One of the unexpected bonuses of this residency is the professional development fund that’s earmarked for each of us. Considering the entire residency is calibrated for professional development, this extra cushion is really nice. I’ve used it to renew my SAA membership. I’ve registered for the LibTech Conference in March.
I also registered to audit a metadata class in a fit of …well, to be honest, I think in a fit of Imposter Syndrome. In the first few weeks, I felt like I had been thrown into the deep end of the pool and I hadn’t learned to swim yet. It’s not MPR- this happens with any job, any position. It usually takes me about six weeks to acclimate to any new position, especially for something like this. I should have just given myself some time to get a little more comfortable.
I love my alma mater, St. Catherine University, and I have definitely benefited from their programs. But I can’t decide if this class helped me or not. On the one hand, I’m not sure I learned anything from the course. On the other hand, it renewed my own confidence in my knowledge and skillset. I don’t have any new tools from the course, but maybe that’s because I already had the skills all along. I’m confident that everyone else in the class learned a great deal! The class wasn’t the problem, but the course description didn’t match what I took away from it.
So I jumped the gun in auditing this class and spending a good bulk of my money on this. It’s certainly not the fault of St. Kate’s, but I guess it served its purpose in that I do feel better about my own skills. The lesson is: live and learn! And give yourself six weeks before you decide to burn through over half of your professional development funds.
This post was written by Kate McManus, resident at Minnesota Public Radio.
AAPB National Digital Stewardship Residency 
Kate, thanks so much for sharing this lesson-learned story. Along with Johannes Haushofer’s CV of Failures (which went viral last year), this has been good cause to reflect on the MANY things I have learned only through wasting time and/or money, barking up the wrong trees, and convincing myself I didn’t already know what I needed to know. (I am still learning stuff that way, too, BTW. My learning style may be 30% visual, 40% kinesthetic, and 30% screwing up royally at least once before I figure it out.)
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