This week was the last week of classes for me and my students. They are off on field placement now for the next 6 weeks, then they graduate. For me, it’s the end of the school year, and it means seeing off a group of students that I’ve been with for the past 2 years.

Back in 2008, when this group started, they were new, green, and wide-eyed. Some were just out of high school, and trying to navigate the new terrain of college life. Others were on their second pass of college, having tried other programs before landing on the one that was the best fit. Still others were more like me – having worked for a number of years in various fields, now taking a chance and changing paths midstream. For all of them, it was a bit scary and new. There was so much to learn, so far to go. So many sleepless nights ahead of them. I know. I took the program. You don’t sleep much.

Flash forward, present day. They’ve spent two years learning, refining, and working really, really hard. The achievement is significant…they are ready now, to be web developers, designers, writers, video makers, and project managers. Some will specialize, and others will take it all, mould it to the best fit for them, and go forward. Some will go to work for companies, and excel. Others will turn their passion into their own business, and succeed.

I wanted to write this post for my class, to share with them a couple of things that I may not have articulated well enough in person. They are things I wish I’d been told when I graduated college and wasn’t. If you are my student, and you read this and get something out of it, then great. If not, no worries, I appreciate you taking the time to read it. If you’re not my student, and you get something out of it too, then fantastic.

The learning doesn’t stop here. It begins. Yep – you’ve just gone through two years of learning learning learning, and yep, it’s finally over. But actually, it’s not. Not even a little bit. This is where it starts. I went to college twice, and each time I graduated I walked out the door thinking I knew everything I needed to know. But boy, what a harsh realization it was when I discovered that in fact, I didn’t know everything. You don’t need to worry about this, though. You have come SO FAR. You DO know a lot! But what will make the difference between success and failure in your first few jobs (and the rest of them, for that matter), is knowing that you don’t know everything, and that it’s okay to not have all the answers. What is most important is your willingness to keep learning, keep searching for the answers, and not being afraid to keep asking questions. As long as you are still learning, you’re still moving forward.

80% of the game is just showing up. Ok, so you’ve got all these new skills, you’re ready to go out there and take on the world. But the phone is not ringing. The offers are not piling up like you thought they’d be. Damn. So, what now, then? Get a job in retail to pay the rent, consider going back and taking Advertising next year? Well, ultimately, that decision is up to you. But if you want that phone to start ringing, you HAVE to get out there and start meeting people. Sending out resumes is not going to get you a job. Getting a solid presence online, and getting out there and meeting people (virtually or in person) will. So, seek out people who are doing the things you want to be doing. Start conversations. Find events to go to. Things like Third Tuesday meetups and GenYOttawa and Podcasters Across Borders (if you live in Ottawa, but there are probably similar events in your town if you don’t). Get out there and go to them. Meet people. Not sure where to start? Read this from Chris Brogan. Shy (like me)? Then read this one from me. Then go do it. Just show up, and have a fantastic attitude. Be confident with what you have to offer the world. The rest will begin to fall into place.

You’re in charge of your career, not your boss. I worked for many years at jobs where I felt uninspired, under-challenged, and over-stressed. I did it because I thought I had to. Then one day I realized that, while it’s all fine and well to be responsible and have a job that pays the bills, there’s more to it than that. That maybe, just maybe, if I spent some time figuring out what my goals were, I’d be able to eventually find the kind of job where I could do what I love AND pay the bills. So, yes, get a job that pays the bills. But if it’s not exactly what you want to be doing, don’t settle. In the off-hours, spend time on defining and revisiting your goals. Come up with an action plan on how you’re going to achieve them. Then put that plan into action. Work really really REALLY hard at it. You will get there. Respect your bosses, for sure. You can learn a lot from them. But remember, you’re the only one who can make the decision about where you want to go in life. You have ultimate control, at all times.

Well that’s it. I wish I’d been told these things in college. It may have saved me some time and some grief. But, at the same time, I had to walk my own path, just as you have to walk yours.

I wish you all oodles and oodles of success beyond your wildest dreams.

Welcome to the whole world.

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This post is a part of Robert Hruzek’s Middle Zone Musings group writing project called “What I Learned From…”. This months’ topic is adversity, and here’s my contribution.

We are always told that adversity is something to be feared and avoided. But I disagree. I like adversity. If it wasn’t for adversity I wouldn’t be where I am today. If not for life’s hardships and misfortunes, even the small ones, things would probably be very different.

