I was in Cape Town recently, visiting family whom I grew very close to whilst studying at UCT several years back. I must admit, it was somewhat nostalgic for me being back reminiscing about my student years – yes, because it brought back memories of my varsity days – the independence of being a student, the hours spent in lecture halls trying to piece together the essence of what I was being taught, lying on the beach or around the pool when I actually should have been at lectures, the inebriated nights stealing road signs and beer glasses to decorate our digs with. And at the same time, the overwhelming indecisions that I encountered throughout my varsity career which, at the time seemed as immense to me as the current market situation is to most investors and bankers and the like.
I suppose that’s why I was so taken aback, when my cousin, aged 18 on the brink of entering into his varsity career next year turned to me and asked, “Jo, how did you decide to study what you did, how did you just know it was the right thing for you?”.
I finished my studies several years back and so my cousin evidently cannot remember the fact that, when I was at UCT, I changed my field of study probably about 3 times- and that’s an estimate.
I started studying Bachelor of Business Science (CA), a request of my dad alongside the fact that it seemed to be what everyone was doing, the ‘It’ Degree. After a year, I decided I was more ‘creative and philosophical’ than accounting, and I changed to B.Com PPE which, after several months of that, was not for me either, and so the changes and indecision went on. I finally ended up studying and graduating with my B.Business Science in Organisational Psychology/Human Resource Management.
This is the field that I have developed my working career in thus far, the mere two and a half/three years that I have been working and hence, probably one of the reasons why I am sitting here writing this article : ). But in essence, I suppose I can still be considered a recent Grad!
I still have days when I wonder if my choice was the right one and question whether or not I should have stuck with my initial Degree of Chartered Accountancy, or something else, as do many people I know. But what I can say is that I love and am enriched by what I do. And that, if you do choose to change fields of study, great! Initiative and knowing what you want are wonderful traits to have - you just need to make sure that it is not to take the easy way out.
What you need to do, is to identify your skills – ask yourself what you are good at, what you enjoy, find out what the market is like out there and what you ideally wanting to achieve.
I suppose that is why this blog has come about. Essentially, to help you, young adults, embarking on or in the midst of your studies, or on the brink of the next step into your working careers, to establish what jobs are out there, what the market is like at any given period and in what industries, and ideally, to assist you in deciding where and in what you want to develop your careers.
I still question it all, as everyone whom I have worked with will vouch for. Once you are working, you will most likely learn and develop more skills in one year of working than from 3 or 4 or 5 or however many years of studying. What studying and completing a Degree or Diploma does however, is that it displays ones capacity to learn, to stick with something until the end and the ability to grasp basic theoretical and practical concepts of a specific field, be it engineering, finance, social science or journalism, management etc etc….
So yes, think carefully in making that final choice. Any questions or uncertainties along the way, ask, enquire, and, embrace it. Give me a shout - I am here to help where I can! Let me know how it goes for you.
I’ll keep you updated my end. But right now, I am getting tired and have work tomorrow. I soo should have written this article sooner and not left it to the last minute, oh the eternal student I am.
Chat soon…
Jodi |