I miss college
Another brilliant day filled with laughter & sunshine here in my office. Yes I am being ironic.
I don't think I'm cut out for working in industry at all.If only research & development weren't so completely stunted in the Arab world. What I miss most about college is the constant learning & exploration. It's having to struggle with 5 completely new courses every semester. When you leave college & come to work in industry you're hired in a certain position to do a certain type of work & then that's it. You're stuck. You'll be doing more or less the same thing for next 30 years when you retire unless you change jobs.But the thing is even when you try to change, they will see that your entire experience is in a particular technology & no one will want to hire you for anything else.It gets so mind-numbing after a while.And getting up for work becomes such a drag.
I would seriously consider quitting & going back to college for graduate studies. But really post-graduate degrees are mostly useful only if you're an academic & you plan to stay in teaching & research. Otherwise work experience is a much better asset than another diploma or master or even a PhD as far as the job market is concerned.And it simply doesn't pay to be a university professor in the Arab world. Very little job satisfaction & very little cash. Not very rewarding.Also I'd probably be stuck having to teach the same courses for 30 years. Let's face it. We don't invent technology in the Middle East. We just try to keep up with it & even that we don't do too well half the time.
Labels: Career
posted by LouLou @ 9:19 AM
3 Comments:
I miss college too. I miss the constant state of learning. Miss working and researching without worrying too much about how much revenue that will generate.
Yes in college it's all about learning & teaching. Gaining & sharing knowledge.
At work it's the petty little competitions, the professional egos, the office politics that you need to get really good at. Some people enjoy all this. It's a challenge. But it's not for me. I prefer a different kind of challenge.
hey,
I see where you're coming from. I graduated from Brown last year and can't stand not being there. But, I read a great book called Refuse to Choose about the problem of people who love to learn and do lots of things. I recommend it. I was just missing school myself and googled looking for a support group (a little bit much for just missing school I admit).
Good luck
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