Advice to a graduate
I received an email where a college graduate wrote: “After reading your blog, I understand the difference between a job and a career and wish that I have known it earlier. I had a college degree and had been working in a job that I do not like for the past five years. I want to have a good career that I can enjoy for a long time, but I do not know whether it is too late to learn something new. I have several ideas and want to start a company, but I am not sure if it is possible. Please help.”
I wrote to him: “There never be too late to learn something that you like. To build a career, you need to plan for it and develop the skills that you need to achieve your goal. Today, the best career is in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) areas. As a college graduate, you may not need another degree, but you could select an area that you want to build a career then take courses from MOOCs to develop the skills that you need. To rebuild your career, you need to learn by understanding how things work in the particular area and what skills you need to pursue it. When studying for the new skills, you should not memorize things to pass tests but learn how to understand all the fundamentals then go deeper to get the “insight knowledge.” You need to understand of the “WHY” and the “HOW” so you can apply them to solve problems. You need to continually learn to keep up because today knowledge changes quickly and often double in every two years. (Moore's law).”
Today most people do not know how to think “critically” by asking questions such as “Why?”, “How?”, and “What does this mean?” They do not know how to connect what they see in the world to create something new or to innovate. By having this new skills, you will go further and advance your career faster whether you work for a company or starting your company. You must develop a “Computational thinking” skills which are the ability to actualize your ideas into actions. If you learn software development process from concept requirements to product development, you will understand computational thinking because it will change your current thinking to a better way of making things happen. Besides that, you also need to learn “Design thinking,” or the ability to connect disparate parts into a cohesive whole because today everything is integrated into a larger system with many components. Today computational and design thinking has created a new type of innovation thinking for startups. For example, Uber is only a software company, it does not own any cars, but it is now the biggest land transportation company in the world. Similarly, Airbnb, another software company is now the biggest hotel company in the world, although they do not own any properties.”
Although the education system in your country may not change much, you can change yourself by reading more and learning more from other sources. If the traditional school does not teach you what you need, find another online school such as MOOCs to develop the skills that you want. There are thousands of excellent courses teaching by the best professors in their fields that you can take. To succeed in today's competitive market, you have to be an active learner and a lifelong learner. You are responsible for your study, for your life and for your future. As long as you put in your efforts, dedicate to make things happen to achieve your dream and rebuild your career, things will change for the better. Life is a journey, and you will meet many people from different parts of our life. Make sure you build a good relationship with whoever you meet as you never know that in the future they may be your best friends or even your boss. Your education, your skills, your knowledge, your determination, your commitment to the principles in life will help you to go far. But no matter what you do, always remember that you are part of society, a citizen of a country, and you have a responsibility to contribute to it and making it better. Life is short, there is not enough time for negative things, so treat everything with respect and love, and you will do well.”
Sources
- Blogs of Prof. John Vu, Carnegie Mellon University
