Experiential Learning Through Life Experience

Life experience vs. classroom education

Any evaluation of the type of knowledge received through "life experience" compared with that of traditional methods of learning, such as completion of college courses, must take into account what type of life experience is being considered, but almost every type of job experience can provide profound and lasting benefits for an individual. For instance, a 6-month stint as a burger jockey may not appear to be particularly valuable life experience, but any type of job - even a minimum wage job - will help young people learn a number of valuable skills and traits that will help them succeed later in life, both professionally and academically.

Some of these specific benefits that are derived from experiential learning that are not, generally, gained from traditional course work include learning how to get along with co-workers, how to get to work on time, how to take and execute orders, and what it means to pay taxes at the end of the month. In fact, virtually all types of gainful employment can help people develop a good work ethic and a positive attitude towards the workplace that will go a long way in any future endeavor. These types of things cannot necessarily be learned from a textbook or a lecture, but rather must be experienced first-hand; in many cases, these things also must be experienced first-hand over and over again until people manage to get it right.

Some of the "key" things that I have learned overall from experiential learning include:

People are just people and they will tend to try to get away with what they can if they believe no one is watching too closely;

If you do not like a job, it is time to find another. Loyalty in the workplace is perhaps the most valuable attribute that an employee can bring to the table. If an employee is not loyal to a company, it will show immediately and when it comes time to downsize, that employee will be the first to go;

Money is not the only, or even the most important, component of professional success. This "key" required a long time to understand, since I directly linked "professional success" from early on in my life with "monetary reward." However, there are equally or more important components to any job that contribute to this success mix. For instance, even a very high-paying job that does not offer any recognition for extra effort or involves working for an organization that is involved in questionable activities is not worth the extra income. From this perspective, success in the workplace involves a wide range of tangible and intangible factors including the other employees (are there frequent "turf battles" and bitter interoffice rivalries always taking place, for instance?), the supervisory philosophy (no micromanagers please), how comfortable the workplace environment is for the employees, and the indefinable but critical "friendliness" aspect of the business - all of these factors play a role in defining a successful job for me today, rather than a side-by-side comparison of how much I am earning compared with what previous jobs paid.