XFIRE’S DIARY: My dream career and I – My undergraduate days and lessons learnt (1)
MY CAREER DIARY
with
XFIRE
I am a graduate of one of the public universities in Nigeria, and I currently work in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry. I am sharing my experience under the pen name XFIRE.
UNDERGRADUATE DAYS
I decided to go for engineering because I had a flair for mathematics and other core technical subjects. I wanted to work as a foremost engineer in a foremost engineering company. That was my childhood dream.
LESSON 1: Identify what you love and have a flair for. You will most likely succeed at what you love doing most. I have a number of friends who have changed career paths (engineering to financial, financial to academic research, medicine to IT, etc) in order to follow their heart desires. And believe me, they are not doing badly at all! I know people who never wanted a paid white collar job. They always wanted to be entrepreneurs. And upon graduation, they started off on their own and they are doing very well.
A well known example is Bill Gates who dropped out of school to start Microsoft. Today, he is one of the most influential successful entrepreneur in the world. I heard Seun Osewa’s story is also similar. That is why it is funny to me when people, especially young entrepreneurs condemn paid 9-5 jobs. Money isn’t everything. First of all, identify what you have a passion for. I desired to be an engineer in a top engineering company. My dream was never to start off as an entrepreneur. Some desire to be musicians, motivators, writers, doctors, entrepreneurs, etc. Focus on your dream. While it is very possible to succeed at what you don’t desire, it is easier to succeed at what you love.
