As a freelancer who is constantly selling his skills on the free market, I always have to be up to date and keep myself informed about the latest technologies - at least cursory. Although you easily can go overboard with that, not doing it is just not an option, if you have to maintain your competence. Continuous learning and continuous improvement are integral parts of a software developer's professional life, and this post is about what I do for it and how I handle it...
As a freelance software developer, I am regularly asked in interviews if I am familiar with a certain technology or product, which is only natural, since potential customers each have their individual, company-internal development technology stacks. But as a freelancer, I must say that keeping up with all the latest technologies and related news is not just hard, it's simply impossible, and (at least as of yet) I refuse to even try participating in that rat race...