Making Progress !

Its been almost six months since I started writing this blog, and I feel that I've made much much progress during this time.

To start off, my knowledge base has really improved. There used to be times when I didn't understand most of the conversations the big guys were having. Things have changed very much for the better since then.

Right now I can not only understand what being said, but I can also provide some sort of contribution to these conversations as well.

I can also say that attending all these conferences have greatly improved my professionalism. I'm not a newbie anymore. Of course, some people out there think that conferences are an excuse for free food, travel and naps while someone else does the talking.

However I've learnt that conferences are one of the MOST important things that help you gap the bridge from amateur to professional.

I'm not trying to say that i'm the total professional now (still a long way to go before I can say that). But I feel that I've made tremendous progress. I'm no longer shy around people, and I've built up the knack of paying constant attention to the speakers. I've also become quite good at asking meaningful questions. In fact, I was one of the most prominent question guys at the last two conferences.

Back at the home front, I also seem to have made some progress in the work I've been involved in. For starters, I've become more involved in implementations (AMPATH) and of course, my favorite, patientmatching.

There are some more projects in the pipeline, but I wont talk about them until they get moving.

And also, I've just realized that I had stopped being the smallest guy at OpenMRS some time ago. There are more new people coming in, so I'ts beginning to look like i'm not a newbie anymore :-)

One more interesting fact. I was talking to Joaquin a few days back, and we were joking about conferences and papers etc. etc.

I told Joaquin that I was catching up with him. He has published about 100 or so papers, so with my two already published, I only need 98 more to beat him  ! :-D