This was my final response for my Internet Communications class. This was the best class I’ve taken at OSU. It made me think. It made me try. Jason Collington asked us this question.
After taking this class, how do I plan to continue to separate from the pack so I can get a job and be very very very successful?
I have a Web site. I have a blog. That means nothing if they’re not both full of reasons I should get a job. Thousands of kids graduating college with my degree, skills and ambitions have Web sites and blogs. The difference will be in what I have to show on these outlets.
This class reinforced for me the importance of having real, quality work in my portfolio. I’ve done some freelance projects, a few mediocre school projects and a lot of personal spec work, but not enough fully developed campaigns. I need to focus on creating work that is closer to what I want to do as a career in the future. I don’t want a lame career where I can just get by. I want an awesome job where I can become very very very successful. Employers hiring for awesome jobs don’t want to see a few school projects with signs of creativity to be ready to produce professional work in two years. They want people who can come in today and start doing excellent work. They want people who think and innovate and are better and fresher than the people that have the jobs now.
I should not be handicapped because I’m only a student. I should be creating fresher, more creative work because I’m only a student. I have more time now than ever to develop my skills. I need to start spending my 168 hours more wisely on making myself better at everything: design, marketing, creative thinking. I will not be mediocre at a lot of things. I will be excellent.
I will not just separate from the Oklahoma State student pack. I want the next pack. The bigger, better one. The one changing the world and doing awesome things. I need to constantly improve my ideas, my skills and my personal brand. With this last semester before graduation, I will dedicate more time and effort to separation. I will not be satisfied with mediocrity and neither will my future employer. A 4.0 doesn’t matter if you don’t learn anything getting it.