About 12 years ago, I rather suddenly made a career change. I quit my job of 7 years as a cable TV producer, weary from the stress and 90 hour weeks. I went back to school to learn about computers and multimedia. After 7 months of hard work, I was ready and eager to enter the workforce again, feeling confident in my skills, creating high-tech CD-ROMS. The only problem was, while I was busy learning Macromedia Director, the Internet was taking the world by storm. I graduated school with only 1 day of HTML coding under my belt, and quickly found out that in fact, it was web designers that employers wanted, not CD-ROM developers. Oops.

I could have given up. Some of my classmates did. I could have written a nasty letter to the college’s department head, telling them that they taught me the wrong skills. I could have gone back to the TV station and begged for my old job back.

Instead, I high tailed it down to the local bookstore and bought every book I could find on web design, HTML coding and graphic design. I spent the next 6 weeks, 8 hours a day, learning everything I could about creating and maintaining web sites. At the end of the 6 weeks I was an Internet whiz (by 1998 standards) and an expert in HTML, CSS and FTP.

No sooner did I finish my self-induced training, than I got a call from one of my former professors who didn’t teach me about the Internet in my 7 month course. She ran a technology training firm and told me they needed instructors. “To teach what?’, I asked. “Web Design”, she said.

Web design? I can do that!

I could have given up. I could have complained. I could have gone back to my old life. Instead, I looked adversity in the face and therein found the solution.

Adversity is going to happen, no matter what. That’s just life. So instead of fighting against it, or running away from it, perhaps try embracing it. You may just find the answers you’ve been seeking all along.

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I spend a lot of my time teaching other people things. I might be teaching my clients how to envision their perfect web or video project, or teaching them about what options and technologies are available to them.  I might be teaching (more coaching) staff on projects. This Fall, I’ll be teaching college students the basics of digital audio and video production.

Whatever I am teaching, in whatever capacity, it’s a lot of output. I’m spewing forth a ton of information each day, week, and month. I’m not complaining. I love to teach. I get a real kick out of showing someone something new, of helping them to see things in a different way. It’s a real high for me.

But the absolute key to being a good teacher is being a good learner. To love teaching, you must love learning. To be able to have the kind of output that teaching requires, you must keep inputting new information all the time.

I find that my input/output goes in cycles. I will have cycles when it’s all about output…I’m teaching classes, teaching clients, teaching staff, all at the same time. But then I have times, like right now, when I’m in the learner’s seat. I’m online, learning about new technology. I’m attending things like Podcamp Montreal. I’m attending train the trainer sessions at the College. I’m working on my inner self. This input is critical. I NEED to learn. It is something I crave. If I spend too long on the output, I get tired. It’s almost as if my well of knowledge empties out. I need to fill it back up again before I can continue.

I guess that is true about everything in life…you need to empty out once in a while, so you can fill back up – whether it’s knowledge, work/family balance, or technical work/creative work.

How do you keep your well full?

Photo by szlea, from Flickr.

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I’m very excited about a new opportunity I’ll be embarking on this Fall. I am going back to teaching part time at our local community college. I taught web design at the same college about 9 years ago, for the Continuing Education and Corporate Training programs, so some of this will be very familiar to me.

The major difference this time is I’m teaching for a diploma program. In fact, it’s the latest evolution of the same diploma program I graduated from in 1998 – Interactive Multimedia Developer. It was a 7 month program when I took it, now it’s 2 years. The fact that it’s a full time diploma program means that my audience is going to be fresh-out-of-highschool NetGenners. This is quite a dramatic change from the semi-computer literate adults I’m used to teaching. The young people that are going to be in my classes have been using computers since they were old enough to talk. It’s been embedded in their culture for their entire lives.

This has me thinking about how the Net Generation is going to fare once they are out in the real world. After all, college is not just about learning some new skills, it’s about figuring out how to apply those skills in a way that will enable your success once you are out in the workforce.

I’m teaching Video and Audio production (as it relates to New Media). I’m going to teach them how to operate a camera, set up 3-point lighting, do a paper edit, edit their stuff in Premiere, and export to various media. Given that most of the students will have plenty of computer and technology experience, I don’t forsee the vast majority of them having too much trouble catching on. But in order for them to be truly successful, there’s got to be more than just “push this button to make this happen”.

