My Career Story and My Skills - Essay Example

Institution : xxxxxxxxxxx Title : xxxxxxxxxxx Tutor : xxxxxxxxxxx Course : xxxxxxxxxxx @2015 МY САRЕЕR АND МY SKILLS Introduction According to (Brown & Lent 2012), Career development of an individual is a is an entire life process aimed at series of activities in learning and work. Career development in general begins with an individual awareness of different ways and strategies utilized in make a living. This process can start as early as childhood stages and at the same time it can start when one decides how to earn money. While career development may to some individuals be systematic to others may completely not be systematic a factor that results from the interaction of many factors including the environment that provide opportunities as well as individual personality. Normally career development path becomes fundamental in an individual decision making on selecting courses and subjects to take in school. And at the same time the kind of skills to perfect while at work, as well as the lifestyle one, adopts among other aspects. Career development, therefore, guides individuals on their path to a predetermined future expectation about work hence taking a central part on deciding on what to do a particular time. In this regard, therefore, this self introspection report intends to give a summary of my career journey so far. My career Story Right from my child hood just like most children always liked drawing and I viewed it as being very phenomenon. Over the years I was completely in it and I always dreamt of being an artist and I could make this known to everyone who was close to me particularly my dad and mum as well as my four siblings. Later in the years I was given that I was way too much in artisan.I wanted to be a social commentator through art where I would comment on social dynamism aspects in my culture as well as exploring other societies cultures in other regions. I imagined of my pieces of work being hanged almost all living rooms, bedrooms offices school classrooms with my name inscribed somewhere at a corner in the picture. I could imagine standing in front of a large audience answering the whole lot of questions concerning certain pieces that I had done and hearing their critics about the drawings. A week would not pass without having a discussion with mom my favorite by then on her view on my future career dream of being an artist. A lot of factors influenced my childhood dream of being an artist in future. When I was young around second grade and fourth grade our small nuclear family that comprised of dad mom and my four siblings used to live in the same homestead with my grandmother who was a window then. My grandmother was a renowned artist and out of close observation of her work I developed the desire of drawing. Most of the time, she used to be in her room talking softly with the canvases as she drew structures on them and I would sneak in and watch her keenly as she did it. At times, she would send me to take something in the front office and instruct me to stay a little bit. Long after she would reveal to me that she used to teach me to stay a little bit so that I don’t ask for other small canvases that she would give me to scribble some funny figures and images on. Equally, I used to admire her exhibition room as she conducted exhibitions of her work regularly. Her vigor while she explained her choices of different colors and setting could not be equated to her old age. In most time my mom would always threaten me to finish my homework before going to see what granny was doing with her canvases. Progressively, developed great admiration for drawing and she gave with time I also turned my bedroom into the drawing room and most of the time my grandmother would visit and admire some pieces I did as she gave suggestions. Though my dad was seriously into journalism as his career, he would find time to see several of my pieces and even buy some from me to hang in his office. His friends could encourage me to do more detailed pieces and some I would have them as clients. Many nights mom would come at the middle of the night to stop me from drawing late into the night. Late in my fourth grade, my granny passed on and I inherited most of her favorite drawing equipment and some of pieces she had done as she had written in the will something which motivated me more. While in college my goals of being a drawing artist had had diversified and I wanted to incorporate fashion design with fine art under the advice of my mum and dad. Given that I liked some elements of fashion design I didn’t hesitate to enroll as a fashion design student and later majored in fine art option while in third year. At this stage my goal of being a freelance drawing artist changed to being a fashion design artist and made took a central role in guiding and determining the choices I made later. Given that I liked nature including flowers trees, topography among others I developed many designs of fashions and at one time my jacaranda flower dress design was rated the first one in a certain year. My love for nature and my artist skills which were well founded by my grandmother as well as my entire family, facilitated me to excel in fashion and design fine art option and graduate with first class honors degree. At one moment in college I remember there was an elective course which was being introduced in our program concerning using a computer to develop new designs. Given that the unit would have refined my artistic skills more and add on my future goal of becoming a fashion designer artist I choose to do it given that it was an elective unit hence optional. I remember being the green college I got a job in a local Fashion and Design Company, which dealt with all age’s designs, and they had the optional in-service training program for the employees. The field of fashion design happens to be extremely dynamic with the emergence of new designs now and then I needed to be innovative as well so as to put up with the dynamism pace. In this regard, I joined the in-service training so as to add on my skills. At this point my objective was to increase my employability through perfecting my skills hence my main reason to adopt the in service program offered in the company. Further, due to my fascination in fashion and design artist work and in an effort to keep up with the dynamic field. I decided to operate a fashion design blog account where I would have a chance to showcase my work and facilitates criticism. Recently, I have been managing the account with a lot of zeal during my free time, and it is very useful. My progress in my career seems not to fall far way from career development theories design by different people. Bandura’s social cognitive theory is one such theory and its focal point happens to be the self efficacy of an individual. The theory claims that self efficacy beliefs are fundamental predictor of human behavior. Indeed bandura argues that the magnitude of self efficacy determines whether coping behavior will be commenced; the amount of effort used as well as the period the effort is sustained in presence of difficulties (Brown & Lent, 2012 chapter 5). Further self efficacy according to Bandura emanates from personal performance including previous success or