A.N. Singh’s Point of View: Practical is more important than theory

Studying something and doing the actual job are two different things. You may have the knowledge of a particular activity but lack the experience, and it’s that experience that is needed to succeed in performing the task. Though practical and theory go hand in hand, it’s the practical experience that pays.

Take accounting for example. I studied accounting for one year and found out that the work you learn from text books and online videos isn’t the same at an actual working environment.

Studying from a text book and learning the terminologies and calculations was beneficial, because having that theoretical knowledge was helpful, but using that information in a real environment was not so easy.

Sage accounting was the application programme I studied in college, but I only used the text book and not the programme.

I was given a disc to load the programme on my computer but I never did that, because the exam was not practical.

Though I passed and had the theoretical knowledge, I struggled to work on the programme when I did my internship, because I did not know how to use the programme itself.

Prior to college I got a taste of work experience when I started my first job after high school, and quickly leant that my dream of becoming a manager for a large company wasn’t going to happen.

You can learn the advantages and disadvantage of management, but can you actually mange or supervise a group of people?

Can you deal with all walks of life from different cultural backgrounds with very different personalities?

Can you cope with the stress that people will put on you?

After starting work, my answer to these questions was a resounding ‘NO’ – becoming a manger and supervising staff was not for me.

Though I couldn’t manage and supervise people I learnt an important lesso; to know if something is for you or not, you have to be in the right environment surrounded by the right people.

You need to be around people who know more than you, to learn the job you want to do.

But the thing is, when you are in that situation you learn very quickly if this is the right place for you or not.

You also learn a lot about yourself when you are out of your comfort zone, especially when it’s in a work environment.

If the people you work with refuse to teach you, or don’t teach properly this makes things even more difficult.

You are kept in the dark and have no idea on how to do the job, and a feeling of quitting filters its way inside you.

The practical experience can only be gained at an actual working environment, working with people who are willing to teach you.

That same experience can also help you to understand and remember the job better.

Learning the theoretical aspect of something is different, from the actual practical itself.

You need experience to do the job, it’s that simple. I still today struggle to overcome my fears of putting myself out there to gain the necessary experience, but I think writing this column is a step in the right direction.

I learnt two things after being in an actual working environment, one, practice does make perfect and two, the easy job does not pay.

About the author: A.N. Singh is from Port Shepstone on the South Coast of KwaZulu-Natal. He is currently studying creative writing through Unisa, as writing is his purpose and passion. At the moment he is focusing on on contemporary fiction. His dream is to become a published author one day.