Trial and Error

Many experts recommend the use of trial and error in a person's life. Trial and error could be used to figure out what sports and physical activities you enjoy most, what career is best for you, what diet works best for you, and so on (more examples provided in this article by A. Lord:  https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/trial-error-method-success-andre-lord). You are expected to move from option to option before figuring out what is best. When an option doesn't work, that trial could be viewed as an unsuccessful attempt or fail. 

Looking back on my life, I realize that there was some trial and error. I was willing to try new things and make mistakes (this reminds me of Facebook's motto: Move fast and break things -- now changed as explained in this article by I. A. Hamilton: https://www.businessinsider.com/meta-mark-zuckerberg-new-values-move-fast-and-break-things-2022-2). I even had jobs that involved experimentation (these posts provide additional information: https://fahmeenaodetta.blogspot.com/2024/01/tough-jobs.html and https://fahmeenaodetta.blogspot.com/2024/01/paper-i-submitted-for-publishing.html). So it follows that there were some surprises and mistakes in my career.

Thankfully, I have had many successes in my career and life. For example, I moved forward during primary school (more information on my childhood performance here: https://fahmeenaodetta.blogspot.com/2024/02/childhood-performance.html). I had success preparing diagrams at school and work (more information here: https://fahmeenaodetta.blogspot.com/2022/06/diagramming.html and https://fahmeenaodetta.blogspot.com/2023/09/memory.html). I had success identifying conflicting information and resolving issues (more information: https://fahmeenaodetta.blogspot.com/2022/11/resolving-issues.html). I handle stress well (more information: https://fahmeenaodetta.blogspot.com/2024/01/strengths.html).

I recommend trial and error. However, at this point in my life I do not want to be trying new things continually. I have a lot of experience under my belt and figured out a lot. I believe I know what would work for me.

Career Diversification

For some, diversification (of jobs/career) is a strategy for job security.

"... [A]nalysts' choice to diversify is rooted in concerns about future job security. We find that more diversified analysts are less likely to experience job turnover and leave the profession but are not more likely to advance their careers."

- Journal article IS DIVERSIFICATION A JOB SAFETY NET FOR SELL-SIDE ANALYSTS?, 2020, By Vadim S. Balashov and Zhanel B. DeVides
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jfir.12219

I also found an old (2014) article that touted diversification....

"In the age of diversification, you need to have multiple sources of income and the best way to accomplish that is by having an entrepreneurial mindset."

- Are You Ready For The Age Of Career Diversification?
By Dan Schawbel, Forbes
https://www.forbes.com/sites/danschawbel/2014/01/10/are-you-ready-for-the-age-of-career-diversification/?sh=a738d5754cab

Posts On Journal Articles

I found some interesting journal articles that informed me of issues and made me think of "possibilities." I wrote about them in LinkedIn. Here are the posts:

Post 1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My issue today: automation. Just yesterday, I wrote that systems will be assisting with the creation of diagrams in software development (see post: https://fahmeenaodetta.blogspot.com/2022/07/change.html). In past jobs, I have been praised for diagrams I created. I understand why people would resist automation.

I did not realize that automation is an issue for hand hygiene. I found an article that argues: "Human observation is the gold standard for measuring compliance, but its utility is increasingly being questioned with calls for the use of video monitoring approaches" (see article here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0196655322001511). This seems like a valid argument.

Did you see my proposal for a study on hand hygiene compliance monitoring and its effects on performance and employee satisfaction? Two of the research questions are:

RQ1: Do technology solutions that monitor hand hygiene compliance result in improved employee performance in the short-term because employees develop the habit of cleaning/washing their hands (i.e. is there a steady increase in performance that peaks at a certain level – performance follows an asymptotic curve)?

RQ2: What is the longer-term performance impact of implementing a technology solution that monitors hand hygiene compliance, i.e. the performance impact after 1 year and beyond (after 3, 4, 5 years etc.)?

Read it here: https://w.taskstream.com/ts/moore783/SignatureAssignmentProposalMonitoring.html/acf5e6eq00akfcfkf7e8edfefl

#automation #handhygiene #videomonitoring #research #phdresearch #healthcare


Post 2

This journal article provides valuable information on the career decision-making process:

Journal article: Making better career decisions: From challenges to opportunities
By: Itamar Gatia, Viktória Kulcsár
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0001879121000178

#career #decisionmaking #jobs #jobsearch #psychology #technology

 
Post 3

Interesting paper on the effectiveness of a mandatory program for the unemployed in Denmark:

Journal article: How to help unemployed find jobs quickly: Experimental evidence from a mandatory activation program
By: Brian Krogh Graversen, Jan C. van Ours
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0047272708000777

#unemployedtraining #unemployment #hr #job