Photo by Anna Mould on Unsplash

I already know about it

When you are a beginner in any field, and you consume content on the topic (books, blog posts, talks), you will make notes on almost every word you read or hear, every term or approach. You highlight every paragraph from the book because you think it is important.

You are doing it because you lack knowledge on the given topic. You have not trained your inner filter yet, so you cannot distinguish valuable information from average or harmful one.

The more you learn on the topic, the more practical knowledge you get - the better you can filter out knowledge peels and keep only decent pieces of useful information. But as a consequence - you will receive less and less new information from every other book or talk.

You are in the mode:

“It’s all already been in the Simpsons”

“I already know about it!” or

“This talk is so basic - give me my money back!”

What can you do in such a situation

• Evaluate the content you consume carefully. It is better to skip some talks at the conference and do networking instead. You could also talk to the speaker after the presentation on some lower-level hardcore topics.
• Deep dive into the chosen topic. Read research papers. Check out scientific conferences in the field. Talk to practitioners (online or offline).
• Search for a new topic you are interested in or adjacent ones. Think about how these topics intertwine with each other.

Remember:

There are millions of people in the IT industry. Everybody is at a different stage of their careers and has a different level of knowledge. Every person has their own “I already know about it” moment.

Seek how to find the knowledge you need. And help others along the way.