This article is divided into 3 parts, first I tell my experience, then comes the takeaways, which are my learnings and the things that you can learn from my experience, and I finish with a reflection.
Around 2021 and 2022 some careers such as UX Designer, Programmer, or Data Analyst became almost a trend.
And I am not saying it is a bad thing, but before jumping into a new field, it is important to analyze the reasons behind picking up this new path.
I am saying all of that because once in my life I picked a career based on things that turned out to not work out.
When I was a kid, just like many kids, I wanted to be a veterinarian, but it was a very expensive course and wasn't in demand in the place where I was living.
So, I grew up a bit more and found out that if you are an archeologist, you can travel a lot, and go around many countries, of course, it depends on which type of professional, but still.
At that point, I was already in high school, so I started going to libraries to learn about it.
I turned 18 and got approved to work for the government, in my country you can work in public services by passing an exam. So, I studied for the exam and got the job.
Once I was inside public services, there was only one profession and university degree that I would shine to anyone's ears and eyes: L-A-W.
Taking the Law degree would help me to get the best possibilities and salaries in public services, also, I could learn how the justice system really works. And maybe help to fix it?
Well, rationality speaking, it was a good way to go, but I didn't take into consideration the things I expected from a job to give me in return, and I am not talking about money.
Geographic freedom is something I already wanted since ever.
Of course, I had that in my mind, I could become an international lawyer and work with companies, and have clients around the globe, so why not?
But, public services would be a big NO for traveling, because you can only do them inside the country unless you are a diplomat, but I don't think this would be the same type of geographic freedom that I had in mind.
Young mind
There was a way bigger element that I didn't evaluate while deciding that law could work.
1- I didn't know myself enough to understand what really fits.
2- I wouldn't have money to pay for university unless I had a full-time job, while my colleagues would go for private law studies groups while I was at work.
3- Besides a full-time job, I would also have to dedicate another 6 hours a day to transportation. I would go to work 70km from my house and return to the other side of the state coming back 70km and passing another 30km to the other side to go to the university.
4- I would get to the classroom feeling tired and hungry, every day.
5- From somebody with the biggest grades in school, my grades weren't good anymore, I had become average at the university.
6- I would no longer be able to apply for any scholarship abroad because my grades were no longer shining.
7- Now, I wasn't able to keep up with high grades, how would I manage to learn other languages and work in international law firms?
8- The university was getting more expensive every semester and I couldn't leave my full-time job in exchange for an intern program in a law firm, because it wouldn't pay enough to cover the tuition fee.
9- My biggest frustration was when I started doing the mandatory internship.
When I started to see the reality besides the law books, the kind of people that we had in charge of big positions such as Judges. I felt 100% disappointed, my willpower was gone, and I faced a big hall I didn't know I would need ''tools'' to overcome.
You might be thinking all this time, why didn't I only apply for a public university or tried tuition-free, I ask myself the same, but for some reason, I had the belief that these people that applied for tuition-free had less than myself, and I would be a unethic person by taking their place once was able to work — It turned out that I would see these people buying cars, while I wouldn't even have the money to eat after work , but whatever, I know people that really needed it more than I did — and for public universities(free university) This ones would be a good way to go, but, I always believed they were for the gifted rich people, so. I didn't even try. Yes, I had some limitations on how to see the world around me, and my own mentality was taking opportunities from the table. ``I though it was too much and I didn't even try``. Can you relate?
That's why I always say, it is not about only providing basic opportunities, it is also about helping people to overcome their own paradigms, their own mind limitations.
10- Here comes a hard fact: Somebody who has to work, provide for the family, and still study would never be able to compete at the same level as the ones who just needed to worry about studying.
11- This brings us to the point where these people have no idea of how the world truly works outside of their books, I met arrogant judges that had zero empathy toward people, and I believe it is because they never got close to that reality.
12- And from starting there, the law system goes down and down the hill, and in the end, I realized I didn't want to work in that environment at all.
Time for a Disclaimer: This was my personal experience with the Judgment system, if you are having a great one, that's awesome. I don't intend to generalize.
If you look at the reality in Brazil, you can take your own conclusions.
If you think politicians are bad, you haven't seen the judgment system, but again, maybe this is only my own perception about things, be free to have yours, and share a different point of view.
I like to be in environments where people are able to have empathy towards others, where people are curious to understand someone else's point of view, and I didn't find it where I was trying to go, so, yeah, things didn't work out.
13 — When I got my degree I moved to Ireland
To be honest, I had a better experience with the law environment when I was working in a Law firm in Ireland, but unfortunately, to become a lawyer in another country I would need to go through another 5 years of university and I was pretty done about it.
Takeaway
So, here is a few things that I didn't take into consideration while picking the law career.
- How big and hard would be the wall to break into it?
- Do I have a plan from point A to point B (point A being me starting university and point B being the place where I wanted to arrive at), what could be on my way? How could I overcome that?
- If I don't get hired, can I still figure out to make money with the skills learned at university? How? Do I have what would it take? If not, what do I need to do in order to gain that skills?
- A hint: Speak with some people that already got where you wanted to get and find out if the environment around them is what you pictured in your head, if not, learn more about it and figure out if it is what you want. Take feedback from more people.
- Learn how to believe in yourself as early as you can in your life because the lack of faith and the lack of belief that you can make things happen will be your highest enemy towards every single obstacle that you might encounter.
Now, when I look back, I have an answer and a better decision that I could have taken towards every stuck moment of my law career, and every opportunity that I missed there.
I missed for not being strong enough, for not believing in myself enough, and for not knowing what I would encounter around me. I wish I was tough in many situations, but I was still too innocent about the world to be tough, and that's ok.
First I was kind while trying to understand why people were behaving the way they are, and what was behind it.
That's when I started to get more and more into psychology, I started to explore the history, the human brain, religions, and anything that could give me a clue about human behaviors and why the world was the way it is.
Conclusion
Sometimes it is not about picking the right career, it is more about knowing about yourself and the world around you, and once you have enough knowledge about both, you can dive your way around any business or career.
It is important that you will learn about yourself because when you know what you are good at and what you still need to improve, you can take better decisions.
It is important to know what will be the normal reaction of an external world from the actions you input in. What you should take into consideration and what you should ignore, then, you are free to go.
You can become anything, and you can develop skills in every single field and area if you want.
In the future, things will be faster, and the biggest thing you need to learn and master while you have time is:
— Have faith in yourself and your dreams, first master your belief about a thing, then you are free to walk towards it.
- Have empathy towards people, every single person perceives the world from a different spectrum.
- Learn as much as you can about the history of humanity and the environment that keeps developing around you.
I know, sometimes you just arrive from work and you want to get distracted by a tv show or something easy like youtube shots, but learn to pick your information, and be interested in subjects that can amplify your way of perceiving the world.
This is the key to self-development and life improvement, this is the key to overcoming the boundaries of a limited paradigm that will keep telling you to fail once again.
Maybe for some of you, as for me, a fresh start in a new career will be key, but for others, maybe it is just about changing the way and the perspective towards it, maybe is about building the belief that you deserve to grow bigger and successful on whatever you decide to.
From there, you will find out which actions you have to take, the skills you need to build, the people you shouldn't feel afraid of speaking to, the confidence to make offers, send e-mails, and find the networking needed.
Everything is easier when you work with faith instead of fear.
Thanks for reading.
And as always, I will see you in the next article.
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