Don’t Worry, Your Current Study is Not Your Future Career

Oftentimes, I worry about my career. Until one day, I decided not to.

Photo by Hunters Race on Unsplash

When I was in college, my environment only told me things about engineering stuff. I studied materials engineering, and I admitted that I didn’t like the study very much. Instead, I tried to find another thing to enjoy and I ended up with campus journalism.

Journalism gave me the opportunity to a wide range of knowledge and enabled me meeting a lot of people from different study backgrounds. Then, I realized that I enjoy myself being a generalist instead of specializing in materials engineering.

My first job was a consultant in the mining sector. Then, I had the opportunity to work in the governance systems, energy development, land issue, environmental and climate issue, business development, and even becoming an IT Auditor. I also found that my peers changed their careers into business development, data analyst, and many others.

Nowadays, it is common to see people work in a sector that not related to their study background. It is acceptable since the industry changes faster than the curriculum provided in the university. Besides, sometimes we do not have enough information regarding the occupation we aspire to have, or maybe, we don't meet our expectations in our current job.

Perhaps, what is more important to think is what we should consider before taking the decision to change our career. So, change your career only if:

1. The industry is weakening.
   I aspire to work in a mining company. However, by the time I graduate, the industry collapsed. It was difficult to find a decent job when I need money the most.
2. You experience burnout.
   After working for 2 years, I got more and more stuff to do. I have less time for myself and my family. I realize that my personality changed and I became easier to get angry. I realized that I was burnout and decided to take a step back. Then, I decided to make a move and work on my own project.
3. You want more.
   There was a moment I have to leave a job so that my HR understand that I deserve better. My manager understood that I gave much more than he expected but HR won’t process my salary increase. I left the company for a while and spent a few months at a multinational company. My previous manager wants to re-hire me for another project and that time, the same HR agreed to increase my payment.
4. Your life has changed.
   Within my first five years of work, I just want to experience as much as position and earn as much as I can. However, when I decided to marry and have a kid, I have to settle my career into a position where I can earn enough for family but still have a lot of time to grow together.