Do Consultants Lose Their Geek Edge?

I have noticed on more than many occasions that consultants I meet are out of the loop in terms of current technical trends, current products, etc.

I find this distressing. I consider myself behind them as far as experience goes, and I can’t help but worry that the price of being great at this field is losing the love for it. It’s like these consultants don’t even care about the stuff anymore — like it’s literally “just a job”. Many of them don’t even maintain home networks anymore. The term “burnt out” is thrown around loosely.

I don’t ever want to become that. I won’t. I reserve the right to take more time doing my tasks — time to enjoy technology and maintain my edge. I think one good indicator is not having time to read my feeds. If I can’t read digg, reddit, and all my security feeds every day (with exceptions) I think I’ve gone astray.

So, to my leet-geek friends, I ask you to help keep me on track. Don’t let me stray from the path of geekdom.