This week my post finds you a bit later than usually. During the week it was hard for me to focus on my blog. In the evening I spent time on following the news and thinking about how I could help refugees coming from Ukraine.
Today I participated in a local get-together of like-minded in our community and we discussed different possibilities to help people fleeing from the war in their home country once they arrive in our city.
It was great to learn that all the networks and procedures are basically in place and that it is important to connect to these networks if you want to help rather than starting some uncoordinated initiatives. Many people want to help by offering some room for a couple of weeks. However, talking about Germany now, this leads to some of implications, as refugees in this specific situation are not registered as refugees. They are rather arriving here with the status of a visitor and hence the regular aids are not finding their way to them (e.g., health care). Also, it is expected that there are many women with small children. So, it is very important to make sure that they are in a secure environment.
To finish this little side topic off: my lesson today was that the communities really need volunteers to support refugees and if you want to engage, get in touch with the authorities. Inform yourself about the local network of aid organisations and connect to like-minded. It is vital that you build your network and think different possibilities to support others through – before your support is needed. Same applies as it does to your regular job: get prepared before you start.
Learning from the Best
Which brings me back to my main topic: Dedication. What is it and why is it the Holy Grail of Technology – at least in my opinion? When I think about milestones of my career I have some moments in my head, most of them related to a certain person and the advice they gave me, either intended or by accident.
My father once taught me an important lesson straight after I finished university and started to look for a job. He was working as a sales rep since I could remember. After university one of the most successful machine builders in the area offered me a job as a sales engineer and although I originally never considered this possibility, I started thinking about it.
When thinking back to that time I have to say that for an engineer dropping out of university it is hard to imagine what’s going to be expected from you in all these different positions as you often have no organizational experience. At least I didn’t.
Why You Should Never Start in Sales
My father told me not to start in Sales, as for an engineer it is always easy to learn the commercial stuff, for a sales guy it will be nearly impossible to learn the tech side later. “Sales”, so he said, “is a One-Way Street!”. At that time, I believe I could not understand his advice fully, but I somehow followed it and started at a research institute – which was basically as far away from Sales as it could be.
Today I am a Sales guy, too. But I am thankful that I gathered experience in engineering, product management and business development before making this move. It helps me to understand my clients in a way which would never have been possible without my past.
There were a lot more people I learnt a lot from, and I promise, I will try to make some interviews with them in the future so that you also can get some inspiration from them.
Japanese Dedication
Coming back to dedication, a specific lesson I learned in Japan comes to my mind. It was shortly after I started working at Makino, which is one of the top machine tool builders from Japan, that I got to know a guy who was introduced to me as Maruyama-san. He was different from all the other colleagues I met so far from Japan. Probably – so he would explain to me later – this was caused by his extensive stay in the U.S. His business card seemed ordinary. It said, “Die and Mould Specialist”. Boy, what an understatement that was! He is well known in the die and mould community… globally! And he had the passion to teach me and let me participate from his wisdom and experience.
“I dedicated my life to die & mould”
Maruyama-san
But his most important lesson he gave me right after his introduction, when I asked him about his title. He told me that he dedicated his life to die and mould. In the beginning I thought: “Must have been kind of a translation error”. Later, after I got to know him better, I was like “Crazy… he means it!”. And over the years I began to understand. Every time I met him, I understood a bit more. This is what I was maybe lacking so far or to which I officially have not committed, yet. This is the difference between someone doing her/his job and someone loving what she/he does.
The Holy Grail of Technology
But why is it so important for Technology? It took me years to understand. During school and at university they tell you that you must move on in order to grow. Every two years another company, another job, job rotation and so on. I also thought so in the beginning of my career. Today I know that it is our experience and our network which are our assets. Both takes time to grow.
In Japan I saw skilled workers scraping machine beds. In Europe scraping has been replaced by grinding as it is tough to learn and as it takes forever. These workers in Japan needed maybe 6 years to get to this level of mastery which was required for the job. Technology is complex. If you want to master complexity, you need a certain level of dedication.
Move On After You Master It
This – in a nutshell – is my advice I want to give to you: if you are about to enroll to university, you’d better choose a topic you feel passion for. Don’t think about possibilities on the market. Don’t spend too many thoughts about the money you can earn. Find out what your passion is and don’t see it as your job. See it as the beginning of a long trip.
If you just have finished university, plan your next milestone and be crystal clear about what you want to achieve.
If your professional career has already started, plan your next milestone, but make sure that it fits to your previous one and to your overall idea of what your passion is. Don’t make a move for a title. Trust me: I made that once and it was totally not worth it. Only move on after you reached a certain milestone. After you gained some mastery in what you are doing or after you finished a certain project. And always make sure that you stay true to yourself.
The beauty of dedication is that you get more and more efficient in what you are doing, but this is a topic for another post.
Now I am curious to hear from your experience. Did you also completely messed it up one time like I did? What’s the advice you can give today with the experience you have? Let me know in the comments below.