Should I go to school or learn Service Design on the job?

I've heard a very interesting take on that question from Chancler Haynes on The Editing Podcast. Chancler is working in the film industry as an editor.

He has helped produce music videos for people like Taylor Swift, Mariah Carey, or Nicki Minaj.

Extract from the Editing Podcast

There's been arguments on both sides. Mm-hmm. Where again, let's just say with going to a film university, they're gonna give you some very interesting lessons that you probably would never learn of experienced. But in also with experience, you also probably have lessons at Film University would never teach you.

you get accepted to a school, I say take that opportunity and learn what you can. Mm-hmm. But don't pass up the opportunity to learn, you know, on the job. Cause that's like the real deal. I mean, these teachers probably have a lot of good information that they've learned, but the people you're working with have actually like, done some things recently.

So they're both kind of a blessing, you know? If you get an opportunity to take one, take one. There is no wrong answer I think, and it's always, no matter which road you go down, it's gonna land on you. You can get like the best job in the industry, but if you're don't have the right attitude or if you do something and mess it up, then you're not gonna work again.

You can have the best college education, but if you don't have the go-getter nature to go and try and find work afterwards, you can't use that knowledge you learned.

My two cents

You will not make a mistake. If you decide to learn Service Design in a school or in a university. And you will also not make a mistake, if you prefer to learn in the job.

Curiosity

What's important is that you have to curiosity mindset that will help you to learn in both of these environments.

In school, what you will need the curiosity to try things out and to find places where you can practice.

When you're learning Service Design on the job, you will need the curiosity to go beyond the practice.

You'll need to look: what's the history of the tool that I just learned.

You'll need to research how do other people outside of my company do the same work that I do.

Opportunity

If you're in a country like Finland, where there is a lot of opportunities to learn Service Design in schools and universities, maybe learning Service Design in school is a great path.

But maybe you are in a country where there is no formal education in Service Design. And you might not have the possibility to change country just for education. Then obviously learning Service Design in the job will be the best opportunity for you.

The two mindset shifts

So there are a few mindset shifts that we have to consider when we think about this question of school or in the job learning.

The first one is where do I have more opportunities?

And the second one is what's the right type of curiosity that I can apply to complement that way of learning?

Going further

You can watch the full episode of the Editing Podcast on Youtube to watch the full conversation: