Don't confuse schooling with education. I didn't go to Harvard but the people that work for me did. - Elon Musk
If you wanna just read about a quick takeaway on what I've learned you can scroll down to the end but this whole read would just take you less than 5 minutes.
Storytime
My educational grades have not always been the best. It's just pretty decent and probably wouldn't have made the cut since I grew up in an Asian community.
After completing 3 years of a Bachelor's degree, my CGPA was merely 3.0, barely enough to secure a career at any of the top companies nor get any job offers immediately upon graduation.
However, throughout my 3 years in university I've involved myself in external projects such as
Youth Development, Podcasting and Freelancing.
Grades didn't really matter much for me at this point anymore, as learning in the real world gave me way more thrill and better practical education compared to classes. I'm not saying that you shouldn't go to university, but it's just that I realized I learn differently; hence, I took a different path.
WHAT I DID
So, instead of studying for good grades, I tried to pass all my subjects and focused on these instead
Getting real world experiences
If someone offers you an amazing opportunity, and you are not sure you can do it, say yes- then learn how to do it later. - Richard Branson
That was my initial approach to getting jobs on my own while I was still studying.
I took up freelancing jobs as a videographer, facilitator, personal assistant, as well as a pianist. Even with all these jobs, I acquired them with very little experience or expertise in that area.
Nevertheless, this also came with BIG disadvantages as I got scolded, criticized for the quality of my work and also didn't get paid as a result of delivering poor results. To be honest, it was super demotivating but just like life, as they say, you roll with the punches and that was how I dealt with it for the first few years.
However, overtime I got better at some things and not so well at others which led me to discover my strengths and interests, as well as knowing what career path I wanted in the future.
Experimenting with my own projects
I've always embraced the attitude of "why not?". I was dabbling into marketing and videography, and what better way to learn than to announce to everyone and force myself into content creation. I started a YouTube channel first in 2018, followed by a podcast in 2019; both seeking to better understand how to create quality content and simultaneously engage better with an audience. It was scary not knowing what to do but once you are committed to something, you'll surprise yourself with how fast you learn things.
You can learn so much from creating content and when it came to 2021 (i.e., when I started going for interviews and meeting with new people), the podcast became an interesting topic to converse on and connect with people, as well as giving me the opportunity to get in touch with people who others normally couldn't. This brings me to my next point.
Working with mentors
As of 2019, I realized that trying out things on my own account was not going to cut it as opportunities were limited and my progress was slowing down. I had to shift my approach and seek for help.
I was introduced to my first mentor who was a HR consultant for L'Oreal, whom I collaborated with to venture into youth development. After a year, Breaktheboxmy, a youth development platform was born. This eventually allowed me to work with organizations such as Friends of Kuala Woh, as well as Leaderonomics to help empower the youth.
Through this, I've met various successful people who were more than willing to share pointers and advices to help me grow. Networking with the right people not only opened up a lot of opportunities, but it also allowed me to learn more and thrive in a practical learning environment.
June 2021
As a result of that, I've been offered a management trainee program before I even completed my Bachelor's degree and also became a consultant for youth development projects. As for now, we'll see what the future brings, my motto being "why not?".
Takeaway
When you have nothing, just grab any opportunity that comes your way and learn from it regardless if it's successful or not.
Try something new or something that scares you. You will be surprised with what learnings or opportunities that may come out of it.
Networking is important, especially right now, not just for the opportunities but also to secure resources which you never know could be of help in the future.
Being thrown into the real world with real world consequences will allow you to learn better and faster, as well as justify the theories you learn in university.
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