Learning by Doing: it pays to get your hands dirty from day one
It would be fair to say that at What Does Not, we’re anti-vanilla.
We’re interested in the individuals and experiences that shake up the monotony so many professionals settle for, and we want to be part of the action.
That’s why, despite the fact that there are multiple ways to gain knowledge, we have our hearts set on ‘learning by doing’. In other words, we want to learn about the action we want to undertake by attempting to perform it. The secret’s in ‘action.’
The WDN community is packed with creative veterans, who have more than a few war stories under their belts, and our rich tapestry of experience has led us to the conclusion that if you want to learn properly and learn fast, you’ve got to learn by doing: right from the start.
The active element of learning by doing is critical. It’s not a passive way of absorbing information – it gives you crucial muscle memory for all the functions and mechanisms you’ll need, lets you taste the flesh and bones of what it feels like to come up against relevant challenges, and affords you the opportunity to make mistakes (which, as we’ve been told time and time again by everyone from parents to podcasters, is how we learn the really important stuff.)
Learning by doing is valuable because…
It’s more engaging and therefore more memorable: you might walk away from a page of text and never think about those words on the page ever again, but an active experience is much more likely to stick with you because of the feelings of accomplishment, or failure and determination, gained from it.
It’s personal: did you forget that you’re the main character in your story? You’re at the core of the narrative in which you endeavour, struggle, stumble, fail, reflect and eventually succeed and achieve. Plus you get to imbue the experience with your own ideals and concerns, giving it a specific value for your purposes alone.
It’s enmeshed in community: if you learn by doing, the world is your classroom – you work and learn from other people and places, rather than sitting at home alone.
That’s why, for the past 6 years we’ve been working with a number of international internship organisations, taking on students for work placements at what we affectionately call, Basecamp. In this time, we’ve had over 40 interns. And each time we’ve seen these humans transform. But Basecamp is not just for students fresh out of school. We’ve had many ‘grown ups’ join us as they find their feet after a long absence from the workplace, to rebuild their confidence, upskill and add more experience to their CV.
That’s why we call it prep school for adults, in part, because we think you should be able to kick start a new plan or fire up an old dream whenever you like, regardless of age or where you are in your career: we’ll never forget that transferable skills really do matter. WDN is here to bridge the gap between studies or time off work and a new foray into the working world, facilitating a flawless professional pivot.
The Basecamp learning experience is designed to help develop hard skills too, but what makes it really different is the chance it provides to grow in the context of a real working environment. Day-to-day interactions, interpersonal skills, communication practices, priority and workload juggling , collaboration management, relationship building – these are fundamental essentials for thriving at work, but it’s often assumed you have these down pat already, and they’re rarely taught in helpful way.
Luckily, Basecamp is open for applications. If this sounds like something you want to do, let us know. Just make sure you’re ready to roll up your sleeves.