The real world is not just about knowing what buttons to push. The real world is hard. College is supposed to prepare you, as much as possible, for the real world. So, in addition to the button pushing, I think these are some things that should also be taught in college:

Communication
I’m not talking about IM, Facebook or SMS texting. I’m talking about how to write a business email or a resume that gets noticed. How to pitch someone on an idea. How to cold call. How to conduct yourself on the telephone. In the real world, these kinds of communications are a daily occurrence. You’ve got to get it right from the outset, because as the saying goes, you only get one chance to make a first impression.

Networking
Whether you’re a CEO or an entry-level cubicle dweller, being comfortable with networking is a critical real-world skill. Whether you’re the new junior in the company or just want to meet and socialize with like-minded people, knowing how to introduce yourself, strike up conversations and even interact through social networks will have a tremendous positive impact on your personal growth and ability to learn. It will also open up a whole lot more opportunities.

Continuous Learning
Hands up. How many of you graduated from university or college and thought “Now I know everything! Are you ready for me, world?” How shocking it was to realize that after all that hard work and money spent, you really didn’t know much at all. The real learning begins the moment you walk out of the school corridors and into the working world. And it never stops. Students need to learn how to LEARN. After being spoon-fed knowledge throughout their high school careers, college needs to teach them how to think for themselves – to discover, explore and be curious all the time. They need to know that graduation is the START of learning, not the end.

Be Passionate
I’ve talked about passion before. It is perhaps the most important thing that we need to be teaching our young people. I’m crazy passionate about video. I’m crazy passionate about the Internet and new media. I’m extremely enthusiastic when I talk about both. And I want my students to share my enthusiasm and passion. If they go through this course with me and don’t feel as strongly passionate about these things as I do by the end of the semester, then they will need to seriously consider if this is the right path for them. They need to be excited and amazed every day by this stuff. Developing that passion will be a cornerstone to their future success.

Now it’s your turn. Do you think students are getting enough of this kind of preparation in college? Do you think it’s necessary? Or not? I would love to hear what you think.

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I came across this statistic in a post by Steve Olson and it outright shocked me:

• 58% of the US adult population never reads another book after high school.
  (original source Jerrold Jenkins www.bookpublishing.com).

58% NEVER read another book??? I can’t even imagine going a DAY without reading. If you look around our house, our bookcases, end tables, bedside tables are overflowing with books. Who are these people that NEVER read another book after high school? And why aren’t they reading? Reading is an essential skill for understanding the world around us. I can’t comprehend what someone’s view of the world would be if they never read a book.

It seems to me that if the school system was doing its job, nearly everyone would be passionate about reading. What are we teaching our kids, if not to love learning? And what better way to learn than to read? Yet over half of the population couldn’t be bothered to pick up a book. Is it possible that our school systems are not doing their job? I want to share with you my experience with public education in the hopes of shedding some light.

My Dad was in the Canadian Armed Forces and we moved around a lot when I was a kid. Over 13 years, I went to 3 different elementary schools and 2 high schools, in 2 provinces and 1 territory. In Canada, education is governed provincially/territorially, so every time I switched to a different school in a different province, I was forced to fit in to the curriculum and level of a new school system very quickly. It was detrimental to my ability to keep up. In six months, I went from being an “A” student in British Columbia to being a “C-” student in Ontario. The reason I wasn’t able to learn French in school was because 10th grade French in B.C. is equal to 3rd grade French in Ontario. When I asked if I could take French, the school administrators simply told me I was out of luck.

In the end, I was able to work really hard and overcome. I graduated high school with a B+/A- average, and to be honest the benefits of the life I had growing up, being able to live in so many different places and meet so many people, far outweighed the struggles I had with my education.

My point is, that the education system is not set up to be conducive to learning. As counter-intuitive as that may sound, it’s absolutely the truth as I see it. Here is a list of 10 things that I was never taught in school that I think should be on any curriculum. If you were taught any of these things at your school – that’s great! I’d love to hear about schools that are doing it right. Here’s the list:

1. How to start and run a successful business.
2. How to cope with disappointment.
3. How to love books and reading.
4. How to think for oneself and draw one’s own conclusions about things.
5. How to communicate with a spouse/partner.
6. How to manage finances and invest wisely.
7. How to speak in public.
8. How to write a business proposal.
9. How to apply for a mortgage.
10. How make wise choices when buying a car or house.

These are things that I only learned after I graduated from high school (and college). Why did I have to figure all this stuff out once I was out on my own? Doesn’t it make sense that arming our young people with this kind of information from the jump would help them to make better decisions in the long run?

What do you think – are our school systems doing their job?

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