What is on your career shelf?

When I think of my career there are five key elements that always pop into my mind, and that is; skills, knowledge, experience, time and expertise, which are all related in one way or the other. The big questions has always been how, why and when do I acquire them.

There are a lot of options on the menus on where to source this five key elements, for example by joining a college or university, volunteer ship, self learning, on the job learning etc , with the prime factor being time, for how long and what do you undertake in terms of subject. I know many youth that are gambling with this and some are lucky to have their paths defined for them through family foundations etc, but majority of youth especially in the slum areas wonders around in the wilderness trying to find their way out for a strong career paths.

I have been keen on working on building my career path whereby utilizing any opportunity that might lead to the desired land. I wasn’t lucky as a child to determine or decide my dream career and the experiences has been more of pick and drop through the way, learning to jungle different activities to survive. I can’t say I’m at the pick of my career destination but it has been great so far with different developments in my life as an old adage says “life is a journey with many teachings”.

Today I want to share with you this interesting topic on how I have managed to work around these five key words that are always in my mind. First and foremost let us define skills and knowledge, sounds quite obvious eeh!

What are skills?

• A skill is the learned capacity to carry out pre-determined results often with the minimum outlay of time, energy, or both. Skills can often be divided into domain-general and domain-specific skills. For example, in the domain of work, some general skills would include time management, teamwork and leadership, self motivation and others, whereas domain-specific skills would be useful only for a certain job. Skill usually requires certain environmental stimuli and situations to assess the level of skill being shown and used. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skill
  

What is Knowledge?

• Knowledge is a detailed familiarity with, or understanding of, a person, thing or situation. It can include facts and information, as well as understanding that is gained through experience, education or reason. It can be implicit (as with practical skill or expertise) or explicit (as with the theoretical understanding of a subject); and it can be more or less formal or systematic. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowledge

Nothing can replace experience which is a product of time, skills and knowledge. So how do you develop your experience? As a young person living in slums areas where there are little career prospects in the light, I have always used my talents, determination, passion and will power to the next mileage and not to shy from challenges that surrounds me. This has made me develop a strong, progressive and positive attitude in filling my career self with the right tools.

Below is a simple list that you ought to develop so that you understand yourself better when it comes to your dream career.

A) Skills

• Make a list of skills that you poses and what other skills do you need.

B) Knowledge

• Do you know what it takes to develop your career of choices?
• How often do you make follow up about your career choice on different media?

C) Interest

• Why this career choice? Have you been force to do it, is it something that you want to do or is it an influence from a friend?

D) Career options

• What is your primary career option and is there a secondary option that related with what you love doing?

E) Are you an expert?

• Who is an expert? An expert is a person with extensive knowledge or ability based on research, experience, or occupation and in a particular area of study.

F) What are you tools of trade?

What education background do you have?

• What talents do you have?
• What applications do you like? For example in computers, vehicles, television etc.

G) What experiences do you have?

• Experience as a general concept comprises knowledge of or skill in or observation of something or some event gained through involvement in or exposure to that thing or event. Source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Experiences

H) Who is your role model?

• Why is he or she your role model
• How does he or she inspire you?

I have had friends from accounting background who would love to learn web design and development too. The question I always asks myself; is it passion driven or market driven? I have passion in finances too, but this comes second after computer programming and software development which I have the passion and the love for it over a long time and experiences through self learning and exposure.

One good reason I love my career of choice is because it is versatile and it impacts on peoples life from all creed and background as time goes by. I love technology this why even today I’m able to share with you my story…