I’m an instructional designer. It’s a relatively new position for me. Previous to shifting to ISD, I was a computer network/systems support engineer, programmer, and website developer. A few years ago I decided I needed a career shift and started my journey back through university and into the world of learning and development. While I’m in the early stages of this new career and I’m certain I will never stop learning or become an expert in all aspects of ISD, I do have days where I think I’m pretty good at what I do.

Today was not one of those days.

After a few years of working with the same clients and training teams, I’ve shifted to different clients and projects over the last few months. I’m struggling with changing my mental models developed through working with the old client. No matter how frustrated I was with some of my co-workers, I was used to the way they did things and learned how to work around the roadblocks they sometimes put in place. While it wasn’t a perfect situation I was good and what I did, comfortable with the requirements of the position, and felt I could hold my own.

The new projects I’m working on are making me doubt my abilities and question whether or not I’m the best person to be working on this team. I feel like the weakest link on a team of all-stars. That said, I wouldn’t want to give up this opportunity to work with these individuals. I have learned so much from them in the few short weeks I’ve been working on this project. Despite the occasional feeling of floundering (today it was an 8 hour session) I am being inspired to work harder, search out the information I need to come up-to-speed quickly, and bring something of value to the table during our meetings.

Have I mentioned lately that I love my job?

Technorati Tags: ID, ISD, instructional design, mental models

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