DEV Community: Sejuti Sharmin

The complete guide to life after dropping off from the college

Sejuti Sharmin — Mon, 22 Feb 2021 20:15:28 +0000

As we all grow up, we decide to go to college after high school to pursue degree so can secure a job and our future. In reality the present economic situation forces us to attend college/universities. Often in job market each university shows off as a brand, the better and popular the institute the better. Some students actually go to college for a degree and some goes for a job. In the amidst of the economic pressure often a student forgets what was their dream or who they wanted to be when they grow up. According to NY Times columnist By Meredith Kolodner “Graduating from a four-year college in four years may sound like a fairly straightforward venture, but only 41 percent of students manage to do it.” (Kolodner, 2017)
Now discussing rest 59 Percent of student’s life after dropping off from the college. Those who strongly desires to drop off but somehow unsure may speak to their dean or vice chancellor about how they feel and take a year gap from college to unwind and they can just pick up from where they have left. The drop off students may consider transferring courses if they feel like the course, they are attending isn’t interesting to them. If the college isn’t right for them then they may switch colleges & transfer the credits that they have completed or going to community college as they are much more affordable and flexible. Which allows students to attend online classes or they can just go with their own paces.
Next, they can look into bootcamps and short programs such as if a student is interested in building his/her career in the tech industry then they can look into coding bootcamps. Coding bootcamps recently gain quite the popularity. There are even thousands of prep program to train the fresh minds for the coding bootcamp. The bootcamp can help to acquire a skillset in specific area but it’s often not enough secure a job. Online freelancing is a method to earn money in exchange of work. Now the work can be anything. Starting from consultation, digital marketing,
brand promoting, designing, developing can be done on multiple platforms now. For learning while earning the internet is the best resource. Online education has become norm nowadays. YouTube is nowadays considered as a university because everything can be learned from there. Cooking, cleaning, car repairing, clothe making and what not. Apart from YouTube, there’s SkillShare, Udemy, CourseEra, edX, Khan Academy. These sites provide depth learning to enhance the intellects and polishes skills of a student. A lot of success story began from signing up at these paid websites. The most crucial part after leaving college is figuring out what to do. It doesn’t come easy to everyone. If a young one struggles to figure out what they want to do or who they want to be in their life then they can explore. Exploring can be done in the service industry such as retail, super shop management, customer service and etc. A young person can explore and earn until they figure out which direction they want to take in their life. While exploring one can work at a part time job or work remotely from home. Looking for an internship can also be a way to explore career path. Young ones may even consider applying for apprenticeship for construction works, law, architecture, engineering, nursing, teaching and much more. Entry level jobs can be got with just high school certificates such as receptionist, Customer service, event planner, real-state agent, graphics designer, electrician, physical therapist and etc. Starting own business is the riskiest and often considered to be a reckless move for a young one specially who dropped out of college. It’s still an option open. If a young one has innovative idea that can change lives like Steve jobs & Mark Zuckerberg did then he is free to pursue his dreams and start his own business. Thanks to Internet of things now it’s possible to set stores digitally and run business online and anyone with the right skills and tools can do it from their parent’s basement. The benefit of running a business online is that it doesn’t requires any actual workspace or office area. If a young one wants then they can join any volunteer services that they want, a year of volunteer service can provide so many experiences. It teaches one to connect with community, it teaches responsibility and help young ones to express themselves better and enhance their communication skills. The young one’s must continue to learn in some capacity whether it’s online or offline. They should continue to look for other colleges as an option & most important and crucial task is to find out their long-term life and plan out their lives according to that. Young one’s these days like to follow trends so they can try to start their own blog or vlog (Which is video blog) or podcast. They can start by sharing their journey as a college drop out. Blogs and Vlogs both are interesting and legit way to make money and gain experience. A lot of YouTube vloggers are now millionaires. Self-development is much needed after saying good bye to college. There are lots of self-development videos online, tons of books can guide a young mind to develop and evolve. Young ones can reflect on their positive experience which they gained that their college, communicating with others who made similar decision, seeking the help of a career counselor. A college dropout will most likely to have their wage less than a fresh graduate. They will have to face social stigma, there’s very few work opportunities with lower wages. These are warning to bear in mind. The route to success after dropping out is to struggle and hustle 10x times than others.

