Gary Swanson graduated from Westminster College a little over 20 years ago. Swanson majored in telecommunications, which in our modern world basically means broadcast communications. After college Swanson didn’t stray too far away from the campus, eventually landing a job in Westminster’s Audio Visual department.
In my interview with Swanson he mentions troubleshooting as one of the biggest skills he picked up as a telecommunications major. After about five seconds on my computer before it froze, I couldn’t agree more. Technology is always breaking. I cannot count the number of hours and nights I have wasted away bent over trying to figure out what has gone wrong with some piece of equipment I own.
I can only think back to my time spent traveling with the remote TV crew, filming the college football games. No matter what, it was guaranteed that something was going to go wrong. I don’t care if it had to deal with two-legged tripods, or dealing with kinked wires, something always went wrong. But no matter what, the game got on the air.
Identifying and solving problems is an essential aspect of being a successful broadcaster. But more than that, it is skill required for any kind of job. Employers do not want someone who is going to fall apart when something goes wrong. Employers want people who can get things done, when they need them done.
Swanson is currently the director of Westminster’s Audio Visual Services. Part of his job involves not only incorporating new technology into the classroom, but also dealing with the multitude of problems that inevitably go along with that new technology. Being able to critically think things through is so essential to thriving in a workplace of any kind.
So maybe the next time I’m in the news room and the printer won’t print out my scripts, I will not freak out. Maybe I will instead stop and say, I am glad this happened. Knowing how to deal with this kind of annoyance might help land me my first job.
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