Why I started my Career at 20?
One question that comes along with every “What are you currently doing?”
Aren’t you too young to be earning? Don’t you think you should at least complete 5 years of UG+PG Program? You’re running behind money right now, run behind knowledge, money will follow. You will never have enough time in the future to pursue your masters. Once you start earning, you can never go back to learning.
I was giving my semester 6 exams when I landed myself a job which was not a college placement.
Quick background, Im from Madhya Pradesh and I migrated to Bombay at the age of 17 to pursue my bachelors.
Belonging to an IT Background, my parents always thought I’d end up becoming a coder, little did they know their daughter had different plans.
I spent three years of my college life figuring out the perfect role for me, If not IT then what? Trust me, there is no perfect role out there.
I was eager to learn more about the corporate world and so I interned at 6 places(all different domains) before getting my first job. 4 of them were unpaid! My hunger was to learn more.
The urge to feel more responsible did not let me stop. When classmates around me were getting placed in November and December, I was just avoiding placements and had no idea what I would do. I did spend numerous nights over thinking about my future, I did not know what my parents would think about me incase I do not find a job, I felt insufficiently confident and did lose hope at a time, but I gathered my courage back and after 24 rejections (majorly interviewers said I did not have the relevant experience), I got my first job. It was a starting point for me, and then onwards, I never looked back!
Super grateful to WebEngage who believed in a person with no background of HR to let me set my foot in this area and letting me explore. I was the youngest HR in an organisation of 140+ folks!
I failed multiple times, but every time I started again, It was not fresh, it was the wound of the previous failure that led me ahead.
Starting your career early reaps plenty of benefits that affects a persons life both internally and externally. Internally, we gain work ethic, which increases those many traits that are highly valued not just in the workplace, but in life.
It inspires confidence in their abilities and can increase their love of what they are heading into, which further prompts them to do their job well.
I am now 22, in my third organisation(Well, that is another story) and happily growing. No, I do not discourage people who are opting for masters, It is more of to each its own and I believe, now is not the time for my masters. I shall take it up in the future if I feel the need to. I say this to emphasis the ability that young people have to start their careers early and achieve success even at a young age.
Life would have been completely different If I had chosen a different route right after my college, and I would never know what it would have looked like.
I will never have a perfect answer to why I started my career at 20, but I know I had the thirst to learn things and practically put them to use.
Dreams don’t work until you do!
My dream is to be in google before the age of 27 and I’m working towards it.
Step by step, little by little.
