Dealing with the rate of change in software development <p>I am primarily a .NET developer, and in that sphere alone there are at any given time probably close to a dozen fascinating emerging technologies, some of them real game-changers, that I would love to delve into. </p> <p>Sadly, this appears to be beyond the limits of human capacity. </p> <p>I read an article by Rocky Lhotka (.NET legend, inventor of CSLA, etc) where he mentioned, almost in passing, that last year he felt very terribly overwheled by the rate of change. He made it sound like maybe it wasn't possible to stay on the bleeding edge anymore, that maybe he wasn't going to try so hard because it was futile. </p> <p>It was a surprise to me that true geniuses like Lhotka (who are probably expected to devote a great deal of their time to playing with the latest technology and should be able to pick things up quickly) also feel the burn!</p> <p>So, how do you guys deal with this? Do you just chalk it up to the fact that development is vast, and it's more important to be able to find things quickly than to learn it all? Or do you have a continuing education strategy that actually allows you to stay close to the cutting edge?</p>