In my earlier posts, I gave some reasons why some people are not making progress in their career. These reasons are flexibility, inability to work in teams, and lack of identification with the organization. In this post, we are going to look at another factor that limits career progress. That is lack of appropriate skills.
I know many workers may think because they have college degree automatically gives them the necessary skills. In the world of today, a worker should engage in a life-long learning process. You should update your knowledge in order to fit with the dynamics of the market. The global market is highly competitive and in some segments, disruptive. That implies that what you learned today may no longer be applicable tomorrow. One's level of adaptability to changes depends on his ability to learn new things.
This means that your college degree is an entry point to a constantly-changing world. Take for example a chemical engineer working in automobile company. The tendency since 25 years ago has been on renewable energy or alternative energy to gasoline. This means that the engineer's knowledge of battery has shifted from traditional one to how batteries can power vehicles. This can be in the form of hybrid cars or purely electric cars. If the engineer does not have knowledge about this new technology, the Auto company will fire hime and hire another chemical engineer with this knowledge.
As a teacher and a coach, I realized that many electrical engineer managers have been fired from a utility company where they used to work. This occured, in part, as a result of automation of systems and their inability to adapt to new technologies resulting from that. Therefore, it is not enough that you have a degree in something. Your knowledge and skill must be applicable to your organization in solving problems. However, the problems depend on the dynamics of the market. The unpredictable nature of the problems makes it difficult to anticipate the solution. But, you can always upgrade and update your skills in such a way that it will help you find solution whatever the problem may be.
That is the essence of life-long learning. Many workers forget this fact by living lifstyles that do not permit them study anymore. Only public functionaries have guaranteed job. The rest has to make it. Today, there are many ways one can update his skill. There are online classes, free online materials, company-sponsored courses, etc. Even if it involves paying for it, you have to do it because it is an investment. You cannot have a successful career unless you invest in it. Think about this!
I know many workers may think because they have college degree automatically gives them the necessary skills. In the world of today, a worker should engage in a life-long learning process. You should update your knowledge in order to fit with the dynamics of the market. The global market is highly competitive and in some segments, disruptive. That implies that what you learned today may no longer be applicable tomorrow. One's level of adaptability to changes depends on his ability to learn new things.
This means that your college degree is an entry point to a constantly-changing world. Take for example a chemical engineer working in automobile company. The tendency since 25 years ago has been on renewable energy or alternative energy to gasoline. This means that the engineer's knowledge of battery has shifted from traditional one to how batteries can power vehicles. This can be in the form of hybrid cars or purely electric cars. If the engineer does not have knowledge about this new technology, the Auto company will fire hime and hire another chemical engineer with this knowledge.
As a teacher and a coach, I realized that many electrical engineer managers have been fired from a utility company where they used to work. This occured, in part, as a result of automation of systems and their inability to adapt to new technologies resulting from that. Therefore, it is not enough that you have a degree in something. Your knowledge and skill must be applicable to your organization in solving problems. However, the problems depend on the dynamics of the market. The unpredictable nature of the problems makes it difficult to anticipate the solution. But, you can always upgrade and update your skills in such a way that it will help you find solution whatever the problem may be.
That is the essence of life-long learning. Many workers forget this fact by living lifstyles that do not permit them study anymore. Only public functionaries have guaranteed job. The rest has to make it. Today, there are many ways one can update his skill. There are online classes, free online materials, company-sponsored courses, etc. Even if it involves paying for it, you have to do it because it is an investment. You cannot have a successful career unless you invest in it. Think about this!
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