[AnIdiotOnTheNet]

> if you're not learning you are drifting backwards rapidly

I'm pretty sure this isn't true. Most of the "new" things in the industry are just rehashes of old things with a different coat of paint and some added abstractions to slow it all down.

[grzm]

Learning doesn’t only mean getting up to speed on the new and shiny. The depth and breadth of past research and papers is often timeless and valuable—more often than not moreso than the shiny. Also deepening one’s own skills in areas one’s already familiar with brings many benefits, and qualifies as learning in my book.

And this doesn’t even touch on learning outside of ones field, which is great for well-roundedness and for discovering parallels one doesn’t necessarily find within a single domain.