Chapter 1: In my 50s, I honestly never thought I'd be studying again — The beginning of my IT Passport challenge —

Studying after becoming an adult

I honestly never thought I would be studying again.
I wasn't particularly fond of studying when I was a student.
It felt more like I was doing it because I had to.
The only time I can recall "studying" as an adult is when my child was in elementary school and we took the Kanji Kentei together.
I started from Grade 3 and managed to pass up to Pre-2.
At that time, I remembered feeling that studying even after becoming an adult
might not be so bad after all.
I remember feeling that way, just a little bit.

Learning that continued alongside work

After that, I joined my current non-life insurance company and had to study again to obtain the basic qualifications required for my job.
At our company, we are required to earn 10 credits every year as part of our self-development.
For that purpose, e-learning is provided, and I continued to study little by little on my smartphone during my commute or in the spare time on my way home from work.
Recently, due to my own interests, I have also started participating in seminars related to Web3 and the metaverse.

There are times when I can earn credits by taking paid seminars, so I have been learning more by watching videos that interest me while undergoing training.

Encountering Generative AI

In 2025, I took a paid seminar on AI.
What kinds of generative AI are there?
How does it relate to work and daily life?
The more I learned, the stronger my desire to understand it properly became.

It was in that context that I learned about a new qualification called the Generative AI Passport.
When I looked into the content, I found that it overlapped with my interests in many ways, so I decided to take the plunge and apply for the exam.
I studied for about one to two months, and the result was a pass.
I didn't want to let this success go to waste.

Taking it one step further

Could I challenge myself with a more advanced qualification in the same field?
When I started thinking that way, the idea of taking the IT Passport exam—a national qualification I had been curious about for a long time but had never taken—popped into my head.

The moment my way of studying changed

In 2024, I had another experience.
A colleague told me,
"I passed the non-life insurance university exam in two weeks."
When I asked why, they said there was a very easy-to-understand YouTube channel
that picks out and explains the parts that will be on the exam.
Honestly, I was a little surprised.

Studying on YouTube?

Is that how things are now?
I was skeptical, but knowing that my qualification allowance would increase if I passed, I studied for about a month, focusing on YouTube and past exam questions.

The result was passing on the first try.
At that moment, I felt it clearly.

I don't have to stick only to the methods I've used until now.
It is definitely worth trying new study methods.

The reason I would pick up a textbook and then put it back

I have always loved reading and often go to bookstores.
Not just novels, but also books on digital skills,
I would flip through the pages at the store,
and if I thought it looked interesting, I would buy and read it.
I had been doing that repeatedly.

So, I have actually picked up IT Passport textbooks
several times before.
But every time, I would think:
It's thick.
It might be impossible to read all of this.
The content also seems kind of difficult.
Honestly, I would just put it back on the shelf.

Maybe it's not impossible

However, by studying for the Generative AI Passport,
I realized that I already understood several related terms, such as AI literacy and copyright.
Maybe,
it might not be as impossible as I think.
Thinking that,
out of the many IT Passport-related textbooks available,
I chose one with many diagrams and bought it.
Alright, time to start studying.
I definitely had the motivation.

But—.

I believe that small determination back then was, for me,
a "challenge for the future."

*This note is
a record of my experience relearning in my 50s.

*After this, I summarized my study methods for starting over in one article.

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