I Read About That A While Ago | Post by Mat Crawford

I love Google. For me, like so many others, we interact so often it has almost become one of the family, and with the rapid development of smart phones, we have never had so much information at our fingertips, literally. Information evolves and progresses at such an alarming rate, it is difficult to keep up with it all. The problem with Google is that there is so much content from so many sources on such a large range of subjects, its difficult to know what, or who to believe and trust.

It’s hard to work out whether the red mark on my skin is a pimple, a sunspot, an infectious disease, a birth mark I never knew I had, a burn or a rash. And gee I hope it’s not a rash, because then there are another thousand diagnosis for that as well. How do I decipher all this information? That’s when it helps to see a professional; someone who works in the industry or field of your issues or question.

You see, this information speedway is not new, and professional bodies have known for a while that information changes at an alarming rate, and the people in their industries need to change with it. That’s why a lot of professions have what is known as CDP, Continuous Development Points. Doctors, nurses, lawyers, accountants, engineers, safety personnel, hair dresser’s and yes, your financial adviser, to name but a few, must all undertake additional training and education every year to ensure that their technical and fundamental skills and knowledge are up to date.

This education and training is not from searching Google for the latest trends or way of doing something; it is delivered from approved training organisations, from research papers by accomplished professionals, through one on one practical experience and demonstration, in journal articles documenting research and testing results from all over the world. It is generally not information which is freely available over the internet. This level of education costs money through subscriptions, memberships and fee for service training, but for these professionals, that’s what it takes to stay in their profession.

So while Google is great for a massive amount of general information, just be conscious of the fact that your doctor, nurse, lawyer, accountant and financial adviser have someone constantly looking over their shoulder to make sure that they are continually learning their craft and staying up to date with current laws, legislation and best practice, which is not a guarantee you are likely to get over the internet.