On Entering the Workforce
Ongoing Changes
I have been feeling uneasy these past few months. When I was starting my university, I have only one goal in mind, which is to get a high GPA score, and the rest will flow easily from there. Turns out it is not as easy as that. I did well in my academic–I have a high enough GPA to get summa cum laude–but I realized that my path will never be as simple as that. Early on in my academic study, I learned from the people around me that GPA will only help me pass the CV screening robot. I need other things to impress the recruiters–or in the bigger sense of the picture is to achieve anything in life.
In my first and second years, I was still struggling with accepting academic life. I was planning to get into other famous universities but failed to do so twice in my second year. During these two years, I solely focus on having a decent academic life and studying for the university acceptance exam. But after I failed, I coped and moved on with that dream, focusing more on my current university. You can say that is two years wasted not experiencing new things in university and I would not disagree.
I went hardcore mode with the rest of my second and third years. I applied to dozens (yes, literally) of scholarship programs, joined a few organizations, headed leadership positions, participated in various competitions, and maintained my academic study. Without being ungrateful, I would say that it went well. You can check my LinkedIn and find that I indeed did some things in those fleeting years, and it is curated. But if you haven’t noticed already, I did not pursue any working or internship experiences. Yes, only in these past few months that I realized the importance of real working experiences.
In the 2 years plus of grinding that I did, I may have groomed some of my soft skills, but in the end, I don’t have any deep hard skills to offer. To make matters worse, I was burnt out after the rounds of nonstop activities that I did. This mental condition made my 7th term uneventful. I regressed into doing nothing and quitting various organizations and programs. I did not commit to anything and stayed passive.
After some reflection on what I have done and getting support from various people, I have been trying to start over in these past few months. I begin to reject purposeless offers based on the popular phrase by Derek Sivers, “Hell yeah or no”. Even so, I instill the feeling of inferiority because of my lack of work experience. I tried applying to various internship positions around data subject and none went smoothly. I thought that there must be a better way to approach this pandemonium.
Going Forward
To succeed, I need to know what my next steps are. I have been marching with some plans these past few months, albeit vaguely. I proactively choose what am I going to do, putting them into proper scheduling using a digital calendar and to-do app. One way or another, you can say that this is my strategy to be more mindful of what am I doing. I also made a detailed Individual Development Plan with the help of my mentor from one of my ongoing scholarship programs. I documented certain key steps that I need to achieve to reach the goal of being a data scientist. One of the steps is the reason why I applied to GIGIH–to get gradual experiences starting from the boot camp until getting the internship I yearn for. This particular document makes me feel that my goal is reachable if I put enough effort into it.
But it doesn’t go smoothly either. As the adaptability course on the GIGIH program has taught us about VUCA, it happened to my plan as well. I procrastinated on some aspects of my plan. There are also more distractions than ever because I have started opening up to the world. For example, I was reintroduced to this thing called anime–I finished the entire series of Naruto at the start of this year. This is still manageable, but it pains me to say that these kinds of disturbances have made certain setbacks to my plan. Thankfully, the start of a regular activity provided by GIGIH and my academic course helps me be more focused on my plan. The regularity of the activity sets my brain into hyperfocus mode to finish things–and I love it!
So, to summarize, how would I get used to the changes these past few months? I felt down because I realized I was not doing enough to reach my career goal. I also got distracted while trying to achieve it. The answer is right there in the adaptability course at the GIGIH program. First, I need to realize the dichotomy of control–of what we can and cannot control. I finally understood that I can’t change my wasted years and instead sit atop the experiences I gained to build a new path forward. Second, I need to instill a growth mindset as the default state of my mind. I need not feel bad when I fail because failure is a “yet to success”. I need to believe more in the capabilities that I have garnered from the abundant experiences I have before and keep marching forward. I believe that, with these settled, I am going to achieve what I have designated at the start. Let us journey forward.
This writing is a series of assignments for my program at Generasi GIGIH 2.0 held by Yayasan Anak Bangsa Bisa. Expect more writings to come!
