Lead and Led

Competence gaining

Last time, we looked into why competences are important for your job and your salary. Now, we are taking the opportunity to discuss how to actually gain competences. I recently put up the website for competences and this post here is a part to get some more focus on the competence matter as announced.

How to get a higher salary

In my recent post, I stated that I want to focus more on individual competences. To motivate the topic a bit, I would like to start off today with something very practical: How to improve your salary.

Do stuff. Fail. Learn. Repeat. Build up competences.

It is very difficult to show when you achieve competences. For example: I visited a basic and an advanced seminar on simulation software for optics. Do I feel competent? No. I am lacking practice. And here is a simple key of achieving competence: Learning by doing. It is simple yet effective. Let us check how to achieve greatness by achieving compenteces.

German study book released

Hello,

some months ago, I have announced the German study book project. I am happy to announce that it is finished and released as a soft cover on Amazon. It is called “Der Studium Leitfaden: Ein Ratgeber für angehende Studenten” (The studies guideline: An adviser for prospective students) and shall help students to get some benefit out of 11 years experience at the university.

To ensure a vivid discussion with the youth and to get good communication feedback, I installed a webpage here for interaction. The next step would be the ebook version and later an audiobook. However, I still need some equipment to make it happen.

Project managers do not need a MBA

I had recently a talk with a coworker. Apparently, his wish has been to go from an engineering position to a project management position. As wise as he is, he decided to learn the necessary skills beforehand. I congratulated him on his decission but I could not agree to pursue a MBA. It is not the right way and I will tell you now what I have told him: Project managers do not need a MBA.

EU ruled: Employers are forced tracking working time

We work to earn money, so we change time for money. In most small and medium companies it is not common tracking working time. I have seen many times what happens when people work and do not track their times. They accumulate a non-neglectable amount of overtime and this is never paid back by holidays or moneywiese. So, we can see here a benefit. But what disadvantages might occur?

Leading by example

I have recently read an article about the art of leading by example. Leading by example is something great – in theory. In this blog entry, I would like to discuss the issue of what this means in an organization and how it is a key to protect your coworkers by a certain standard.

The skill of failing – lessons learned

Our society celebrates victories and success. These successes are often celebrated after project milestones. But nobody likes to talk about the stories behind them. The story of careful planning, focusing for goals, fighting against all odds and failing multiple times. I think failing is a very important skill and hugely underestimated as a soft skill. I consider it as the one of the most important skill for research and development.

Bachelor or Master? What is enough?

I have studied in Germany and Great-Britain in two of the leading engineering universities. So I know the different systems quite a bit. While the anglo-saxon education system tends to go for Bachelor graduations, then skips masters mostly to aim for PhDs, in Germany the master level is the standard. I want to challenge the master level here to some extend and encourage students to leave university earlier. Also, I would like employers to rethink their expectations to graduates in this article.

The first job is bad? It’s an oppurtunity!

Well, there you are. You recently graduated and now the world bows down to the extensive brain power and your well forged skill levels. You know what, forget it. A first job will teach you humbleness. The application process will do and the real world out there will do. You are just a small fish in the huge sea and there will be a bigger fish. In the end, it might happen that the offers you receive are vague and bad. They might be far under your expectations and you, you are disencouraged. So what do you do? Take the bad offer or search for a better opportunity? Let’s discuss this point under your financial and personal developing aspects.