₦airaland Forum

Johnbosco1:
I'll tell you a story.

There's this girl who aced all her subjects in secondary school.

Not just acing but award-worthy educational success.

She was so good that at her Junior Secondary 3 (JSS 3) level, she was solving mathematical problems from Senior Secondary 1 & 2 (SS 1 & 2) curriculum.

1st Mistake

She loved Maths & computers but was admitted into the university to study Geology.

Today, she still thinks she would have been a computer/statistics wizard if she'd been allowed to just study Math or Computer Engineering. You know - subjects where she doesn't have to always cram some qualitative garbage but provide quantitative solutions.

2nd Mistake

When she got into the university, she realized she didn't have to study very hard. Very few people were bothering to anyway. She was extremely smart & could hold her own but it became easier to combine intellectual efforts with other students at assignments, tests & final exams.

The system allowed it.

All her friends did it so, why fight it?

3rd Mistake

While at school, no one ever taught her how to write a résumé or successfully approach interviews.

She, just like everyone around her wanted a good life but the system pretty much set them up to fail.

When she graduated, she met a professional at an international oil & gas company who asked her what she wanted to do in life & to explain her undergraduate degree experience but she was not prepared for that.

She gave answers which were weak, mostly incoherent, lacked precision or clarity.

She'd never thought of herself in that light.

The internet wasn't readily accessible back then so she was pretty much left on her own with her fellow ignorant peers.

She also had a great & supportive family who she leaned on.

Luckily for her, she got some mentors, then left the country for her masters degree.

At 1st, she struggled at her Canadian university.

Correcting her 2nd mistake

She had to actually learn all those skills & resources she didn't bother with back in Nigeria due to combined students’ efforts.

She had to read all those textbooks she never bothered with in her Nigerian university in order to excel at her program.

Correcting her 3rd mistake

She also met lecturers whose method of teaching was about empowering students to run with their ideas.

It wasn't about multiple choice questions but making a case of why Case A is better/worse than Case B.

It made her actually think for the 1st time in her life. She learned how to make great presentations. It was a confidence boost. It was exhilarating!

She learned about plagiarism which is a very despicable thing. She also learned about self-development, professional development & presentations.

She learned it was ok to make decisions, make mistakes & then learn from them.

She became comfortable working alone & also with a team. She learned the power of independence.

She was a different person.

She became more confident about her thoughts & ideas. No one laughs at her mistakes nor condemns her for them.

Her bosses don't care about always being right or barking orders at those under them. Team contributions is crucial, encouraged & needed.

Everybody is equal. No one feared anyone. It was a healthy environment. She was valued. She freely runs her program the way she sees fit.

This is a story of a lady I read on quora.

there's no correcting my 1st mistake, she said. If I ever do, I'll tell a story about it.

Her First Mistake was her greatest mistake which she believed cannot be corrected or at least had been so late given her achievements and age. While I see her reasons, I'm inclined to say swiftly that some have been there and were able to find themselves back to their dreams. If you asked them how they were able to do that, they would say, well we realized that it's never too late to do or not do anything so we retraced our steps back from where we started our journey. It's simple but it takes COURAGE! You on the other hand now have the privilege to change and reshape your future, and embrace your passion for the better before you term it as being "too late", Why don't you take it? What could be more important? Don't you know that realising your passion at this stage is an opportunity which will bring open doors. Chimamanda would say "just try", so why don't you try.

If you read this, you'd understand how the Nigerian system encourages laziness & might discourage talent because of envy, pride and incompetent scholars.

Many Nigerian graduates are victims of their own underdeveloped & redundant society.

Pascal, Assembly language, VB and Fortran didn't help us because they were outdated even before we began our journey so don't find comfort in them. Strive to acquire new trends and you will never regret taking this bold step.

Maybe with the internet, a few might self-improve. Otherwise, they're unemployable because there's very few competent people to teach and direct them better.

Note to any Nigerian student reading this - don't take the easy way out. Read not just to pass your examinations but to actually know and don't rely on only what you are being thought in college.

You'd be truly a better person & student for it.

