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Early last year I was knee-deep in a job search and also a perhaps predictable crisis trying to “find” myself and figure out just what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.
Luckily, I soon came to the much more manageable conclusion that while figuring out the rest of my life was dauntingly impossible, I could find what I wanted to do in the next few years (or attempt it anyway).
And indeed, I did finally find the right job for me. I started work for Mobclix, a mobile ad exchange, last July. As July approached I was both excited and a bit terrified of joining this “real world” I’d heard so much about.Was it really quite as devoid of fun as adults made it seem? Luckily, I’ve discovered the answer is no.
In fact, at times it seems just like college:
- I’m surrounded by smart people, and they are all pretty close to my own age.
- I always have too much work to do and not enough time.
- I’m learning every day (many days, I’m learning much more than I did in college) — about social media, giving real life presentations (definitely different from school presentations), talking to developers (our target market), and how to best work together with colleagues.
- There’s always junk food around (and this definitely isn’t always bad…)
Oh and in case you’re curious, here’s the ways the real world (or my real world to be more accurate) is definitely different from college…
- Having a real job brings new meaning to the “I don’t have enough time in the day” problem. I thought I was busy in college. Now I know what busy is (and I’m sure my older sisters with kids will tell me I still don’t know what busy is, but luckily I don’t have to worry about that yet).
- Evaluation isn’t so simple. You don’t just get a grade.
- The gender balance is little bit different. At least in my case where I work with basically all guys since I’m in a tech startup. See my recent blog post on Huffington Post for my take on that.
- There’s less room for perfection. I found in college I could study long enough to get everything done — definitely at the cost of my own free time, but it was possible. Now, I simply cannot get everything done and I have to try to get as much stuff done well as I can. Getting something done “perfectly” is a waste of time.
- It’s easy to lose sight of the big picture. In college people are always asking you “what do you want do after you graduate,” “where do you see yourself in 5/10 years?,” and generally debating the meaning of life. Work leaves less time for that. Occasionally, I have to take a step back and decide I’m still heading in the right direction. For now, the answer is definitely yes.
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Comments
01.26.10
It's funny.. I always equate my college years to what it's like as a consultant.. basically you're self-employed (well, actually you shell out tens of thousands to an institution) and you're pretty much in charge of your own time. You have to produce an agreed upon product for a grade, which is sort of your payment.
Time management was a real puzzle for me in college. Once I figured it out I was able to get the most benefit out of the least ammount of effort and time and I got to invest the rest of that time into myself. It was wonderful.
Things at a start up change so much that it's much harder to master time management in a meaningful and scalable way... though it's important to always try.
01.26.10
It's funny, I was just having this conversation on one of our networks - http://www.brazencareerist.com/network/u30pro
You're right that sometimes it's easy to lose track of the big picture. I often find myself losing track of my bigger career goals when there is so much work to be done. I'm not sure if I had the big picture in mind when I was in college either ...
01.26.10
One of the things I learned the hard way is that networking is much more important in the "real world" than in college. While in school you can bury your head in the books and make the grade. In most jobs, you must develop a relationship with your peers and play the game.
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