I have recently finished university and I'm turning 22 by the end of the year.
For many people, university can be a very rewarding chapter in their lives where they learn new things, challenge themselves, and discover their self-identity.
For some, it could be a very eye-opening experience.
Maybe they learned more about their own strengths and weaknesses. Maybe they discovered new passion. Or maybe they realised they are not studying a field they completely enjoy, and potentially found other subjects of interest.
I certainly identify in all those groups.
When I finished my undergrad in Maths in 2015, I found that university maths is very different from high school maths, and it's not exactly something that I enjoyed the most. It reminded me of my IB-DP years where I considered studying Engineering and subsequently Computer Science. I've always wanted to learn how to program. I was 20 and I still had not been able to code. At the time technology was the "in" thing, and I really wanted to try the path I had not chosen before.
So I took a Master's conversion course where I learned basic computing concepts and programming techniques. I realised it was more aligned to my interests and certainly something I am passionate in.
However, my experience interning at a tech startup really hit me.
We were a very small team of around 6 people. At a startup, you have to do a little bit of everything. I was mainly developing the front-end and UX as well as scripting many of the functionalities. But I also volunteered to be involved in marketing and learned a bit of the project management side of things.
Little did I know how interesting that would be.
I've always been the kind of person to point out when things aren't running orderly or efficiently. I like making plans (with a degree of flexibility) and deciding how things should be better ran.
That made me realise I didn't just want to be a programmer. I want to be involved in planning what's being programmed and why. I enjoy thinking about the different ways to approach a challenge and figuring out which solution would be the most favourable given the objectives and constraints.
Eventually I find myself entering a career in the consulting world. I'm starting as an analyst in Technology Consulting, and I'm really excited to re-discover myself at this new chapter in my life.
However, the past few months haven't only been about that.
I regained my passion in reading and my interest in writing. I came across a mobile app for reading stories as an interactive game, called Episode. To cut the story short, I started writing my own story with two young authors.
It wasn't the easiest journey either. We've only got one episode down so far (which is about 20 mins read on average). The feedback we've received from friends who beta-read was stellar, but if I could be honest I personally am still not 100% happy with it. Though I reckon we'll be okay just kicking off with that and continuing the story.
I also had to lead the team and ensure each person can grow in this opportunity. My two teammates are both very young and I'd like them to be part of something challenging - an experience that doesn't only let them unleash their creativity but perhaps also lets them figure out new things about themselves and decide where to go with that.
But no, I'm not gonna say I'd want to pursue a career in writing at this point. (I don't! I played more of a director role in the team anyway rather than a script writer role. Which I absolutely love, btw! But I'm still learning and wouldn't call myself an expert.) However, I also realised that I have so many other interests that I had dropped over the past 21 years or so.
Singing, photography, playing ukulele, cooking, writing and drawing, to name a few. I've tried doing them but never found myself particularly good at any of it.
Playing games, building games, or developing my own mobile apps are also high on my wish-to-do list.
And I recently discovered that I enjoy travelling very much. Though maybe it was mostly due to the great company and delicious food.
However, how much of this can I seriously do at the same time? Learning one thing at a time is already challenging - not to mention learning a million different things at once. But then, how can I figure out which one(s) of these goals I should pursue right now?
The clock is ticking and I'm only getting older. I want to do these things while I'm still fit to quickly learn new things and adapt to changes.
Last year, I decided to pursue a lost dream by challenging myself to take a degree in CompSci. Luckily, it all turned out well and I found it was indeed something that I enjoyed and am good at (to a certain extent).
Who knows, maybe I too could be good at writing or drawing if I tried?
I was just talking about this with a new colleague yesterday and he believed that anyone can be good at something as long as they patiently try and practise. However, an ex-colleague once mentioned that it is sometimes better to improve on something that you're already somewhat good at rather than trying to become half good in something you're not skilled at.
So... What should I do?
This is such a volatile time in my life. There are so many opportunities and choices. I want to spend my spare time doing something that I'll cherish with no regrets.
Writing this post has tremendously helped me reflect back on it. I honestly don't have a definitive answer to that last question, but hopefully I'll find out sooner or later.
Thus far, I've had a fantastic time being 21 and certainly wouldn't want it to end. How much will I be able to accomplish before I turn 22?
