My Dad's birthday was on the 15th of October. I write this post in honor of his impact on my life as a career person.
I hope you find valuable lessons from it.
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My Dad's career life was in two major phases.
First phase; he worked in the textile industry for close to two decades.
Second phase; he went into the academia and remainded there till his demise.
The first phase of his working life was in the textile industry. As at the early 80s way into the late 90s this industry flourished greatly in this country till it was grounded.
He worked with the Funtua Textiles back then in Katsina state where they specialized in making plain cotton fabrics of different colors and texture and also cotton bed sheets of different kinds.
Luckily for my dad he got a job in line with what he studied in school which was Textile science and technology.
The job was very demanding especially since they worked with lots of expatriates mostly Chinese. 😁. E don tey wey them dey do business with us.
With time opportunities to go for training and conferences outside the country further boosted his career and gave him an exposure that was useful in his later career path.
After about 18-20 years, he resigned from that job and went ahead to apply for a lecturing job.
It came almost to all of us as a surprise but he had made some projections about the future of that industry and left just before it came crashing.
Then he got the appointment, not immediately though, but it was also in October, about 19 years ago now.
He actually went back to his almamater and to the same department this time to impart about 20 years of experience.
As I learnt, when he got there, there was only the textile part of the course being taught, not much was known about bringing in fashion design as part of the course. So he along with others worked to bring this to life in Kaduna Polytechnic.
And I learnt he said this was because of the way trends were moving, just doing textile science alone wasn't going to sell much since most of the industries had collapsed.
Also the international exposure he got from places like Paris which is known as a major player in the fashion industry also inspired him to do so.
Generally my dad was a hard and innovative worker.
I learnt that from him. I learnt never to leave a place without adding some value to it.
He was also visionary. He didn't just work, he had career goals. That was another thing I learnt.
I remember while making that transition from the textile to the academia, in between bfore the new job came, he took up a teaching job as a chemistry teacher in a government secondary school so as to pay the bills.
I remember the severance package he was paid when he left the textiles, he bought a vehicle and got into transport business to augment what he was earning as a teacher.
That thing he did stayed on my mind like gold. It taught me that while I was waiting for my dream job I should not be idle. I should still look for something no matter how small to at least pay some bills.
This was someone who was almost at a top management cadre when he resigned, yet he stopped to take up a teaching job that wasn't paying close to half what he had earned before. Plus almost all of us seven children were born by then.
Lastly I learnt competence and the value of a good behavior at work. He believed you should be the best at what you did. I never saw him confused about his job. He knew his job too well.
He also believed you should be good to people you work with and try to live in peace as much as you can.
He was also a farmer as well. He farmed both as a textile worker and a lecturer. 😃.
So these are some lessons I've learnt from him that have helped me too in these past years in my career journey.
There were ugly experiences too, like the mockery that followed his resignation. At least I was privy to one. There were envies and plots here and there especially in his days in the civil service and lots of other things I won't include here not to make the post too long. It was tough but he scaled through with a jolly good attitude and a scandal free name.
📷: Google
He was also a farmer as well. He farmed both as a textile worker and a lecturer. 😃.
So these are some lessons I've learnt from him that have helped me too in these past years in my career journey.
There were ugly experiences too, like the mockery that followed his resignation. At least I was privy to one. There were envies and plots here and there especially in his days in the civil service and lots of other things I won't include here not to make the post too long. It was tough but he scaled through with a jolly good attitude and a scandal free name.
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