How does one evolve from being a nonchalant aspiring student (who is on a break) to start posing as a serious individual who has an objective in life which magically coincides with the vision of a multinational commercial organisation? in other words, how can one change from a student who did not get absorbed into a high paying job to a self proclaimed highly educated job seeker? again in other words, how can one do a masters degree? more precisely in a top university or a foreign university or even better, top foreign university?
Why do we even try and educate ourself? Having to know something at an expense of years of dedication cannot be the reason, is it because only then you can be considered as an individual who can contribute to make a bunch of share holders rich? (get employed I mean), or someone can find you smart enough to convert an idea into a reality? (get employed in a start-up), basic requirement to be considered in a measurement scale used to grade a certain age group? or just because everyone else is doing it? in my case it was because everyone else was doing it, then it manifested itself to be in the scale, slowly I started dreaming of being somewhere high up on the scale so I could be considered by some people who want to be respected as much as psychiatrists and get paid more than engineers who can make world class and life saving products, but work....I mean that word probably doesn't exist in their dictionary, just like the word "impossible" doesn't exist in a motivational speaker's dictionary. So to put it in simple terms and pick again from the top, I wanted to be considered by certain Human Resource experts working for multi national companies for making some share holders rich. Never I ever wanted to work in a Start-up, god no, I don't like underfunded, pay by yourself, struggling organisations which cant pay you until they start making profit which is expected after 3 years of you working and sacrificing.
I found myself after I thought to have been educated enough working in a multinational organisation alright, but at a level which paid me enough to have a lavish lifestyle for not 1 but 2 full hours. Some of my friends had joined these underfunded organizations called start-ups. Go when you want to go, no strict rules or regulations, wear what you want to wear, no corporate device (can you believe they were not using dell laptops? they were using apple devices bought by their parents....wow, no man should have so much of a pleasure), no travel policy, very liberal sexual harassment policy, but the only drawback was being paid not always on the last day of the month but may be a day or week later. I always wondered why would you need a holiday when every day you work seems like a holiday, some even started working out of public Wifi available in a coffee shop as they show in movies. I wondered more, did I make a bad deal? chose the path of making the rich even richer instead of helping to destroy dreams and idea of few, come on, seriously think about it, very few start-ups become successful and get absorbed by rich established companies, some might become even more successful and decline an offer or two before they get a third best offer, the rest shut doors and ask their employees who have apple devices to talk their parents to believe in their idea and invest, we know what happens after that. No I think I cant go back to my parents asking for funding some great idea, no I couldn't have continued which just 2 hours of lavish lifestyle, so I made the most novel choice, get educated more, lets get a higher degree.
Do you know the hardest part of choice, its not really about making one, someone with a normal brain which can think rationally can make one, its knowing what are the choices. I had 2, study in my own country which has very few top rated universities as compared to the aspirants or do it in a university which is in a more developed country. For a very intelligent person who has always been on top of the grading scale the choice was obvious and that was to enroll into a top university in your own country, but that was not me, I robbed my parents of all the luxuries and left to meet the queen. I made it all the way to the airport, in it the check-in counter and then the security check, stopped there for a few minutes after being touched. My carry on baggage was opened, the officers were very curious to know why I wanted to hijack the airplane as they already found my weapon, Chili powder. People tell you to listen to your heart when it starts to contradict your brain. In my case my brain was contradicting my brain, heart was simply doing it’s job of pumping blood. I had an option of pursuing my education in a field which could make me get a high paying job or no job at all, second option being a job for sure but a low paying one. I was the one willing to take risks, I had to catapult my career and wanted to have a lavish life for more than 2 hours, I knew if I work a bit hard I can land myself in a high paying job, so the selection became quite clear mid air and I changed my decision. Yes, mid air.
Once landed, I knew the queen would be in the arrivals waiting to greet me, sure she will, I had robbed my parents of their luxuries, can’t she do that much? Well anyway she was their, not by herself but the entire set of people were of the same age group and were dressed pretty similar. That’s what I call an effort. I was coming from a country with median age 28 to a country which has median age 40. At 28 I wanted to be a guy having a job, that’s it. Yes, the choice I made mid air was to pick the field in which I could just get a job, I was not willing to work a bit hard. At 40 I wanted to be a guy who repented that decision. The airport was not willing to let me go with out saying it’s goodbye, the authorities wanted to know me a bit better, of course one can’t blame them after all I was meeting the queen. 3 hours of very interesting 2 way discussions we had made up our opinions, he had a funny accent and for him I was not the one helping to get a medal. We part our ways and I had to take the next bus to a different city, remember I changed the decision to not work harder, that changed the course of study, university and the city.
Yes, I’m now the guy who has taken the first step to be a foreign educated, highly skilled, very eligible candidate for the next hiring manager to pick. Need a room to stay, need to find my way to the university, explore the facilities that the university offers, check out the library, laboratories, canteen, make new friends, understand different cultures, so much to do. Set aside all these important things which are related to why you are there and get yourself a part time job is all that I did. Providing education, facilities, etc comes naturally as a package when your parents have paid for it, you really don’t have to worry about it. Utilizing them to your advantage is your job, time will come for it. A part time job gives you that financial freedom, you can go to a bar, you can bet on football games, loan your friends some money (that’s how you make friends), all these important things in life have to be prioritized, not that room filled with books or laboratories. For the next few months one juggles between fun and guilt till a balance is found. You have reached the end, patience has been tested, can’t sit in that classroom anymore, can’t see those faces trying to teach you anymore, can’t see those faces which understand everything that’s being taught, anymore. Your are half way through. This is exactly the point when you really need to choose between being an interesting person liked by people around or “I still don’t know the other guy”. Choose your subjects, tip the scale of guilt vs fun, spend more time in those rooms filled with books, wear funny clothes time to time and talk like you know something for some days and that’s it, you have that piece of paper called certificate. “I still don’t know the other guy”, maybe it was me or at least hope so as I don’t have any friends from my university. Sure they are planning a surprise as I always thought I was the interesting person liked by all who is not repenting but wondering his choices at the age of 40.