I used to be good at algebraic manipulation and at integration tricks, too. Now, I'm not, but it doesn't matter, because Mathematica can do those things far better than you or I ever could.

The world has changed, so the skills needed to survive and prosper have changed, too.

Many of us used to know ...

1. How to do long division with a pencil and paper
2. How to add weights expressed in ounces, pounds, and stones
3. How to use a slide rule, tables of logarithms, and a desk calculator

These skills are all obsolete, and I'm not too worried about the fact that they're now pretty rusty. I've learned new things, instead ... how to write code, how to use a calculator, and how to use Mathematica.

Of course, not everything we learned in our mathematical youth is obsolete. I personally still get great value from my knowledge of classical geometry, my intuition about approximation, my ability to draw pictures, and my ability to express ideas clearly.

So, when considering how to "keep up your game", the first decision is which skills are worth preserving, and which should be replaced by new ones. The game has changed.

I used to be good at algebraic manipulation and at integration tricks, too. Now, I'm not, but it doesn't matter, because Mathematica can do those things far better than you or I ever could.

The world has changed, so the skills needed to survive and prosper have changed, too.

Many of us used to know how to...

1. Do long division with a pencil and paper
2. Add weights expressed in ounces, pounds, and stones
3. Use a slide rule, tables of logarithms, and a desk calculator

These skills are all obsolete, and I'm not too worried about the fact that they're now pretty rusty. I've learned new things, instead ... how to write code, how to use a calculator, and how to use Mathematica.

Of course, not everything we learned in our mathematical youth is obsolete. I personally still get great value from my knowledge of classical geometry, my intuition about approximation, my ability to draw pictures, and my ability to express ideas clearly.

So, when considering how to "keep up your game", the first decision is which skills are worth preserving, and which should be replaced by new ones. The game has changed.