Lessons from my work life

I was chilling in my room's AC hiding from the blazing sun outside and thinking what could be my next blog post. Then it occurred to me to write something about my work life. My very first job was at Computers and Controls in Port of Spain. I had just finished secondary school and I didn't have concrete university plans. My Math teacher helped me get that job. It didn't last more than a few days. I did not fit in. I couldn't socialise. I felt like a misfit. I cried. I was a young, dumb, broke high school kid as the song goes. I was book smart but not street smart. That is lesson number one. You need street smarts to survive in this world. The education system needs to do more to prepare us for the real world.

During university I worked part time conducting phone surveys. This was shift work from 6 pm to 10 pm on weekdays and 8am to 4pm on weekends. The challenge here was that I had an accent. Then the cold nights waiting for the bus to return to campus housing. This job taught me patience. I would have liked to be working in the tech field but this was the job that was easily available and the extra spending money made university life more comfortable.

Next I could talk about my internship experience. One summer I worked at Nestle in Trinidad and another summer I worked at Goldman Sachs in New York. I remember those experiences as being fun. As a temporary and inexperienced summer student I did not feel much burden on my shoulders. I did not feel like their was too much expectations. An internship was treated as a fun and learning experience. These taught me how to have fun. And it is easier to have fun doing something that I am passionate about. Technology is my passion.

Then came my full-time jobs after graduating from university. I worked a year on wall street in New York and then many years at various companies in Trinidad. The biggest lesson here was responsibility. I was an adult now. I had to make adult plans for the future now. The next lesson I learnt was that office work was not suited for me. I was too independent and then introverted. I much prefer entrepreneurship. Working for myself. Today I work for myself as a tech blogger and that suits me.