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I am in the same age as you, and I learn all the time. The day I stop learning it is time to get another job. But take it easy, there are so many tutorials out there written by someone who understand half of what they are writing about. Framework of the week etc. They write the tutorials because they learn at the same time and that is fair enough. The signal to noise ratio is pretty low, but you can always buy a book on the subject, and start playing with Obj-C or whatever. For me it's always good to have a left hand project where I try out new techniques and knowledge. If you have the people skills, management could also be a way forward. Listen to this: http://www.manager-tools.com/2... If you are considering management, subscribe to a podcast! Good luck

http://manager-tools.com/

Go there and start learning.

Your description of you guys being both RTFM-type geeks makes me think that you guys really need to learn to talk to each other. Communication is, in my experience, everything.

In that regard, allow me suggest a slightly unorthodox source. It is directed at the workplace, and namely manager-direct relationships, so to apply their advices in personal relationships would be ... STUPID. Don't.

But if you try to read between the lines and try to understand the underlying psychological principles, and take it with, not a grain but a frickin' metric TON of salt, you just might find this interesting.

Now, with that caveat out of the way, into the point.

How you communicate (when you aren't paying specific attention to it) is predicated on your basic tendency to look at the world. You will find it easy to communicate with a person with a similar basic tendency as you. Under stress, you may find it difficult to bear when someone is communicating or otherwise behaving with an opposite tendency.

One system of identifying and working with those tendencies is called the DiSC model. Your "RTFM geek" description suggests that you both might be High-D, High-C.

Two High-Ds, tired, under stress, in a conflict, will. tear. each. other. apart. (I'm a High-D, High-I, my wife is High-D, High-C. Trust me, I know.)

The resources? It's a podcast. Here goes:

http://www.manager-tools.com/2006/03/the-d-in-disc

That's the first episode, covering the first, D. You'll find links to the rest of I, C and D there too.

Good luck!

It likely doesn't have anything to do with your tech support experience. Sorry. And I'm not trying to be insulting, just helpful.

Take a good deep critical look at yourself, your interviewing skills and your resume. Maybe your experience is sub-par. Most employers that I know won't care if you have other pluses:
* Enthusiasm.
* You've done your homework on the company and the position.
* A great resume.

A recruiters default answer is "no". It's much safer to have a few false-negatives than a false positive. Unless you make the hiring manager say "wow, that guy has it together and I must hire him", you're not getting the job. And the "your professional background isn't what we're looking for line" is often a good default line.

I recommend that you purchase and listen to the Manager Tools interviewing series http://www.manager-tools.com/category/interviewing-series/ (no I'm not associated with them, but I do listen to the podcasts weekly). It is worth every penny. At the very least, listen to the free "your resume stinks" podcast http://www.manager-tools.com/2005/10/your-resume-stinks/ .

There are lots of things you can do to improve your chances. Blaming it on your job as a tech-support monkey isn't going to help. And honestly: if the manager you interviewed with actually is not hiring you due to that specific job being on your resume, you really don't want to work for them anyway.

It likely doesn't have anything to do with your tech support experience. Sorry. And I'm not trying to be insulting, just helpful.

Take a good deep critical look at yourself, your interviewing skills and your resume. Maybe your experience is sub-par. Most employers that I know won't care if you have other pluses:
* Enthusiasm.
* You've done your homework on the company and the position.
* A great resume.

A recruiters default answer is "no". It's much safer to have a few false-negatives than a false positive. Unless you make the hiring manager say "wow, that guy has it together and I must hire him", you're not getting the job. And the "your professional background isn't what we're looking for line" is often a good default line.

I recommend that you purchase and listen to the Manager Tools interviewing series http://www.manager-tools.com/category/interviewing-series/ (no I'm not associated with them, but I do listen to the podcasts weekly). It is worth every penny. At the very least, listen to the free "your resume stinks" podcast http://www.manager-tools.com/2005/10/your-resume-stinks/ .

There are lots of things you can do to improve your chances. Blaming it on your job as a tech-support monkey isn't going to help. And honestly: if the manager you interviewed with actually is not hiring you due to that specific job being on your resume, you really don't want to work for them anyway.

Here is how to handle e-mail in a corporate environment effectively:

http://www.manager-tools.com/2005/09/got-email/

Great resource of exactly what to do as a manager. http://www.manager-tools.com/ They have great podcasts that really get to the heart of what managers need to do.

Executive summary (ha ha): meet with your people one-on-one every week, give them lots of feedback, and coach them where they need to improve.

I just made the jump to management myself, and this is one of the best resources I've found. And it's free.

After reading lots of management books, attending management classes, emulating my own managers, I stumbled across the best management resource I've ever found: Manager Tools, http://manager-tools.com/ or podcast via iTunes.

I was in my 3rd management position when I found MT and started applying their advice, made all the difference. They've been where we are (engineering/technical groups), they speak our language, no fluff, and lots of very specific direction (with explanations). My staff was soon bragging to other departments about what a good manager I was, and lobbying other managers to try the same things.

Make sure you dig back into the archives, some of the first ones are the best. Memorable episodes: one-on-ones, running effective meetings, managing your boss, career/resume management, performance reviews

A starting point for this would be the "Quick and Dirty" interview guide on Manager Tools, http://www.manager-tools.com/2006/12/quick-and-dir ty-interviews/. It's not meant for full-on interviews, but it's a good starting point for thinking about what to ask and more importantly, WHY to ask it. There's a ton of great advice there!

No matter how much I try, it just does not seem to drag & drop. Any keyboard keys you need to press while you're doing that?

Nope.

Well, apparently it's not that simple. That's plenty usable, right there. Of course, it did work - but what are the chances of me figuring that out on my own?

The iTunes help says that iTunes uses the IE web proxy settings. But if you're seeing the iTMS store, it's probably not a proxy setting.

That's what I figured, too. No idea why it still doesn't work.

Well, the drag-and-drop issues you're having aren't version specific, but (IIRC) Apple revised their dialogs to help prevent unwanted deletions in more recent iTunes versions (I don't have an iPod, so I'm not sure). Not to sound (too) snippy, but you might try using one of the more recent iTunes versions before saying "iTunes sucks." The early Winamp versions sucked too (I remember jumping ship to WindowsMedia as soon as it became viable).

(if you're worried about the removal of the network sharing features, there are workarounds for the 4.X and 5.X versions)

Hmm, I tried the 5.x install at home and it went when I was trying to copy some files over the network. I uninstalled 5.x, and the next thing I know, I can't install the newer or the older versions. And iTunes 6.x broke a lot of my podcast sites, although they had perfectly valid feeds. Turns out I'm not the only one.

So, you'll forgive me if I don't try going in for the "bleeding edge".

And btw - the early versions of Winamp were from ages gone by. Bad software is still bad software, and justifying it saying that just because it's new is tripe. Winamp was started by one developer, while iTunes is one of Apple's flagship products. There is a difference.

Of course, if the same was true of a Microsoft software, people would be up in arms. Somehow, Apple's software being absolutely crappy is acceptable. Hmmm.