I’m only asking this because I’m finding as I get older, it becomes a much more frustrating part of my job.
How do you handle new versions of software, particularly software that coders and DBAs use on a regular basis? It seems that just when I’ve fleshed out SQL2005, SQL2008 will have come and gone and SQL2010 will be here. I’ve missed a whole iteration and this isn’t endemic to coders and DBAs.
I’m never for upgrading just for the sake of upgrading so unless there is compelling functionality there, I tend to let it go. Somehow though, with software releases becoming more frequent, I can’t help but feel that this is the wrong approach.
Edited to add:
I guess part of what I’m saying is that the release of newer versions hardly leaves enough time to become an expert in the previous version.
Rarely do these upgrades require a lot to be relearned. Actually, I would almost argue, that the amount to relearn is proportional to the amount of time between releases. So SQL Server 2000 to 2005 was 5 years, and quite a lot changed. 2005 to 2008, not much changed. 2008 to 2010, I’m guessing that there won’t be a lot to learn. I think the trick is to keep on top of things. Because if you fall a few versions back, it can be a nightmare to catch up on things. Even if you just play around with it and don’t use it in live projects, you are probably further ahead than a lot of people.