Tag Archives: Education

Primary Reunion

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The other day I checked in on my FB profile -the one that I don’t visit that often- and to my surprise I’d received two messages from people I haven’t seen or been in contact with for a long long long time: I’m talking primary school… I opened message one, because I was curious to read it, both messages were from different girls (or should I say women ;) ) that I used to be friends with at some point early in my life. The other message, message two, I left unopened for a while. This one was from a girl I used to be friends with from the age of seven or eight(?) until 13. To be honest I didn’t feel like opening that message as I was expecting the usual blah blah anyway. The other one was somehow more interesting to me.

She wrote me about a primary school reunion that she is organising, they’ve found everyone except me and if I was the person in the picture, that she was looking for. Of course I could’ve left it at that but I didn’t, I replied to her message. The moment I received her second message I felt some kind of regret about sending that first reply. She was asking the usual: how are you doing, what have you been up to, are you married, do you have children? etc. Of course I was expecting these kind of questions and I didn’t mind answering some of them but then I realised the moment I would make her my FB friend, more requests would come in and I’d have to answer the same unimportant nonsense again and again.

I had a look at her profile page and noticed each and every classmate from back then, in her friends list. Also the one boy I had a major crush on, I remember I went to the beach with his parents, him and his younger brother. When we arrived back at their appartment in the evening, his mum asked me to take a shower before dinner, to rinse all the sand and dirt off. It was a bit of an odd situation for me. His parents were extremely nice people, especially his mum. She braided my hair when I got out of the shower. I guess I must have been the daughter she never had ;) But just the fact that I had butterflies in my stomach whilst being around this boy all day long was something special that I remember to this day.

But I also noticed the girl -one of a pair actually- who came from a questionable family (it was rumoured at the time that her mum was a public woman). They were common people, she was friends with another girl and both lived in the same estate, were quite heavy, already used too much makeup at that age and weren’t popular. These were the type of girls you weren’t supposed to hang out with. I remember they were also quite the bullies at school, potty-mouthed and often looking for a fight. And I remember one time where they were picking on me -just out of sight- around the corner of the playground. I punched her right in the face, which she didn’t expect of course… Bullying problem solved for ever!

There are more stories of course, but does it really matter? I’ve replied to the first message and said to her that I’m not keen on reunions. The truth is that I wonder what the hell I’m supposed to tell these people who are desperately holding on to a few memories of the past. Most I can’t even remember because I was so young and so green at the time, a child. What’s the point of meeting up again after so many years knowing that I’ll probably have nothing in common with any of them. Is it their curiosity speaking? Do they expect me to add them all to FB just like that because of something we’ve shared ages ago *don’t thinks so!*? I’ve moved on, I’m not that child anymore, I’m an adult with an adult life now.

I really don’t see the point in meeting up to tell them how successful I’ve been over the past decades, how much I earn a year, how many kids I have, how many times I’ve been married and tell them by the end of the night ‘sure… we’ll keep in touch’… Something that will obviously never happen otherwise it would’ve happened already. There will be nothing to relate to. Absolutely nothing. It’s been too long. I was a child at the time still figuring out how to memorise twenty words for the test on Wednesday whilst my mind wandered off, counting down the minutes to the lunch break at noon. My bubble was small but large enough to hold everything dear to me and I still like to keep it that way, plain and simple.

The second message was from one of my closest friends at the time. She wrote about how long it has been (I know; things happen for a reason…) and how she would like to stay in touch again. She approached me because of the same reason, that reunion. Funny thing is that I will attend a reunion in June this year, only because some friends asked me to please come and yes they are still my FB friends nowadays. It’s organised by the school I attended where I studied graphic design. Yes I had doubts but this reunion seems more realistic somehow. The doubts are about the whole reunion thing in general, because I don’t feel the need to add all the extra noise to my life while I’m already juggling on a daily basis.

I guess it is a ‘to be continued…’ ;)

The Reward

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Yesterday I had my work evaluation, November last year I had to write an extensive report about my intentions, my goals, my planning etc. so yesterday I had to meet up with my unit manager to discuss my report and his comments on what I had written. It was an extremely nice chat especially when he handed over an envelope with a letter. He explained to me that he wanted to give it to me in person this time because last year the letter had been sent to me through regular mail. I still had no idea what he was on about. Then he mentioned that I must have noticed something on my payslip in December. I said I didn’t because I had filled out several expenses claims which were reimbursed.

I read the letter that he had given me and to my surprise I found out that I had -again- received a pay rise, the second time in about a year. This was -among other things- due to the fact that I have taken up a study in October last year. I have been working as a UX designer for some time now but I’ve never taken a course or got any certificates to prove my knowledge about the subject. Basically I have been doing UX as part of any assignment so far as there was no specific education for this at the time. Plus it had always been part of the design process anyway just not as extensive as it is nowadays. So I already had some knowledge because of my work experience over the last 10 years.

UX design is booming at the moment, just like webdesign became booming about 15 years ago. Back then the issue was the same, there was no education and everything I’ve learned I’ve learned through self-study and hands-on experience. But I guess I was a lot more aware of my skills when I was younger, I never had to give anything any thought, I just did what was expected so I learned new skills along the way and had no doubts I could deliver whenever I had to. I was successful and confident. I guess when you get older all of that starts to fade a little so I took on the courses in order to see what level of knowledge I have, to gain more confidence and to learn whatever I still have to learn.

So far I’ve been doing really well, I already have my first certificate in and I’m currently taking the second course out of a total of nine. I’m truly enjoying the subjects especially the current one which is about the principles of designing for humans. I’ve learned so much already about psychology and physical facts, the way a user reads the information presented on screen or how information is moving from short-term memory to long-term memory and what the eye perceives information-wise. It’s all very interesting! I’ve noticed that I also enjoy studying, something I didn’t expect when I started the first course. Yes it’s hard to study and work at the same time but it’s so extremely rewarding.

Whilst talking with my unit manager I told him I was even thinking about getting another degree. He asked me if it was necessary and if I really needed it in order to get assignments in and to my surprise I had to answer that question with a ‘no’. So far I had two different assignments both for the local government where I was rejected because of my level of education which is fine but I don’t have any diploma’s. Let me rephrase that, I do have a diploma… but because I have been gaining experience through work, my level of knowledge has become way higher than my original education. I have a bachelor degree but my level of knowledge is equal to a masters degree (which I don’t have).

It has never stopped me before to get to where I wanted to be. So after he asked me that question I was thinking that perhaps I’d better spend my time on my jewellery designs instead of trying to get another degree which will take another three years. I’ve been getting assignments in over the last six years without a problem. Taking on the study was a wise thing to do but it’s sufficient for now. I’m happy I made the choice and that I’m getting the certificates I need, in order to become more confident. The study will be finished in about nine months and when it does, I will have more spare time again to work on my other skills that make me happy: my jewellery designs. Something cool to look forward to!