In conclusion, college was a challenge, dropping out is a setback but the rest depends on the young one’s whether they want this setback to turn into either a failure or a success. Young one’s must remain focused, be constructive & learn from this situation. Utilize the experience gained from the short time spend at the college to expand knowledge find inspiration. Learning from the situation and the circumstances are the only positive outcome of this situation. Moving forward in life with or without college degree while chasing the dream could be an adventure worth living in. Failure can devastate one but one can begin again. At any time, at any age, at anywhere. All it takes is a will to begin. Failure cannot be the end of a young one’s dreams, goals, and aspirations. Failure is a strong emotion. Let failure make one stronger, tougher and more resilient so that they don’t just survive it but bounce back stronger. The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall. -Nelson Mandela

Book vs Tutorial

Sejuti Sharmin — Thu, 29 Oct 2020 00:12:33 +0000

I was 16, I used to have a desktop computer which was running windows 7. I used to save up my lunch money to buy programming language books. C was my first, they came with the instruction of installing visual studio. A friend introduced me to Code Blocks instead of visual studio & the story begin. I remember the joy I felt within me when I first successfully ran "Hello World!". Couple of years later when I enrolled in University, I started seeking help of the books for mostly programming or language courses. I started spending more time in the library and I was there even in the weekends. I was even carrying the PDFs in phone so I could read them during my ride back home. Somehow from a very young age I began to rely on books & somehow this stuck with me even now there are so many tutorials on so many platforms such as Udemy, SkillShare, CourseEra but I somehow find myself searching on the internet for books for the course I am learning. I enjoy going through each words of each line as I acknowledge & memorize. Learning is an endless journey. I guess I am still exploring and trying to figure out what works best for me. I'm willing to watch tutorial & read book to learn. Leave a comment below about which one you prefer the most. Is it book? Is it tutorial? Or both?

How I cured my phone addiction

Sejuti Sharmin — Sun, 11 Oct 2020 00:48:43 +0000

Recently, I have noticed that I was being hooked up to my smart phone a lot more than I should. My weekly screen time was so shocking to me. I was spending nearly 23 hours a week which is almost a day. It hit me. I said to myself that this better be a wake up call.

The steps I took to reduce my screentime and increase productivity

The first step is to understand the problem and accept that it's very unhealthy for a person to spend too much time hooked with a smartphone.
I deleted the app I was wasting my time on. Starting with facebook. Many calls it social detox. First few days I felt the itch to check my notifications but with self restrain, I got over it and I feel so much free of negativity. I feel a lot better with only using messenger and only communicating with very few people.
I stopped purchasing mobile data. I don't know if it worked for anyone else but it worked for me. Without the mobile data, I began to notice my surroundings. I am now enjoying going for walks or uber rides home because I am no longer on my phone.
I increased the numbers of productivity applications on my phone. Deleted unused apps.
I began to use to wifi off button. I no longer feel like it's necessary to leave the wifi on all the time. It's not, they have the on/off button for a reason. I used to be the kind of person who'd leave the wifi on and would get up from the dinner table just to check any popping notification. Now, switching off wifi feels like a bliss.
Establishing a thought that my smart phone is with me all the time but it doesn't means that I should be on it all the time and I should only use it when I need to. This one simple thought helped me to reduce my screen time to 87% this week and I am glad to see that I am actually free from my smartphone's invisible handcuffs.

I believe we must maintain a balance. I am doing everything I can with my will power to maintain that balance between productivity and entertainment. When it come's to my productivity I am not willing to make any compromises. But it doesn't means that I am willing to spend hours working with no breaks. No way, I take small breaks and big breaks as well while working/learning. Feel free to leave a comment or your thoughts.