Feature
Twenty-something: The itch
Mahreen Ferdous
Starting work is possibly one of the biggest life changing experiences one has. So much so, that I have not really managed to write a piece for Campus. Having just graduated only adds to the burden, from freedom to office slave. As I may have mentioned earlier getting up in the morning is perhaps the most difficult aspect of having a job. Once you're at the office- one hour, two hours, three hours. The countdown continues until you hit five o'clock and ding dong ding, it's time to pack it in. I suppose unlike student life you leave your cloud behind at the office. As a student every minute spent away from your essays, cramming and doing some work is guilt ridden. Every rave, party and general dossing around is a guilt trip. Work is generally the other extreme. You leave your desk and you leave everything behind you (unless of course you own the office in which case you carry it all in your head).
For such a life changing experience, I have found so far, that I'm not learning as much as I thought I would- or engaging my brain half as much as I did at university. Only at work will you get people not able to calculate fractions and still able to live with themselves! Perhaps that is slightly cruel, but it strikes me as pointless to have been taught fractions in secondary school if you cannot actually calculate fractions when it has finally come to be of some use (other than impressing your teachers at secondary school). My job at the moment is mostly updating the internal website of a accountancy firm. I have ample free time to listen to broadcast (audio broadcasts) online, to search for better jobs, search for cheap flights- you name it! In fact I think if they give me six months I could train a monkey to do it.
Please do not let me discourage you from working though. Working for a good firm opens quite a few doors. They are also very well equipped in many cases, giving you the potential to get specialized training or even a Masters funded by the company. And if you're job is like mine (ie. One could train a monkey to do it) then it gives you paid free time to consider what you really want to do with your life. Whatever you choose to do just keep in mind that there are people out there like Film critics, Food critics, Travel writers and DJs who make a great living doing exactly what they love.
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