Interesting, and far more elucidating on what you actually do - did - at work than anything I've previously read.
Your period of learning Access reminds me of how one of my employers decided to put me in charge of the department web site, and sent me off to a class to learn HTML. This was raw HTML, before client interface programs had become common, and also before dynamic HTML or cascading style sheets became the thing, so it was pretty basic, but it certainly was useful, and I still maintain my personal website (which I originally created as a class assignment) the same way.
However, in general my work history doesn't match up with the path you describe as common. I always set out to become a librarian, but I'd had no intention of becoming specifically a cataloger, which is by far the most technical-heavy branch of the field, until I happened to get a job doing it. I'd learned the basics in library school, but there was a lot of re-learning on the job. However, my first job was slow and simple, and within a few months I'd picked up enough to become an off-the-cuff whiz.
My sister always wanted to be a teacher, partly because that's what our Dad became when she was a formative age. She lived her dream, and retired a few years ago at age 52 (if my faulty memory is right) after putting in thirty years in one school district. The only thing I ever wanted to be was a writer, but I could never imagine wanting to do it for a living, not that I was ever in any danger of that!
By the way, I also learned raw HTML and used it right up to the end for a series of pages I maintained on a Unix server using pico as my editor. Old school! For my personal site at randybyers.net, however, I use Wordpress. HTML still comes in handy on LJ sometimes.
Your period of learning Access reminds me of how one of my employers decided to put me in charge of the department web site, and sent me off to a class to learn HTML. This was raw HTML, before client interface programs had become common, and also before dynamic HTML or cascading style sheets became the thing, so it was pretty basic, but it certainly was useful, and I still maintain my personal website (which I originally created as a class assignment) the same way.
However, in general my work history doesn't match up with the path you describe as common. I always set out to become a librarian, but I'd had no intention of becoming specifically a cataloger, which is by far the most technical-heavy branch of the field, until I happened to get a job doing it. I'd learned the basics in library school, but there was a lot of re-learning on the job. However, my first job was slow and simple, and within a few months I'd picked up enough to become an off-the-cuff whiz.
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