For many people, university can be a very rewarding chapter in their lives where they learn new things, challenge themselves, and discover their self-identity.
For some, it could be a very eye-opening experience.
Maybe they learned more about their own strengths and weaknesses. Maybe they discovered new passion. Or maybe they realised they are not studying a field they completely enjoy, and potentially found other subjects of interest.
I certainly identify in all those groups.
When I finished my undergrad in Maths in 2015, I found that university maths is very different from high school maths, and it's not exactly something that I enjoyed the most. It reminded me of my IB-DP years where I considered studying Engineering and subsequently Computer Science. I've always wanted to learn how to program. I was 20 and I still had not been able to code. At the time technology was the "in" thing, and I really wanted to try the path I had not chosen before.
So I took a Master's conversion course where I learned basic computing concepts and programming techniques. I realised it was more aligned to my interests and certainly something I am passionate in.
However, my experience interning at a tech startup really hit me.
We were a very small team of around 6 people. At a startup, you have to do a little bit of everything. I was mainly developing the front-end and UX as well as scripting many of the functionalities. But I also volunteered to be involved in marketing and learned a bit of the project management side of things.
Little did I know how interesting that would be.
I've always been the kind of person to point out when things aren't running orderly or efficiently. I like making plans (with a degree of flexibility) and deciding how things should be better ran.
That made me realise I didn't just want to be a programmer. I want to be involved in planning what's being programmed and why. I enjoy thinking about the different ways to approach a challenge and figuring out which solution would be the most favourable given the objectives and constraints.
Eventually I find myself entering a career in the consulting world. I'm starting as an analyst in Technology Consulting, and I'm really excited to re-discover myself at this new chapter in my life.
However, the past few months haven't only been about that.
I regained my passion in reading and my interest in writing. I came across a mobile app for reading stories as an interactive game, called Episode. To cut the story short, I started writing my own story with two young authors.
It wasn't the easiest journey either. We've only got one episode down so far (which is about 20 mins read on average). The feedback we've received from friends who beta-read was stellar, but if I could be honest I personally am still not 100% happy with it. Though I reckon we'll be okay just kicking off with that and continuing the story.
I also had to lead the team and ensure each person can grow in this opportunity. My two teammates are both very young and I'd like them to be part of something challenging - an experience that doesn't only let them unleash their creativity but perhaps also lets them figure out new things about themselves and decide where to go with that.
But no, I'm not gonna say I'd want to pursue a career in writing at this point. (I don't! I played more of a director role in the team anyway rather than a script writer role. Which I absolutely love, btw! But I'm still learning and wouldn't call myself an expert.) However, I also realised that I have so many other interests that I had dropped over the past 21 years or so.
Singing, photography, playing ukulele, cooking, writing and drawing, to name a few. I've tried doing them but never found myself particularly good at any of it.
Playing games, building games, or developing my own mobile apps are also high on my wish-to-do list.
And I recently discovered that I enjoy travelling very much. Though maybe it was mostly due to the great company and delicious food.
However, how much of this can I seriously do at the same time? Learning one thing at a time is already challenging - not to mention learning a million different things at once. But then, how can I figure out which one(s) of these goals I should pursue right now?
The clock is ticking and I'm only getting older. I want to do these things while I'm still fit to quickly learn new things and adapt to changes.
Last year, I decided to pursue a lost dream by challenging myself to take a degree in CompSci. Luckily, it all turned out well and I found it was indeed something that I enjoyed and am good at (to a certain extent).
Who knows, maybe I too could be good at writing or drawing if I tried?
I was just talking about this with a new colleague yesterday and he believed that anyone can be good at something as long as they patiently try and practise. However, an ex-colleague once mentioned that it is sometimes better to improve on something that you're already somewhat good at rather than trying to become half good in something you're not skilled at.
So... What should I do?
This is such a volatile time in my life. There are so many opportunities and choices. I want to spend my spare time doing something that I'll cherish with no regrets.
Writing this post has tremendously helped me reflect back on it. I honestly don't have a definitive answer to that last question, but hopefully I'll find out sooner or later.
Thus far, I've had a fantastic time being 21 and certainly wouldn't want it to end. How much will I be able to accomplish before I turn 22?
