College for everyone

The world is changing... My favorite sentence.

Everyone accepts the rapid change in every fields in the world. Additionally, as the things are changing, characteristics of the life is also changing. I think, one of the more challenging one is "speed".

 To be able to catch up with the post modern life, self-learning should also speed up. I spent 17 years in traditional in-class educational system. I learned so many things but I could learn them in less time. Probably 10 years whould be enough. 7 additional years in my life, how amazing...  After I have noticed that I became addicted to "quick self-learning" and my favorite motto became "time is an asset that cannot be retrieved again". The other one is "quality in everything we do". My managers think that I am in a hurry to learn but the world is supporting me with vast of sources. Then why not to learn! ;)

The Internet is the most flexible, accessible and comprehensive college for everyone. You can choose your topic, you can arrange your schedule and be sure that you will find your class notes or videos. I still belive that learning some topics is more efficient in in-class training, but the ones that are related to improving skills like dance, sports, photography, soft business skills...etc. On the other hand, if you have, you should never miss the chance of "learning by living", like travelling or communicating/discussing with others. The best and the most enjoyful way of learning!

If you need to learn a topic to do your business (like learning a methodology, a tool, a programing language) then do not feel stressed! Go to your "free" college.

 There are websites which provide online courses where you can listen your lecturer, discuss with your peers, do exercises to improve yourself. And even you can take exam to get certificate. I do not have enough time to follow exams because my aim is just learning.



COURSERA, my favorite. You can find courses on various subjects both technical, cultural, arts, history ...etc. given by lecturers of the best universities in the world. Courses are structured based on weekly short video lectures and also supported by reading materials and exercises.

UDEMY, the other one which seems like real college courses which are longer but it also includes practical courses.

UNIVERSITY ONLINE COURSES, many university is providing the videos of their lectures or preparing specific lectures on specific topics. (eg Standford University )

FORUMS, subject matter forums will help you a lot after you have basic level of knowledge.

BLOGS, there are people around waiting for you to share their knowledge!

TOOL DOCUMENTATIONS, if you want to learn about a tool or system, their own documentation is the best start point. (eg. IBM RedBooks)

How to start learning? If you know what you want to learn, sources like above will help you. If you do not have any idea what the topic is about, then do not hesitate to start with writing  "what is ...?" to your browser. Probably this question will take you to Wikipedia. Then you will have a general idea and get correct key words to search which will lead you better and trustable sources. If you are learning a tool or sytem the secret question is "how to ....?". This question will take you subject matter forums and you will probably find someobe who asked the same question and get answer. If not, why do not you ask?

If you want to learn something and trust yourself that you can do that, there are vast of sources waiting for you outside.

Live the pleasure of self-learning ;)

Is your mask ready?

Professional life is not a place where you can express your feelings. Not the good ones, never the bad ones...


You might be  very happy about something in your personal life or you might be worrying about health of your family members. In any case, you should not be seem as your mind is somewhere else. Suppressing all personal feelings and being focused on the job is not always easy. However, you should be ready to smile or to look like serious all the time and never forget to control your anger.

But how?


The perfect mask in the world is 'smiling' which is like the opposite of all bad feelings. Smiling makes you and the people you are communicating feel comfortable. When you feel comfortable you will be more result oriented and more convincing.

On the other hand anger is the most harmful feeling that can break all relations. And the one which is difficult to control. You might get angry with your colleague, your client, management, the man in restaurant... When they notice your anger, everything start to go worse. So close your eyes just for a 2-3 seconds, focus on smiling, wear your precious mask and focus on your job!

Never forget your mask at home!

fresh advice to job seekers

Not to just get offer but to feel better...

 It is almost 1 year since I have started to my proffesional career and I want to share my 'new graduate job seek' experiences before I forgot. I also want to remember them in future :)

I do not know exactly how many applications I did, how many analytical exams I took, how much travel, how many interviews, how many failures, how many wins... and how many total hours spent on this process. But thankfully a correct decision ;)

I know that it is really hard for a new graduate or for a senior university student to know deeply about the outcomes of a job title. And if you are living in a country like Turkey, where the education system does not really comply with the job market, you are in an ocean without a compass other than your expectations and feelings.

