GET YOUR FEET INTO THE FIELD FIRST.
Get to craft your skills, by getting into the field early.
We have moved to risefromcollege.com, you can view this post and new contents by clicking here.
Are you really interested in your career? Do you want to become someone from it? If the answer is yes, let us restart this discussion like this:
There are many things you should be afraid of in your life, but my friend, fear hunger! No matter how inspirational someone can be about fighting hard for your career, don't listen to that person when you are hungry. The first thing in your career path and your life is to make sure you are able to eat, have a place to sleep, and fulfill your necessary responsibilities. This means doing anything you can to make money. Anything outside of these, don’t be fooled, my friend. But wait, this might sound like the opposite of what we wanted to talk about—yes, it is, and it is something you should always keep in mind.
Now, if we have set this clear, let us go back to the answer you gave. If you want to become successful in your career, then as early as possible, by any means you can use, GET YOUR FEET INTO THE FIELD. It can be as an intern, or if you are lucky, as employed with a “shaky” salary, or if you are extremely lucky, with a good salary. But all in all, even if it is a humble beginning, just make sure you are in the field first.
Okay, you are in the field now. The next thing to do is to generate your “skills capital.” Learn as much as possible until you obtain mastery and become an expert. This is not something that can be completed tomorrow; it might even take many years. However, please note that however miserable your entry level is, whatever small salary you have—or no salary at all—never let this prevent you from learning valuable skills while you are in the field. This is what we call apprenticeship, which is another deep dive topic for another day, but the general idea is to take your time to learn and become that ideal expert.
Why focus on becoming good at your job? I may not use many words to describe why, but this will determine how much attention and respect you will get from “stake” holders, how much salary you will have, and where you will work. This is the stage where you will be able to feel prouder of your career, and it is where you will get the most from it. A simple example: just look at the top performers, those who are paid more, those who have done great things—they are the ones who have built up a huge reserve of skills that are rare to get and in high demand. If you focus on becoming good—which is the secret (but a bad secret because it will be hard for you and it will test your patience)—for assurance, I am telling you, NOTHING GOOD WILL BE IGNORED at the end.
If you agree with this, one thing to keep in mind that might make you go to the field late or early is that for some of your needs, you may not need to get them on your own by 100%. If there is an alternative like staying at your parents' or a relative's place, you have got a place to sleep from your friend, or you can walk instead of taking a cab, just do it. In other cases, it might be wiser to do a side hustle to pay the bills while at the same time chasing your career. If there are chances like these, take them, as long as you can go to the site early without worrying much. This brings up to the surface the question: what are your “necessary” needs? The way you define this will determine how fast you can get them and how early you will be able to get into the site.
Lastly, the thing which is our self-imposed drawback as young people is that we crave success as early as possible. We seem to be dissatisfied with less. We give up on our career if it doesn’t give us quick returns. But the huge returns, quite frankly, take time, and if you want it, you have to endure everything. If you don’t want to be late, GET YOUR FEET INTO THE FIELD FIRST.
All the best, finalists, with your soon-to-be new phase of life as non-students.
#moreExposure #buildUpSkills
Written by:
NYANDA MARCO
Explore more content like this at:
https://risefromcollege.substack.com/
Feel free to share if you think someone else would benefit.
To get content like this every Friday, enter your email below and confirm your subscription in the email you'll receive: