Staying Current In a Small Office Environment?

MyLongNickName writes "Less than a month ago I took a position at a smaller firm (around 50 employees) as an IT Manager. As you might expect from the size of the company, I oversee quite a variety of tasks. I come from a background of computer programming, and am definitely not a master of every function. We rely on third-party solutions providers for areas like our networking, web hosting, phone systems, etc. I am used to working in a larger environment with a large IT staff (and not just because of super sizing at McDonald's). Just the daily rubbing elbows allowed me to stay current in areas that I did not directly touch. And when I had a question, I personally knew someone who could answer my question. I am not in that environment now. How do I stay current? I don't want to be a master of every technology, but I want to be aware of trends in the industry. I want to not depend on one contractor advising me."

Comments

Re:read slashdot

[WuphonsReach]

Sadly... reading slashdot to stay current isn't as useful as it was back in 2000-2004.

Back then, we had articles on different database systems, IDEs, different linux distros, with lots of commentary as to the details of why one might be better then another. Including specific tips or tricks of the trade or related tools. I used to struggle to find time in the evenings to read all of the informational articles and comments that were being posted. And I learned a hell of a lot in the process.

Now the articles with the biggest comment count are the "rile the masses" type articles. Or the ones with a heavy political bias.

When was the last time we saw an article discussing how to do hot-standby or clustering with linux/windows servers?

Damn kids, get the hell off of my lawn!