On Working Early

Painting picturing Messenger Boys by Lewis W. Hine

I’ll try to control the tone, I don’t want this to sound like a rant, but more of a suggestive premonition. I’d like to be honest that I’m very embarrassed publishing this essay. I’m not only one doing this and neither I’m going to be the last.

I started working when I was 17 and Its been almost 2 years, since I’ve been working at places leaving my college aside. I’m not sure if that makes me happy.

Growing up, I wanted some things which my middle class father couldn’t afford. He could’ve gone every extra step ahead and any how got me whatever I wanted. But my father always had this habit that he would never provide you with something till its too long and you start developing disinterest for that. Ideally, for the world and kids it is a good thing to delay as providing something faster makes them go easy on the thing and not understand its real worth. I felt frustrated about it and growing up I was never a stubborn kid. I’d ask once-twice-thrice but never after that. My mother especially wanted me to earn early and not be a lazy person like some people in my surrounding. And I wanted to earn and make my own money too.

After my first year in Diploma, I came to know that “School is not Enough” and I hated the academia. Because, the prime question for me was what will the teacher teach me, when they don’t know anything outside the textbook. I lived long time with the frustration, often poking teachers in the class to humiliate them and make them know that what they’re doing is very mediocre and not enough to build and construct engineers for India. They never understood why would a bunch of kids poke them in a class on their level of knowledge, because the important thing for them was “Money”. Earning some money at the end of the month and feeding their families was their goal. But anyways, the whole point of this piece of essay is about working and why it is important and not important at the same time.

Making a choice/decision between Academics and working early is hard. These choices are made by everyone, often most of them end up picking Academics probably because of parental pressure, self-autonomy or society. The later is similar to walking on a rope tied between two mountains with a staff in your hands. You’re a sweet bait for a tiger shark in the ocean. Being the Captain Jack sparrow is variedly important thing. I joined an NGO, felt energetic in the beginning. But after some time things and people around me weren’t the same as before. I faced more criticism and everyone felt like they wanted to spurn me off. Working for people or working under someone is hard. You never know what autonomy they have in their mind. Their’s a lot of risk in working early, if you’re not managing your education parallely then you’re literally on a rope tied between two mountains not with a staff but with a boulder.

I’ve come to realize that Self Awareness might be a good thing but over time, it is like a cage you’re trapped in. The cage which you want to break and not worry about why you do things the way you do it or why you do it.

Being early somewhere is of lot more beneficial. You get to listen and observe your surrounding. When I was in 6-7th std, I loved playing football and I dream’t of being the next Neymar Jr of the world. Often my dad would take me to a nearby ground play with me for sometime and then go for a walk alone. Slowly, I started playing with some boys who were 24-28 years of age. The age gap was really a lot but ensuring you don’t fall behind in that room is essential. When you’re the youngest in the room you often get to listen to these words a lot “Its good, you have a lot of time” and it often comes from those who feel they don’t have much time left.

I often find myself in a very problematic situation where I don’t know what sets my worth in the place I work. I find myself thinking about why I’m paid what I’m paid or why even they hired me. I always wondering if seeking validation at your job is a good thing or not. In my previous workplace, it felt like whatever I do no one was willing to validate my work as good or categorize into something worthy.

Indeed, starting early is a good thing. I read a very good blog post recently titled “School is not enough”. This blog post reminds me of the west where the kids learn to sustain. A lot of students there work at Walmart or do any other kind of work which helps them cover their expense, regardless of what are the things they want to buy. Richard Feynman he fixed radio in a restaurant and did something which might give him a penny or two to treat himself. In the book “Angela’s Ashes” the author Frank McCourt works as a telegraph boy earning 6 shillings a week. In my honest opinion and observations, school might give you knowledge and everything, but working under someone or at some place and earning some penny gives you the confidence that you will survive in this society, not as a rich but at least as someone who will have something to put in their tummy.

There a lot of companies, products, tools and people marketing themselves outside as perfects or great product/companies but under the hood they are doing nothing great, most of them are just marketing to look as if they’re doing something great. Great things are not done, they happen.

Over time, I realized it takes a lot of time to really be a part of a team. Maybe, if you’re a new joinee you shouldn’t be even thinking about really joining the team as a person. I believe it wouldn’t do any difference as at the end of the you are just a salaried employee. One harsh truth I’ve come to unveil is that you’re near to nothing until you’re a bottleneck for at least something. Being the cork of a Wine bottle which signifies its newness and purity is a time consuming and difficult task. If you’re not a bottleneck for at least one thing you are an easy bait for doing unnecessary things.

If you have ambitious dreams and you want to build something great, weave them in a place of your own the way you want. Go on a hunt for elegant cocoons, and wait till they come out as beautiful butterflies.

Make the choice.