Sarah Darwin

Sarah Darwin

perpetual intern

  • London, GB

I like Chinese, Social Media, UX, startups, writing and education.

54 Followers 84 Following 35 Organizations 173 Topics
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  • Sarah Darwin Sarah Darwin liked
    Samuel Gordon

    Samuel Gordon First Year In about Advice, Culture Shifts, Generation Y, Graduates

    I've been thinking recently about "Living to Work" versus "Working to Live". In the early years of your career, people used to accept that you'd be "living to work" - should today's graduates still expect or accept that?
    Show previous 9 comments
    • Alexandra Dewis
      Alexandra Dewis
      Interesting question! Having recently started my career, I expected that I would be "living to work" for the first few months! Although I have found this to be true at times, companies are increasingly putting emphasis on a healthy work-life balance.
    • Helen Martin
      Helen Martin
      I have to say - my career in my twenties I enjoyed so much that I think I fell into the live to work... I was quite ambitious and worked with some great people who also worked hard. I expected that of myself but I wouldn't necessarily expect others to think the same or accept it. It's a good question though of which I am off to ask some friends now...!

    • Rebecca Fay
      Rebecca Fay
      Life is far too short to work to live...obviously not every day is going to be perfect, but I think for me, today's graduates can still expect to be able to live to work....it might not be their first role, but changing one's mind to find a career that genuinely excites I think is to be encouraged.
    • WORKing for YOUth
      WORKing for YOUth
      This is interesting - I think there are 2 contrasting trends going on. Firstly I think Gen Y are being far stricter on what work/ life balance they are prepared to accept. Secondly, and contrasting with this is the blurring between work/ life in many cases now - social media is a prime example - people are never really not working despite the fact they may not be 'at work' -- this is leading to the rise of the 'personal brand' over the 'corporate brand' and is exciting to think where this is goi… Read moreng to lead.
    • First Year In
      First Year In
      hm, interesting thoughts - so maybe it comes back to the idea of what individual graduates want out of their early career? What would be some good pieces of advice?
    • Diana Constantinescu
      Diana Constantinescu
      I would agree with Alexandra and Helen - there is some time during the twenties when we would focus on work more - we have energy, we have aspirations, we want to build our lives and we need bricks! But it's also normal for our strategies to change over time, and later we might wish to focus on other things.
    • Jeanri Bruwer
      Jeanri Bruwer
      As a fairly recent grad, 2010, I want to think it is very much "working to live" in my opinion. I think it is trying to juggle a good work/life relationship as most want to climb up the ladder, however, they also don't want to miss out on a social life. I believe that grads these days should still expect "living to work" to be the case, but its an individual's choice whether or not they accept that.
    • Chris Martin
      Chris Martin
      I think that living to work is an important mindset... To put this into context, sure we should have outside interests whether they be family or hobbies, but we spend most of our weeks "working", and that "work" should be something we find inspirational, motivating, challenging and rewarding. As we will be living longer, and need to "work" for more years to support our non-working years, we may need to find new careers or opportunities that stimulate us in our later years as much as when we sta… Read morerted out as fresh new grads. Living to work means we have a passion for our work. It does not have to mean we become anti-social, obsessed and work ourselves to burnout and then die....
    • Irina Elyzabeth
      Irina Elyzabeth
      I completely agree with you Chris. For me whenever I'm really passionate about my work I don't even feel it like "work" anymore. And that's a problem too because the ones around me don't feel what I feel, they just see that I'm working a lot and they might think at one point that I'm workaholic. I think you are workaholic when you work too much irrespective of how much you like it. Or not?...
    • Maja Obucina
      Maja Obucina
      Reading this great and fascinating topic, I wonder if the question underneath all questions here is "Where are the powers of influence?"?
      In my experience businesses hire likeminded people. After all we spend most of our awake hours with our co-workers so good recruitment will hire people who will fit into (and compliment) the culture of an organisation so that shared time is spent in harmony.
      So I'd say the power of graduates to choose their ideal work/career lifestyle lies in turning the t… Read moreables around - be the hunter, not the hunted. In other words, pick your employer in a way that you feel REALLY excited about what they do and then be very clear (articulate) about what you bring to the table (and make sure it's very appealing to the employer) and then confidently ask for your terms and conditions in return. Enthusiasm for what they do coupled with confidence (i.e. you know what you need in order to perform well) can be a winning formula.
    • UK Broadband
      UK Broadband
      Hi Samuel. I agree with Maja. Employer - employee is a partnership; both parties should be flexible in order to achieve success, growth, keep ahead of the competition whether this is for the organisation or on an individual basis.

