Thankful for a New Opportunity
This Thursday is Thanksgiving in the US, which makes this an especially appropriate time to express my thanks for finding a new job. As of next week, I will be working as a contractor for Cisco. It’s a big project with a lot of different pieces to coordinate. I’m excited; this will be an opportunity to do some things that I haven’t done before, including working with technology like telepresence. I’m also looking forward to more global collaboration, as this training involves teams in several continents.
This does, of course, mean a switch from being in the education world to the corporate world. But my career has gone back and forth several times; I went from public school teaching to corporate training, then to online higher education followed by a corporate instructional design contract. I’ve been doing online graduate education for K-12 teachers for three years now. I know sometimes people can have trouble switching between those environments, but I’ve never found it that much of a struggle. The organizational cultures can be different, obviously, but I feel like the fundamental skills apply in both contexts. And I wish there was more cross fertilization of ideas between the corporate world and academia; I think both groups could learn more from each other. So I enjoy the back and forth. Maybe I actually learn more this way, rather than being in a silo of one area or the other.
As I’m enjoying the long weekend before starting my new job, I feel very thankful. I’m grateful for three years at Performance Learning Systems, where I worked with many dedicated people who are passionate about what they do. I was fortunate to work with a terrific manager and two great fellow instructional designers. I learned a lot and I am really proud of the courses I created. I’m also thankful that I was able to find a job in about two months in this less-than-wonderful economy. I’m thankful for the opportunity that is now ending and for the one that is just beginning.
I hope you have many things to be thankful for in your life as well. Happy Thanksgiving!
Image Credit:
I am so glad you mentioned how similar each level is and how each can learn from each other. I feel as if I am always defending “training” to K-12 educators, “teaching” to higher ed, and “education” to the corporate levels. Each thinks they are unique and therefore don’t bother to look for good “educators” and “instructional designers” who can move between the levels.
That’s like saying you would never bring a manager from production because they are “different” in what they do. Obviously, you’re good at what you do, so you are able to move between the different levels of education.
Hey, good luck on your new position, I am sure you will do great!
Interesting topic. Thanks for posting this. You actually said it very well. Best of luck with your new project.
Congratulations, Christy 🙂 All the best for your new assignment. Happy Thanksgiving!
Thanks! It is an interesting time, as you said Michael.
Well done Christy – what a great Thanksgiving present. Best of luck in your new position; it’s certainly an interesting time to be in the corporate training environment.
Michael
—
Congratulations, Christy! I look forward to hearing all about your new projects and telepresence especially. Happy Thanksgiving!