Sorry if I burst your bubble, but the statement is true if we don’t put a time limit on it (and consider what we will learn between now and infinity). As noted in Shift Happens (on YouTube), it is estimated that over 1.5 exabytes of unique information was generated worldwide in 2006, that this is more information than what was generated in the previous 5,000 years, and that the amount of technical information is currently doubling every two years and predicted to be doubling every 72 hours by 2010!

That means that everything you think you know today, if it’s not already wrong, is likely to be wrong in the near future. Even everything the doctor knows today will eventually be outdated! That’s staggering. That’s why continual education and self improvement is critical.

More importantly, you have to be the one to take on this initiative – to update your knowledge and your skills – because the likeliness is that, at least if you live in North America, your company isn’t going to do it for you. Survey after survey finds that the amount of education and training that the average company in North America provides their employees is dismal, if they even provide any at all. Considering that the current rate of knowledge generation implies that everything you learn in first year of University is likely to be outdated by the time you graduate, this is dismal because by the time you’re in a job five years (assuming your job still exists in five years), if neither you nor your company made any effort to keep your skills up, every bit of technical information you know now will be outdated, as will all of the processes that were molded to use the technology that was leading edge five years ago.

That’s why Next Level Purchasing is my vendor of the week. Realizing that it was up to procurement professionals to keep their skills current, it was the first private training company to develop an affordable training program tailored to the individual who could take the courses on her own time, at her own pace, wherever she happened to be, and, if she desired, end up with a recognized industry certification (the SPSM – Senior Professional in Supply Management). Moreover, Next Level Purchasing recognizes the rapid shifts that are taking place in the industry and makes it a point to review and update the core certification courses every year^*1 so that the knowledge you receive is always up to date. Furthermore, Next Level Purchasing also publishes articles and informative blog entries on important topics every week so that you can keep learning even after you’ve completed the certification and they’ve collected their fee. That’s a dedication to student and professional education that you can respect!

^*1 It updates all of its courses on a regular basis, but not necessarily yearly if they are not core certification courses and the majority of the material is still relevant.