  • Sarah Darwin in Languages

    Is there right ways and wrong way to learn a language? Many people are very passionate about identifying a 'wrong' way and dismissing other peoples' language learning methodologies.

    The author of this article in the Washington Post does that - she argues against the learning strategy of a man who's learned 4 foreign languages:

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/the-wrong-and-right-way-to-learn-a-foreign-language/2012/06/16/gJQAK2xBhV_blog.html

    It would be interesting to know what your experience was of learning a foreign language. Did you have a learning method? What do you think are the right and wrong methods?

    For my, I was terrible at languages at school. Year later in China, a colleague relentlessly made sure I memorised characters every day and recited children's poetry. I didn't use materials for non-… Read morenative learners for a couple of years. I suppose these methods were 'wrong', but now my Chinese is pretty good. So I think any method is 'good' as long as you stick to it.

    Any opinions?
    • The wrong and right way to learn a foreign language
      The wrong and right way to learn a foreign language

      This was written by linguist Stephen Krashen, professor emeritus at the University of Southern California, is an educational researcher and activist. He has written hundreds of articles and books in the fields of second language acquisition, bilingual education, and reading.

    • Bob Kane
      Bob Kane
      Please have Sarah take a refresher course in English composition. It may make the transition to Mandarin Chinese a bit easier.
    • Serena Rizzo
      Serena Rizzo
      My linguistic professor used to emphasize on the effectiveness of comprehensible input.
      I agree on that but I would also add that motivation makes it easier to learn a language, just like everything else.
      For example, I go to dance festivals (that last about a week) in Sweden only twice a year and I now speak basic Swedish (I have been going for 4 years now and intend to go again in the future).
      I think that what helped me was my full immersion with the culture and a genuine interest in crea… Read moreting a community with the people I danced with.
    • Sarah Darwin Sarah Darwin liked and commented on
      Adam Swash

      Adam Swash Sarah Darwin

      HI Sarah, Welcome to the WORKing for YOUth community - I am one of the community helpers. Let me know if you have any questions. Adam
    • Sarah Darwin Sarah Darwin liked
      Gautam Ghosh

      Gautam Ghosh in Job Search Strategy, Career Networking, Career Success

      As always, contrarian advice from Penelope :)
      • How to choose a new career | Penelope Trunk Blog
        How to choose a new career | Penelope Trunk Blog

        It was a big decision whether we should do reality TV. Since mostly only people with crazy, falling-apart lives do reality TV, I realized that to feel good about doing the show, I'd have to think about it as a job. Otherwise I couldn't justify spending so much time on it.

    • Sarah Darwin in Presentation Skills

      You don't need to be a designer to have great-looking and effective slides:

      http://zachholman.com/posts/slide-design-for-developers/
      • Slide Design for Developers
        Slide Design for Developers

        So I gave this talk called How GitHub Uses GitHub to Build GitHub. Someone submitted my slides to Hacker News, where it stayed at #1 for most of the day. This was pretty strange to me at first. My slides are not designed for people who didn't see the talk in person.

      Show previous comment
      • Jeanri Bruwer
        Jeanri Bruwer
        looked at this post and I agree with Charlie - http://www.colourlovers.com/ has a lovely array of colour templates! definitely having a look for future presentations
      • Ken Polotan
        Ken Polotan
        Great post, Sarah. I am passionate about business presentation and help my clients craft the right message. This is where I also leverage my storytelling skills as a filmmaker. You might also want to check out www.duarte.com. I'm a big fan of her.

      • Sarah Darwin in Entrepreneurship

        I've been getting into Pirate Metrics. It's a great way of monitoring and improving the customer life cycle for tech startups. Dave McClure is a joy to watch too.

        The short talk: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irjgfW0BIrw

        The slides: http://www.slideshare.net/dmc500hats/startup-metrics-for-pirates-long-version

        The long talk: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/5336115
        • Sarah Darwin Sarah Darwin liked and commented on
          Sarah Darwin

          Sarah Darwin BraveNewTalent

          Very cool video predicting the things that are going get replaced by technology within the next 6 years - including classroom learning and traditional homework.

