Professional Development Week

Yeoh Wen Jun ( 0334234 )

Professional Development Week

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Introduction

As this is our final semester and we will be graduating very soon, we were asked to learn different knowledge from the people working in the industry and make a report. Hence, we were assigned to take part in the Professional Development Week. Professional Development Week is on week 8 of this semester, and there are many types of workshops provided. In this case, we will need to attend at least 6 workshops which is a total of 6 learning hours. Some workshops were compulsory as it was selected by our Program Director but for the rest, we can choose for ourselves.

Below are the workshops that I took part in:

Tuesday, May 17

For me personally, I enjoyed the “Financial Literacy for Fresh Graduates" workshop by Mr. Fairuz Izman from MAYBANK the most. The way he presented was really interesting and made me feel like I want to listen more from him as he was sharing his own story as an example. From this workshop, I get to know that I'm a person who cannot accept losing money, I prefer to earn slowly rather than a high result. 

Mr. Fairuz also told us what we should do and what we should not do in the future. I learn many different strategies to save/prepare money for the future. Below are the slides that I feel are important (what we should do), hence I screenshot them during the workshop for myself to rewind.

Fg.1.0 Do's

Fg.1.1 Do's

Fg.1.2 Do's

Fg.1.3 Do's

The most memorable sentence for me is "Do not invest all the money to gain, but invest your extra". He also suggested us to make use of app to analyze our monthly expenses so that we can control our spending next month. Last but not least, Mr. Fairuz also mentioned that everyone has a different strategy for investing, we can't follow others as we have different abilities. We should take time and learn slowly then we will find the best strategy for ourselves.

Fg.1.4 Don'ts

The second workshop that I attended was "Working on World Class Projects in Game & Entertainment Industry" by Passion Republic. At the beginning of the workshop, the speaker was showing what his company is doing and what they can do, it was quite boring for me. Because I'm not a person very into games and I wanted to learn something from him but not just see what his company is doing. When he started to talk about the technical parts, I started to pay attention too.

What I learned from the workshop is, always look for real-life references and get inspired by them. Other than that, he also suggested us to study like a freak if wanted to be concept artists. There is a lot of knowledge that is acquired like architecture, creatures/human body structures, lighting, composition, and so on. To be a concept artist, we will need to keep learning and learn everything we can. He also mentioned that, if we are working in a team, communication is always the key. We need to trust our own team and understand the situation.

Before the workshop ended, someone asked the speaker can a person who is not studying concept art become a concept artist in the future. The speaker's answer was yes, to be a concept artist, it is all about your skills and portfolio but not the cert.

Wednesday, May 18

For the second day, the two workshops that I took part are "Best Practices and Personal Branding Strategy using LinkedIn" and "Enhancing Your Business Acumen through Creative Arts".  From the personal branding workshop by LinkedIn, I learned to "brand" myself and the importance of brand. I need to be very clear about identifying myself.

Fg.2.0 "Brand" myself

Other than that, I also learned the proper way of using LinkedIn. I found out that LinkedIn is really different from other platforms as it can show your network connections too. In the business/industry world, a good network is really powerful and important. I would say that I strongly agree with this point.

Fg.2.1 Edit LinkedIn profile

Fg.2.2 Important of networking

For the "Enhancing Your Business Acumen through Creative Arts" workshop, it was more about performing art and creativity. It was totally different from what I was expecting. However, the speaker did mention that creativity is not only for art-based people but everyone. I agree with this point as we need creativity when solving problems in our life too, this is what I learned from Creative Thinking Skill class during foundation. She also provided some suggestions to the business acumen, which are having good judgment, having ability to make quick decision and understand business idea. She also mentioned that to be a good leader communication and power of influence are the most important. For this point, I strongly agree with her too as this was what my boss told me too during my internship.

Thursday, May 19

This is the last day of PDW and it begins with "Tips to Developing Your Career Identity" by KLIQXE ACADEMY. What I learned from this workshop is, we need to know what we can do (competencies) and what we like to do (interest). When we were doing the things that we like, motivation comes to us and it leads to hard work and wisdom. Motivation can come from travel experience, knowledge gain, great culture, money gain, and career opportunities too. When we talk about competencies, we don't need to like them but if we try to enjoy them, it may help our career. 

The last workshop that I took part is "Mental Health & Wellness at Work” by Ms Kimberly from TOP GLOVE. The reason I choose this workshop is because I think it may help me as I was suffering from depression. I always like to listen to professionals and remember what they say so that when I need help I can remind myself. Mental health is really important, if your mind is unstable, you can't do anything. There are 3A’s (awareness, analyze and apply) to manage our stress. For awareness, we need to know are we in emotional stress, physical stress, or behavioral stress. Next, analyze where, why, and how the stress comes from. Lastly, apply the specific technic/action to reduce the stress. 

Conclusion

This week is really a busy week as there are so many workshops to attend and we will need to rush for our projects at the same time. But I think I have learned a lot of "life skills" in this week, especially from the workshop by Maybank. Because I never had a chance to learn about how the banks work and what we need to deal with in the future. I was really insecure with it until I attended the workshop. Other than that, I also realized the importance of being disciplined and creative when working in the industry. Last but not least, before everything, the most important is our mental health. When your mind is unhealthy, you really can't do anything. Even though it was really tired, I think most of the workshops are very beneficial for us as a student who gonna graduate very soon.