Good luck

good day sir...this is the most inspiring post I have ever read on this platform... I want to know more and learn from you,am sending you a mail sir

23Tunde45:
I think you should finish your mechanical Engineering since you are actually good at it, and try to regain your first class. Then, you can do masters in Computer Science.

Based on my brothers life, my Brother schooled in a Naija University. At first, he wanted to do Electrical Engineering because my Dad was an Engineer but he didn’t make the cut-off mark so he moved to Geoinformatics and Survey which I guess is a Geology related course. He wanted to switch to Computer Science but his department refused to sign his papers simply because they had few students in their dapartment department so they wanted him to stay. Eventually, he graduated with 2:2 in Geoinformatics and Surveying.

However, he didn’t give up on Computer Science, he continued to self teach himself some programming languages like Visual Basic and C#. He tried to create some app that would ease transportation experience in Lagos but he didn’t finish it. Anyway, he applied for a Job in Nigeria and actually got one with a pay of N100k per month. They probably gave him the Job based on his previous Geoinformatics and Surveying internship work experience in a reputable oil company in Naija and his previous projects like the transportation app. He even became a team leader under one year. The next year, he resigned and travelled to the US to do his masters in Computer Science and if you can remember, he never learnt Computer Science in Univeristy or any technical school.

While in the US doing his masters, he got an internship job that was about $40k a year but he did internship for only one semester and graduated after the following semester. He got a job about 4-6 months later and his currently working with an annual pay of $100k.

So, you can continue your Mechanical Engineering which is even more related to Computer Science than Geoinformatics and Surveying. Try to regain interest in the courses you have left so that you can regain your A+ status, then apply for scholarships to study Masters in Computer Science: Robotics. I believe you’ll go far in life with such combo; Bachelor in Mechanical Engineering and Masters in Robotics.

I hope this makes sense and it’s helpful. Cheers!

good day sir, can i send you an email

Gauss15:
I'd need a candid advice on this nairalanders. I'm a 300L mechanical engineering student but after my 200L, I noticed I was no more drawn to mechanical engineering as I'd have to do some courses I've no interest in.

So far, the only courses I've come to really like in mechanical engineering is mechanics, strength of material and machine designs. Reason being that I want to major in robotics.

I've had thoughts of switching to electrical and electronics engineering because of my interest in embedded systems. But, it'd take me back to 200l and I'd have to spend extra 2yrs in school. But I thought of borrowing some courses from Elect and then switching over to computer science as I've been into programming that it makes me drop my mechanical engineering's textbooks too often.

Because I had lost some money last year and my detachment from mechanical engineering, I had dropped from 1st class to 2.1 which stands at impeding my chance of getting a scholarship to further my studies in Robotics. I will not be able to come up to a first class unless I borrow tons of courses. Being that scholarships are highly competitive, I'm considering switching to computer science because it harbours my love for programming and electronics. I'm 25, and considering that I'd drop down to 200L as opposed to the 400l I'm heading towards, I was supposed to graduate by '20 but I'd be graduating by '21 if I change to computer science which is just a year difference. By then, I'd be 28.

Am I making the right choice? I really don't have the passion for mechanical again. I need some pieces of advice and possible outcomes of my decision.

u are a uite sir....I just gained admission sir...I would love to meet and learn from you sir....thank you in anticipation

Computer science is better. We have enough mechanics. You won't regret studying computer science, its a digital world.

Mulatta:
Try mechatronics

What is that course all about? I have been hearing of it.

This piece makes me feel uneasy, i finished my OND in computer engineering and wanted to gain admission into uni by all means, i finally was admitted to study geology.

Right from start, i knew i made a mistake, my vision has always been in the I.T industry but age and resources were not on my side to even consider transferring to another depart, finally graduated this year, but i feel like that degree is useless, i have finally returned to programming (web and mobile app dev.) and i wish to get back to school very soon via direct entry to obtain a degree in information technlogy.

If you can bear the age ish, then i urge you to transfer, and maybe information tech would be preferrable self. Shalom.

Colourich:
What is that course all about? I have been hearing of it.

Lots of calculations and engineering work

gigabyte01:
good day sir, can i send you an email

Sure, but please make sure your message is related to the topic we are discussing here, Thanks!

Better go for blood money