Part Two: 15 Years Service...

Some say that a rolling stone gathers no moss. Some say that one should experience more than one career. Some people convert total career changes throughout their lives. However, it is still regarded as a form of stability to stay on in one workplace for years. So many arguments could be raised for and against this point. One argument could be that a person cannot get another job or promotion or do not have the ability nor the necessary drive to change. In my case I enjoyed the work while change happened all around me. Transition from the old South African government to the new political dispensation caused a lot of transformation in the Higher Education sector. Consequently I had to adapt and subsequently took a number of accredited short courses in continuing education in the Open Learning field at the University of South Africa (UNISA) as well as to gear up my assessor- and moderator qualifications at the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA). Life long learning is the answer to keep abreast with academic and career changes even in the same workplace. One can compare it with a pilot who has to be re-trained on the flight simulator for new generation aircrafts. Technologically development forces everybody to adapt to new ideas and to develop new skills. To cut a long story short, the workplace as well as the world around you changes so fast that one cannot always distinguish between stagnation and development. For example, does it seem standing still in comparison to the high speed of things moving past you or are you experiencing a dormant feeling of immobility like on a flying jet plane. Strapped to your seat while waiting impatiently to get to the other end of the trip? The relativity theory of Einstein seems to help one to understand that everything is relative. Also ones career. Holistically speaking a person still stays the same human being although he or she could have developed a multitude of professional abilities, skills, arts, positions or talents. It still stays exactly the same person. Even age cannot change the “blueprint identity” of the same man or woman into somebody else.