If there is one activity I truly enjoy, apart from my work as a composer, it is sharing knowledge and experiences with students at the different educational centers where I teach.

Contact with youth, their eagerness to learn, their enthusiasm, and their energy force us to reflect and constantly renew ourselves since, of course, the teacher does not know everything. But it is our obligation, leaning on our experience, to help each of our students find their place within the labor market of the music industry.

After a few days of class, you can sense different profiles in the students: you observe who has the “ON” button activated, who will probably always function intermittently, the student who is in a constant short circuit, and the one who is still looking for their button.

The key factor for success

Many students believe that to be an excellent sound design professional, they only need to know how to design better than the rest, and to be composers, they must have all the knowledge of composition, orchestration, harmony, etc.

These students will reach the professional world with a lot of knowledge and information, but with almost zero or very little experience regarding what a real working relationship is.

In a real professional environment, even above this knowledge, attitude is the key factor. A multiplier that is essential for good job development, along with understanding one’s own role within each project.

The Dunning-Kruger effect

A few years ago, I read about the Dunning-Kruger effect for the first time:

The Dunning-Kruger effect is a cognitive bias whereby individuals with low ability or knowledge suffer from an illusory feeling of superiority, considering themselves more intelligent than other more prepared people, incorrectly measuring their ability above reality.

It would be like football spectators commenting on the team coach’s decisions, or self-medicating without considering the long career of our GP (General Practitioner).

There are those who tell their students that they have had incredible training—a postgraduate degree, a master’s, even a doctorate—and that they are perfectly prepared for the working world; but they don’t explain that it is equally or more important to be a good colleague, committed to the environment (because, without wishing to make moral judgments, a “bad person” is NEVER a good professional).

We do not give enough importance to the fact that they should not be constantly complaining, creating a bad atmosphere. Nor do we help them be aware that a good professional anticipates the needs of their company and that one should not confuse development and evolution in the workplace with trying to displace those colleagues with whom you must cooperate and form a well-integrated team. That anxiety and rushing are not good traveling companions, and that the commitment to a company that bets on paying a good salary to a young worker without experience should be bidirectional.

And this is where our responsibility as educators comes in: we must activate the self-critical attitude of these students and show them the importance of putting into operation the different intelligences they possess (especially intra-personal and interpersonal).

Of course, it is not about instilling a paralyzing fear that could delay the entry into the labor market for the more “conscious” students, but rather about showing the tools that can help them trust their strengths and become aware of the weaknesses they need to reinforce, as it is always a bit colder outside the educational center and we will all always have a lot left to learn.

Dani Trujillo.