminars will help us update our technical knowledge. Many such features normally have an adoption time – anywhere between a few months to a couple of years – before they are made use of by the product users. They give us a premonition of where the industry is headed.

Technology journals and magazines provide us with a facet of the trends. Spending a few minutes in a week in the library in our neighborhood with an open mind can give us a few surprises every time.

The challenge in expanding one’s bandwidth is in sustaining and growing an interest in areas beyond our day-to-day requirements. A simple example is the growth in Java based technologies almost on a daily basis. When we look into the day–to-day developments in engineering applications using Java based technologies we find ourselves a wave or more behind in using the latest extensions and features available with various components. Apathy to such new developments and lack of knowledge will prove to be a key differentiator in making the jump from being known for sweat coding factories to truly innovative appliers of technology.