failures, the vicarious experience where observes others as models and mentors, verbal persuasion including encouragement or discouragement as well as psychological and emotional aspects. Previous personal success facilitates one to have stronger self efficacy in the performance of the future activities while failures lead to poor performance. Watching others perform and succeed makes one have believe that he or she can also make it and as such they act as mentors and models. Equally, encouragement motivates one to carry on with a certain activity even in the face difficulties while discouragement makes one quit. (Brown & Lent, 2012 chapter 5) In this regard, my career development seems to be central to this social cognitive theory because the first admiration I had for drawings was reinforced by observing my grandmother who was a drawing artist. She was a mentor and a model to me and I worked who even insisted on good work from me at times. Further, the encouragement from my family particularly my father and mum also enhanced the motivation I had hence more performance. My personal achievement also played a central role in my overall career development. The good pieces that I did made me believe I can also connect with concepts of fashion and design hence the good performance in fashion design fine art option. Equally, critics and encouragement from teachers made me perfect my skills which would later benefit me in the future goal of being a fashion designer artist. The previous self efficacy about my ability in fine art contributed to my choices fashion design while in college and the in-service program while at work just as claimed by Bandura . (Brown & Lent, 2012 chapter 5) Donald Super Developmental self-concept theory is another theory which describes career development (Department of Employment Services, 2008 pg 1). Super believed that self concept change over time due to experience hence making career development a lifelong affair. In his theory he divided the developmental process of the self concepts into five stages. In the first stage known as growth stage which according to him ranges from 0-14 years, the individual experiences self concept development, acquiring attitude, needs as well as the general view of the work world. Exploration stage ranging between ages 15-24, follows where the individual tries out through tutorial classes, gets work experience and even involve his or her hobbies in acquiring skills and at the same time makes a choice of skill development. Super called stage three establishment stage between age of 24-44 where one is in entry-level skill building as well as getting stable given the work experience. Maintenance is stage four and it involves individuals in the age bracket of 45-64 where the individual embraces progressive adjustment process to advance position. The decline is the last stage and it includes individuals in the age of 65 and above. Individuals in this stage have little output as they organize for retirement. (Department of Employment Services, 2008 pg 1, Brown, & Brooks, 2002 pg1 ) Regarding this theory, my career development is not different. First passed the growth stage where developed self-concept as well as attitudes and needs about drawing and the general work world. The development process was initiated by seeing my grandmother draw as a way of getting money. In return I developed a good attitude towards the job and I understood fairly the world of work. Soon exploration the second stage came where my grandmother showed me how to do it equally perfected my drawing skills in school, in my first job as well as in the hobbies I adopted. Similarly, in the job I made choices of skill development through the in-service training. Soon the other stages including the establishment, maintenance as well as a decline in that order are coming as such proving Super’s theory of development. Another theory of career development is the Holland’s theory that claims that people choose the work environment or job with colleagues having the same personality or who are like them (Brown & Lent, 2012 chapter 3). This is exactly what I exhibited when I used to work with my grandmother and observe her do her drawings. My grandmother and I happen to be in the category of realistic where we enjoy manipulating objects so as to realize results. Partly, my granny and I also in the investigative category where we want to control the variable and achieve either specific or unspecified result. Equally when I managed a blog account on fashion design artist I wanted likeminded individuals to critic my work and hence to refine my skills and in this regard approving Holland’s theory of career development. Managing My Future Career In the fashion design industry, I have identified several skills that are more important in the field and as such they require perfection. They include motor and visual skills while developing different designs. Equally, creative thinking is critical given that it is the basis to the innovation of new and exotic designs particularly the current globalized world with a wide range of competition. To fully develop these skills where in this case according to Donald Super’s theory of development I will be in the establishment stage, my efforts would be directed towards skill-level development and perfection as well as stabilization. At this stage I intend to work with different groups of people with varied expertise in my field hence learning from their knowledge. Additionally, I intend to undertake several pieces of research on different cultures from different as I explore on different fabrics that may be at my disposal. The multi-cultural exposure will ultimately give me the knowledge and skills I require. Just like the Luck Readiness Index, would put change is inevitable equally we only prepare for the ambiguous future by becoming equipped with skills to handle what we anticipate as Banerjee & Santo (2012 pg 117) noted. As such to manage change in my job familiarizing with each employability skill I encounter. Given that change is unpredictable am equally enhancing my optimism as well as my resilience attitude. More importantly fashion design is inherently a dynamic in that designs are changing now and then and as such calling for way innovative as well as the creative mind. Conclusion Career development is a path that is meant to lead one to an ultimate goal in future. It involves stages ranging from infancy through adolescent, early adulthood stage to late adult stage. In all this stages, people gain more knowledge and known how in their respective fields. Just like Donald Super theory of career development claims one gains more skills and they equally mature as one move further in professional development. Reference Banerjee & Santo 2012, Chaos and Complexity Theory for Management: Nonlinear Dynamics: Nonlinear Dynamics Advances in Business Strategy and Competitive Advantage. IGI Global Brown, D, & Brooks, L (Eds) 2002, Career Choice and Development: Applying Contemporary Theories to Practice’, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Brown S. & Lent R., 2012, Career Development and Counseling: Putting Theory and Research to Work. John Wiley & Sons Department of Employment Services, 2008, ‘Developmental Theories. Retrieved on 15 May 2015 from , Read More