On-the-job Training

Extract from ‘Message of the week’ by Wesley Miao [A senior manager of Autodesk]. I think it is very useful for those who are still being confused about their future life/carear development. Try to read toward the bottom, though it’s a bit long. Thus, you will gain a lot.

 

It require great skills/knowledge to deliver great results. So it’s quite obvious that we need to develop great skills/knowledge to be able to deliver great results. Today I’ll talk about on-the-job training.

 

When I was interviewed by Henry and Kermit (Sr. Director of Civil3D Development) in JinMao Tower four years ago, I was asked to ask them questions, one of which is “What kind of training I can receive after I join Autodesk?” The answer I got from Kermit was “primarily on-the-job training”. “What a routine answer!” I was thinking at that time. Like many of you, as a fresh graduate, I was expecting the company sending me to US for three month for training, or something like that.

 

After four years, when I look back, I did take a lot official trainings by outside consultants, like C++ training by a MS consultant, Employee Leadership Program, Successful communications, Global Savvy, Project Management in a Chaotic Environment, Interview Skills, Inside-out, and some others I can’t remember.

 

You might say hey Wesley you become what you are today because you had so many trainings before. But I’d say I become what I am today because I’ve been learning hard in every single day in the past four years. I learned when I see how people do things that I never did before and think what if I was doing that. I still remember the first time I wrote a software design document by following a well-written one by a software architect; I still remember the first time I did the presentation for VP after several rounds of dry-runs and all the struggling and being nervous; I still remember the first time I hosted a debriefing session by following a good framework (just a couple of weeks ago); There are so many other “first time” I don’t want to mention here but you get the point.

 

So everyday everybody is receiving on-the-job training. That is, everybody basically has the same opportunities. But you will be surprised how different people would become several years later even they started with almost the same background.

 

What’s key thing here that is making huge difference?

 

The answer is in your every day. It’s true that everybody gets 24 hours a day and 365 days a year. It’s also true some people put more time than others everyday to read more, listen more, think more, learn more, speak more, mimic more, practice more and try more things they never did before. Every day I put a little more extra time than others to learn a little more than others, and I increased my breads of experience a little bit more every day, guess what’s going to happen one year later, what’ll happen 5 years later. You get the point.

 

On my side, one of my jobs is to set up things to drive you to put more time to learn and grow. On your side you need to be ready and willing to.

 

For those of you who are willing to learn and grow *faster* than others, put a little bit more time and effort every day, read more, see more, speak more, practice more, think more, make all every piece of your life and work more *intensive*.

 

Last point, be tenacious. Believe me, several years down the road, you will make a huge difference.

 

Cheers,

Wesley