          Do you agree with their predictions, or are they going a bit too far?


          http://www.socialtalent.co/resources/?p=5429
          • The New Socialnomics video from Erik Qualman | Social Talent
            The New Socialnomics video from Erik Qualman | Social Talent

            If video killed the radio star then the iPod has put half of the film, tv and music industry out of business! Here's the latest excellent video from Erick Qualman, author of Socialnomics and the guy behind that hugely popular social media video!

          Show previous 2 comments
          • Adam Swash
            Adam Swash
            Don't forget they predicted the paperless office 20 years ago!
          • Sarah Darwin
            Sarah Darwin
            Ah, we're almost at the paperless office stage I reckon. You?
          • Adam Swash
            Adam Swash
            The most sage comment we received on our research project at the time was: " I am more likely to find a paperless toilet than I am a paperless office" and I reckon that is as true today as it was then
          • Sarah Darwin
            Sarah Darwin
            Ha! God forbid (the toilet).

        • Sarah Darwin in Presentation Skills

          Can speaking in a low voice command more authority? According to this article, research says yes it can. Are you convinced?

          http://bps-research-digest.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/want-to-feel-more-powerful-do-barry.html
          • Charlie Elise Duff
            Charlie Elise Duff
            I totally believe in this!
          • Ken Polotan
            Ken Polotan
            Interestingly enough, communication is probably 70%-80% non-verbal. It's not so much what we say but how we say it.
          • Sarah Darwin Sarah Darwin liked
            Jimmy Kyriacou

            Jimmy Kyriacou @LegalTrainee by Eversheds LLP

            Great to see this article in Lawyer2B - good work Izzy!
            • Job hunting in the Twitter age | News | Lawyer2b
              Job hunting in the Twitter age | News | Lawyer2b

              Social media is not the only way to get a job but it can certainly help. There is an undeniable movement in this direction and I'd urge anyone ignoring it, not to. From a recruitment perspective, some sectors now ask for your LinkedIn profile rather than CV.

            Show previous comment
            • Charlie Elise Duff
              Charlie Elise Duff
              Great article! I wish more companies would speak about how they can persuade the rest of their companies to reap the benefits of social especially for this kind of programme!
          • Sarah Darwin Sarah Darwin liked and commented on
            Sarah Darwin

            Sarah Darwin BraveNewTalent

            Learning in an institution VS learning by doing. Very interesting post on http://www.jamesaltucher.com/":

            IS AN MBA WORTH IT?

            Someone on facebook just asked me this

            ANSWER:

            NO. I specifically said to him, “If you go for an MBA I’m going to hunt you down and kill you”

            - why take 2 years off from this exciting and fast moving job market.

            - 2 years is like 20 Internet generations

            - why get $100k in debt? (the world of tutions is a LOT different than even ten years ago)

            - A “Marketing” class in a business school is taught by a guy who got his PhD 10 years ago. Real marketing is done by people who are using marketing tools invented yesterday

            - “Investing” is only learned by experience

            - “Management” is learned by leading people and failing the first few times.

            - “Sales” is learned by having the passion to sell… Read moresomething you love.

            - There’s no such thing as “business”. There’s such a thing as making people’s lives better. Figure out how to do that and you won’t need business school.

            - A school is a business. An MBA was just another way to create a skew. It turned out to be a “screw” but most people don’t learn that until it’s in the wrong hole.
            • Altucher Confidential
              Altucher Confidential

              Every Thursday from 3:30-4:30 EST I do a Q&A session on Twitter. I answer right then but take some of the questions and expand further into a blog post. If you have any additional answers for the people, PLEASE answer them in the comments. I am sure they will appreciate.

