What Was I Doing Since First Year?

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

Here I am, a first-year student with my bags, coming from Nyampande, Shinyanga. I'm in Dar now (Can you believe this? Yehiii!). I'm here to get my degree, and this will take three years. What a long journey ahead!

Okay, so what is my job here? Of course, it will be to study hard every day, relax a little bit on weekends—after finishing my assignments. That's it. So here we go.

30 days later

Now what is my job here? Mmh, I should continue to study hard every day and am relaxing a little on weekends after completing my assignments, of course.

200 days later

What is my job here? Yeah, I'm trying to study well—though you know you can't study all the time. But I do study very hard when exams are nearby. I relax more on weekends—to refresh (you know). Yes, I'm doing my assignments—I complete them, even if I often submit on the deadline day.

1000 days later

What is my job here now? Hey stop, it has been three years already! We are done here. Tomorrow is my graduation ceremony, but as you have brought that up, so what will be my job then?!

Man, why didn't I consider that before?!

60 days after graduation

Okay, seriously now, what will be my job? I don't have one. I think I'll start looking for an internship position.

200 days later

What is my job here? I still don't have one. I'm waiting for job vacancies on Ajira portal to be posted so I can apply—I'm still living at my mom's place though.

500 days later

Daah, life is so hard. It has been more than a year since I graduated, and I still don't have a serious job.

You know, I struggled all that time to obtain my degree, but now it seems like it was a waste! Was it?

A few days later after been sober

I should still have hope. Keep searching, keep fighting. One day I'll make it and be in a better position.

I have realized I'm late in making what I want to appear now. Maybe if I'm lucky, it can still happen. I'm late because I didn't have enough time to prepare for this new phase of "life after graduation"—in fact I started to do that "seriously" after graduation. That preparation time is very little. I see now that I should have started earlier, while still in college. If I had done this, there could have been a smoother transition after college. Not only was studying my job, but my other job should have been to prepare for the next phase after graduation.

There were many opportunities which, if I had started to follow up on them early, now I would have been in the implementation phase. But that was not my job then!

There were many people at the field sites where I did my practical training. I could have stayed in touch with them, asked them many things about my career and more. But that was not my job!

I had lecturers at college who knew a lot. Instead of just listening to their lectures, I could have gone to them and listen to their advice too. But that was not my job!

You know I had all those three years, to plan, to research, to try—even if what I did failed, but for three years I could have come up with something useful to go alone with me after graduation, but that was not my job!

Everything is becoming new to me and it's like am starting afresh. What was I doing since first year?!

Preparation for life after graduation is not something that starts after you graduate or at the end time of your final year—it begins the moment you step onto college. To all current students: Your job is not only to just study; it involves also preparations for your next future. Start networking, try your own projects, seek internships, talk to your lecturers outside of class, and research your industry. Your future self will thank you.

#moreExposure #buildUpSkills