It is never too late - or too early - to pick up new skills. Just ask Ms Theodora Lee Rou, 24, who decided to pursue a Specialist Diploma in Digital Content Creation for Business in June 2018.
After graduating from Republic Polytechnic (RP) in 2016, Ms Lee joined the corporate communications team at local church Victory Family Centre as a graphic designer. Feeling ready to take on more responsibilities and expand her repertoire, she jumped straight into a Work-Study Programme offered by RP barely two years later.
She says: "Having worked for a while, I was itching for personal growth and was looking for ways to improve my skills. So when I learnt from my former lecturer that RP was offering a Work-Study Programme, I immediately decided to take up the Specialist Diploma in Digital Content Creation for Business."
The Work-Study Programmes, offered under RP's Academy for Continuing Education (ACE), provide an opportunity for fresh polytechnic graduates to deepen their skills and knowledge for career advancements in their specific industries.
RP ACE also offers a variety of other courses and training programmes - ranging from part-time diplomas, professional conversion programmes, and short courses and workshops - in key emerging areas such as data analytics, tech-enabled services, entrepreneurship and urban solutions.
Mr Albert Toh, Director of Republic Polytechnic Academy for Continuing Education, adds: "We work closely with our industry partners to ensure our Continuing Education and Training (CET) curriculum equips our students with deep skill sets to be future-ready at the workplace. Our students and graduates are imbued with the traits of lifelong learners who can deal with inevitable workplace disruptions and changes."
The learning never stops
Ms Lee credits many of the skills she now employs at work to her one-year specialist diploma programme.
Apart from helping her understand design trends and develop a more critical eye for artwork, she appreciates how her lessons have taught her useful time management skills, as well as how to pitch design concepts more effectively and create designs from scratch.
She explains: "I used to struggle with creating things from scratch and would have to constantly look at designs for inspiration. However, after going through the graphic design module, I learnt to overcome my own obstacles and can now create a good piece of design from scratch by exploring the tools available on the different platforms that I use for designing."
More importantly, Ms Lee also discovered the value of professional friendships with fellow designers from other sub-specialties.
"There were some classes where we had to do a group project and we were encouraged to rope in friends from our own industries to help. It was a more fulfilling exercise than I thought it would be, because we got to watch everyone work in their own sub-specialties and learn from one another. It was a really great experience and till today, we still keep in touch," she says.
Despite her eagerness to learn, juggling school and work proved to be one of Ms Lee's biggest challenges.
"It had been a while since I was a student, and initially, I felt mentally and emotionally stretched. But having to effectively manage my time as a student and working professional helped me learn to maximise my time as best I can. For example, I would make an effort to apply what I was taught in class on the job, so that I could count it as extra design practice," she says.
Thankfully, her supervisors at work were supportive of her decision to undertake the specialist diploma, and were glad that she was taking the initiative to upgrade herself.
As a matter of fact, she adds, they had helped her plan some of the milestones that she wanted to achieve by the end of the course, such as heading the publicity efforts for Victory Family Centre's annual thank-you party for migrant workers, where she helped produce the promotional videos and design the graphics needed for the publicity of the event.
Going back to school has since whet Ms Lee's appetite for learning. Now, she is looking for courses related to video production to improve her video-making proficiency.
"In Chinese, there is this saying: 活到老,学到老 (huo dao lao, xue dao lao), which literally means to learn for as long as you live. Being a graphic designer requires keeping up with the trends, and for me, it is a case of the more I learn, the more I want to learn," she says.
The next course intake for Republic Polytechnic Academy for Continuing Education is in April and June 2020. Click here to view the list of courses and find out more.