            Show previous 8 comments
            • Sarah Darwin
              Sarah Darwin
              An even more cutting anti-postgraduate education post, this one from Penelope Trunk's blog. Many of her points are absolutely spot on.

              http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2012/04/10/when-to-leave-grad-school-off-your-resume/
            • Andi B
              Andi B
              How do you feel about undergraduate education? Most of the points you make (debt, time out of work, lack of direct applicability) apply to most undergraduate courses as well.
              The true value of an undergraduate degree on your CV is not normally the intrinsic value gained by studying (there are specific counterexamples of course) but instead the fact that studying marks you out as an intelligent and usually hard-working person. It all comes back to the Education Signalling model. I would suggest… Read more the same is true for MBA study.
            • Charlie Elise Duff
              Charlie Elise Duff
              Andi B - thanks for your comment! That's a really good point. I agree we are also facing the same question in undergraduate study. A lengthy course does require commitment and dedication, but I'm sure this can be demonstrated in other ways. However I have heard (anecdotal evidence only I'm afraid!) that those without a degree often find it hard to get certain roles - such as those in larger companies where a degree - in anything - is 'required'. I hope that this practice will become less common … Read moreand that there will be no formal educational barrier - after all, higher education whichever way you look at it is not free and a pre-entry requisite degree could mean only those who can afford can apply, regardless of their work experience and skills.
            • Sarah Darwin
              Sarah Darwin
              Hi Andi
              Just for the record, I'm not the writer of the original piece, it's from James Altucher's blog. However I do, by and large, agree with his and Penelope Trunk's viewpoints.

              As it happens, I was asking myself the same question about undergraduate courses. I do think that undergraduate course are very useful as most (British) unis are really hands-off and it's up to the individual to manage their own time, usually at the same time as living independently for the first time and dealing w… Read moreith budgeting, cooking, bills etc. Furthermore, on some degrees you are encouraged to use more independent thinking and research, rather than the more constrained exam-focussed study at school. As a result, uni makes a good transition.

              Moreover, as Ken Robinson said in his well know "schools kill creativity" talk, there has been a kind of educational inflation, whereby now an undergrad degree is seen as a basic qualification.

              Still, with the crippling debt that degrees will be incurring in Britain with the new fees, I'd say vocational courses should be a viable alternative as an 'educational transition period' into adulthood, or that many degrees should be condensed into two years.

              So the brief answer it, undergrad degrees are useful, but shouldn't be necessary, but sadly they are for most jobs. As for postgraduate courses- generally not useful except for some specific career paths and companies.
            • Andi B
              Andi B
              Hi again, I completely agree that postgraduate education is not useful except for in some career paths. But wouldn't the fact that somebody wishes to study and MBA be a good indicator that they wish to follow one of the career paths that it does matter in?
              Just as you say that an undergraduate qualification has become a prerequisite for many roles (rightly or wrongly), hasn't a MBA become a de facto prerequisite for some roles too, particularly in the finance industry?
            • Sarah Darwin
              Sarah Darwin
              Valid point. And in my somewhat limited knowledge of the finance industry there are two main reasons for people to do MBAs: to get a better job in a traditional and hierarchical bank or for networking. In those cases it's probably a necessary step that will pay off. But a higher qualification without experience in any field is probably of less value than experience without a higher qualification. I'm not sure that a willingness to study an MBA or other higher qualification is of much merit as ge… Read moretting into uni and studying is, in many cases, much easier that doing real stuff and achieving real success in the outside world. But this is all based on my own experience and sphere of acquaintances, what does it look like from your angle?
            • BraveNewTalent
              BraveNewTalent
              Great discussion guys! :-)
            • Devender Bisht
              Devender Bisht
              Great Stuff!!
            • Sarah Darwin
              Sarah Darwin
              More on this topic. According to the Wall Street Journal, degrees can also sabotage you future family life though a burden of debt.

              http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304818404577350030559887086.html
            • Peter Buckley
              Peter Buckley
              When I started my own business some 8 years ago with a then partner, he was hell bent on a prestigious degree. He upped after 5 months and went to Cambridge, leaving me, at least temporarily, without the highly technical skills required to win business.
              He went to the school of extremely bright folks ,who I am sure debated well and stretched each others egos and intellect - I had to survive and grow the business. I did. Luckily he had signed over the company before he left. Upon returning 1.5… Read more years later he “suggested” he “deserved” 40 percent equity in the business (thus the “ego" comment) and this with our returning to work in it! He obviously had learned nothing (I think a lot less) more from his Lufthansa case studies than I did from some painful sleepless nights and a relatively inexpensive and very experienced business coach.

          • Training to be a social media jedi, London

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