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Letter: Never too old to study
After working from Monday to Friday, 8:00 a
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fter working from Monday to Friday, 8:00 a.m. until 4:30 p.m., every single day nearly 250 days a year, I suffer tremendous anxiety. Bored of the routine work I face every day, and also with the same problem.
Working in an engineering-based company certainly requires engineering knowledge, but working as a director proves otherwise. A deeper knowledge in non-engineering areas is needed, such as accounting, finance, human resources, management and business. Trying to get this knowledge through self-study is very difficult. You will need someone to tell you when and what to study. You also need someone to assist you in getting the right answers to your questions. And the only way to get all these are through studying.
Running a company with sales of almost US$100 million per year is not easy. Every first semester of the year, the job concentrates on pursuing projects/contracts, and the second semester is used to complete the project as scheduled.
This is done again for every single year with various accounts and different customers. It has become routine activity, which seems not to end. This is certainly looking very boring and I am facing no real new challenge that can trigger my brain and enlighten myself. I have tried to stimulate my brain and activity through self-study, but unfortunately not successfully. There must be a way to do this. With the condition that I am facing in the office, time to study is certainly limited.
Back to school! That is the answer. I then applied for an MBA at one of the best universities in town. My engineering knowledge, which I have already obtained cannot help me in this matter.
After going through the first semester in the MBA executive class, I felt a total change. Change in my way of thinking, change in my working attitude and most of all, change in the way I manage. I am looking forward to the end of my study.
Another form of getting all the extra knowledge is through Training. So what makes a school better than a training course. Training is only for a short period of the learning process. One day, three days, a whole week or even a couple of weeks. But in school, you have to finish them in months, for example, in general over 24 months. You will also develop a network with students in your class. Work experience, which you get at your work place, will help you deal with real problems in your industry. But to better solve them, the right theory and knowledge must be studied and applied. Without these you will not get anywhere.
We are never too old to study.
Darman Mappangara
Bandung
