A story was shared with us by a disheartened University graduate after seeing his friend without a University degree make it much better than him in his career.
Here is the story
I have always done well in my studies ever since I started my education from Primary school.
My family members are all degree holders and it was only natural that I ended up in their footsteps and get a degree.
Thus when the time came for me to step into my tertiary education after serving Army, I enrolled into a Local university and took a business degree.
I did pretty well in program, eventually graduating my degree with a First Class Honours.
Companies head hunted me because of my Local University degree and my results.
I was earning a good amount for someone who had just graduated with a degree, about SGD 7000 excluding bonuses.
At least that was what I thought, as I became disillusioned one day after I bumped into a friend from my secondary school near my workplace when I was buying food for lunch.
For story’s sake, lets call him G.
G was known for the bad reasons back in school, playing truant, bullying people and hitting on girls.
He went to ITE after finishing secondary school and never got to go to University to have a degree like me.
We chatted for a bit and he told me that he was here to pack lunch and his girlfriend was waiting for him in his car.
Thinking that he should be far worst off than me based on my knowledge of him in the past, I boasted that I had graduated my degree with First class honours and am now working for a very good company drawing a pretty good salary.
After hearing me boast about my achievements, he congratulated me on my success and passed me his name card and asked me to guide him along.
Looking at his name card, I saw that he was providing services as a driver and laughed, thinking that he could never make as much as me as he does not have a degree.
After we parted ways, I saw him driving a Mercedes away and even snickered to myself, thinking that he was the driver for a certain rich boss.
To cut the long story short, I eventually found out that he was actually the boss of a company providing transportation services to big companies and corporations and he easily makes five figures a month even without a degree.
That was when I really felt disheartened and felt that I studied so much and so hard for my degree for nothing.
G does not have a degree but is earning much more than me, how is it fair?
My parents have always told me to go get a degree, saying that without a degree in Singapore I will not be able to survive but that seems to be untrue.
Editor’s Notes: There is a Chinese saying which loosely translates to “no matter what job you do, you can achieve greatness”. Therefore, do not look down on anyone in any profession.
Image source: unsplash.com
