From the Director’s Desk Learning to Love Your Job Andrea S. Gaboriault Allow me to introduce myself. I am the Copy Editor for CADLearning at 4D Technologies, and... I. Love. My. Job. H ave you ever experienced a work environment in which the culture within the company was downright toxic? Where your proactive attempts at rectifying even the smallest problem were met with disdain? Where you felt like you could never reach your full potential? I have. I will never forget how that environment made me feel, and how I just could not understand it. I quickly realized that I wanted to work in a supportive, collaborative environment, where my colleagues actually wanted to solve problems. So why am I telling you that I love my job? Well, it’s not just the job itself, though I do love correcting grammar and supporting my Subject Matter Experts in any way I can. That’s my expertise. As a matter of fact, I employ much the same skill set I used at my old job. So what’s the difference? If I’m using the same skills, why does it matter where I work? Fostering Learning Yes, we are a learning company. Yes, our product teaches people things they didn’t know before. But our product is not what I’m referring to. I’m talking about the learning process itself. Throughout my career, I found that if I wasn’t learning, if I wasn’t progressing, I eventually became dissatisfied. Even if it was a job I hated—of which I had quite a few—as long as I was learning, I was happy. For me, learning is nearly as important as breathing. And I know I’m not the only one who feels that way. Seek out others who can help you increase your knowledge and skill set. Identify Knowledge Gaps How do you know what you don’t know, unless you know you need to know it? In a culture of learning, this is where the supportive part comes in. It is vital to have supervisors and colleagues It matters because the real reason I love my job who can help you learn what you need to know is that I’m part of an entire culture of learning and to improve in your position. Sometimes, this can growth. mean being provided with a new tool, or being asked to complete a specific task. This can be anything that can improve your productivity, from the daunting, such as learning to use an 4 www.cadlearning.com