There are plenty of cliché-sounding quotes about learning such as “anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty” and “education is what is left after you forget everything you learned in school” that are probably not said by Henry Ford or Albert Einstein.
Nevertheless, there is a pinch of truth in these statements.
At least from my experience, it is quite common to hear promises about never studying again once you graduate. Expectations such as knowing enough on the day you graduate and being ready for everything are unfortunately not true.
The wisest of us know that we know nothing. And I know from my studies that electricity is blue, it hurts, and you should put the wires with the same color together and the rest to ground.
But enough rambling, let’s get to the point. I graduated some four years ago and noticed during my first working months that there’s still a lot to learn. I barely even knew what I was supposed to do, so I just started doing something. It was and still is a great method for starting the journey of learning by doing – and it proved to be quite effective as along the way we also met some people who probably knew what they were doing.
During our expedition to the sea of possibilities we came up with great and not-that-great ideas on how to develop our business opportunities. But as a medium-sized company in a niche market, we unfortunately don’t have the resources to do everything we want like some tech giants. As the ideas have matured over the years and we have made more or less successful pilots and launches with them, I now have a better understanding of what I am supposed to do.
And as any sensible person would do, I’m also climbing trees backwards by getting a formal degree in R&D only now, after several years of practicing my informal trial and error method. The vocational qualification studies started in November 2022 and last one year.
My target is to create a uniform procedure for our potential R&D&I cases and find suitable tools for evaluating them. And above all, to have a traditional Finnish cake and coffee session upon graduation.
In all, we at TT Gaskets are very open to learning as an organization and as individuals. Many of us, myself included, have started our careers in the company by doing a thesis (and you can too by contacting us).
In the past couple of years, I have mentored half a dozen thesis workers or trainees and at least twice as many have been in other departments. I have given several brief flange assembly training courses to our stakeholders, and we also offer the possibility for certified training together with TAKK.
And the list goes on for a reason, as educated employees are the key to a successful business that supplies you with Smarter Sealing for a Safer Tomorrow.