I am talking about the 'outcomes' of a job title, not the accountable benefits of a job. You can measure and compare the benefits of jobs but what really matters is the 'outcome'. Your job affects your life style, your habits, your colleagues, future friends, where you eat, how you look like, what you talk about... And I can imagine that after a while your job defines 'who you are?'. Do you want to introduce yourself with how much you earn? Hopefully not... Then, it is much better to be an idealist.

First of all, if you really want to work and not extremely lazy, you will find a job so feel comfortable. Maybe it is not your dream job, maybe it is not so quick but at the end you are not unemployed! Do not forget to 'trust yourself'.

About the process

#1: Start as much as early because you will learn a lot about business life during interviews and even by watching people while you are waiting for the interview so go early to interviews. Do not wait untill graduation!

#2: If you do not have any idea about where to work, apply different sectors, different departments and try to find out which fits you more. After you decide on something (e.g. you want to work in a technological environment), narrow down your search criteria. If you continue to apply all kind of positionts till the end, you might be in trouble at decision stage.

#3: Never forget that this is a two-way evaluation process! You are not a guilty and interviewers are not judging you. They are trying to know you so you should also try to know them. If they fails in your interview, do not hesitate to reject the offer.

About the decision

#1: Think about what kind of life you want. You will spent most of your time at work. And how busy your work will have an affect on your remaining time. If you do not want to work more than 8 hours a day or do not want to travel, it is not so appropriate to be a consultant. If you want to be away from stress, it is not a good idea to work as procurement manager of a big factory. If you want to work in an office rather than outside, sales might not be your job. If you want to use your own creativity, accounting is not a good choice...

#2: Think about your 'likes' and ' hates'. If the tie is your enemy, what is the point to work in a bank! If you want to wear fancy clothes at work, being a civil engineer will not provide you. If you hate coffee, it will be a nightmare to work in a coffee shop...

#3: Think about what kind of people you want to work. People will have a huge affect on how much you like your job. I do not know any statistics for that but what I observed is people who are not happy at work, mostly complain about their managers.

You should have some criteria while deciding. You know yourself better than anyone. Do not value so much the entrance salary. You might think that it will increase more but if you do not like your job, you will not be able to perform well enough.

Never ignore your feelings, they will tell you more than you expect.

rhythm makes you more productive

The problem is not doing the same thing but missing the beat... 

All of us might get bored doing the same tasks everyday and this might cause decrease in our motivation and even lead us to change our job. Unfortunately, if you cannot hear the rhythm in every small task, any job will start to sing the same boring song after a while.

"Getting used to" is one of the most fascinating talents of human kind. When we get used to something, we do not need our brain anymore, our spinal cord can handle it. Don't worry, your brain will start-up again if you make a mistake.

Wawwww!!!

So we are ready for new and simultaneous tasks.

If you are not so good at catching the rhythm in your job, you can start with the basic rule: putting in order!

Multitasking is perceived as a skill by many people but if you cannot manage it efficiently, it turns into a chaos and becomes the main reason of your unproductivity. If you are seesawing between tasks, your brain needs some time in each shift. Like machine set-up time, which is unproductive. If you are not an expert at multitasking, do not take risk of having multiple pending tasks at the end of the day! Instead, schedule your tasks and enjoy checking out your to do list one by one (you already have one right?). Do not forget that people care about deliverables not just the effort.

Be aware that simple everyday tasks are also tasks!

You need to clean your inbox, reply mails remain since last week, have coffee :) (Really it is a task!)... Give place to these unseen tasks in your melody. Otherwise, they will act as dirty noises and disturb you whole day.

The main methodology is dividing your job into small repetitive tasks and even dividing the tasks into small pieces and let your neural system get used to. Be your own boss (!) but you can let your body to be your worker.

Role of people in industrial era is a huge topic to discuss. If you achieve being your own boss, why not to use productive methods of industrial era for yourself?

Modern Times, Charles Chaplin