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My experience in the “real world”
May 26th, 2009 by LoriAround one year ago, I started my PEY (Professional Experience Year) job at a mid-sized software company in downtown Toronto. It was the first time got a taste of life in a typical office job, surrounded by grey cubicle walls for hours a day. Below is my analysis of a general work experience versus school experience.
School: There is a foreseeable end (graduation).
Work: No foreseeable end, until retirement.
School: Being around people who are your age who have a similar lifestyle as you.
Work: Seeing the same people everyday, some of whom are likely to be significantly older than you. Also, if you don’t happen to get along with one of them, you are basically screwed.
School: Sitting through boring lectures, although you can skip them sometimes (or sleep through).
Work: Sitting through boring meetings that you can’t get out of and have to pay attention in.
School: Being thousands of dollars in debt.
Work: Having a steady income.
School: Being sleep-deprived and looking like a bum because you’re trying to meet some deadline… which seems to be the case all year! Eating meals at odd hours because you have class.
Work: Having a regular work schedule. When you leave, you can stop working and thinking about work (hopefully).
School: Uncertainty about what to do after graduation, or whether you will be delivering pizza.
Work: To me it seems that it would be generally pretty easy to find a new job in a similar field.
School: Can wear whatever you want.
Work: Being restricted to a dress code.
School: Feeling completely demoralized from getting a/many crappy mark(s).
Work: People are quite forgiving of mistakes, I think, as long as you don’t repeat them.
School: Wondering, “What is the point?” and “Who cares?” when you’re in alone at 12am in library in the middle of winter, torturing yourself for an assignment or exam.
Work: Someone is likely going to benefit from or at least appreciate the work you do. You also get a good feeling from having accomplished something.
Don’t get me wrong; I am not saying that I am not liking the experience, because it’s been an amazing learning experience. On the other hand, when I started this job, I honestly thought that I would be returning for my last year of school kicking and screaming because I preferred working so much more.
Ten or so months in, I started feeling the opposite way. Now I am excited to go back to school in September, and don’t think that taking an extra year to graduate will be so bad anymore. I may even go to grad school (I never thought I would say that). I guess what I can conclude from this is that when you are ready to enter the work force, make sure that you are doing something that you really love, and everything will be ok.
May 27th, 2009 at 8:36 am
By about 6 months in, I was extremely excited to go back to school. There’s nothing as great as having a flexible schedule.
May 27th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
I was the complete opposite. I loved the experience, and the fact I could go home at 5pm and not worry about anything. I hate studying, and that always felt like a 24 hour job. I guess if i were one of those students that could get by without going to class or studying, i would have a different opinion
May 29th, 2009 at 10:33 pm
That’s interesting, I always thought that a 9-5 job would be more appealing than the crazy hours at school, but then again when you’re young, having flexible hours may be more appealing like staying out late out night. It’s no secret that all students (esp. @ U of T) are night owls.
June 2nd, 2009 at 2:51 am
Your blog made extremely valid points.
My friends who do coop (engineering, accounting, etc) at waterloo tell me that they always want to go back to school during their work terms, and vice versa. The pay is good but the work may not be all that interesting…but then again, it maybe due to the fact that they (and you) were hired as students
I agree, I’m not in a rush to start working full time either! Deep down, I enjoy school despite how stressful it is. I like the freedom.
June 2nd, 2009 at 9:36 pm
While being a coop in waterloo, i realized something. Id rather be a student. I couldnt wait for the clock to hit 4.30 and fridays and longweekends are awesome. Mondays are hell!
June 8th, 2009 at 2:34 pm
In my personal experience (I’ve been working for just under a year now), the biggest difference between school and work is a state of mind. This is something that doesn’t really come into play during PEY.
After you finish school and start working, it’s a little frightening because there is no overarching goal (i.e. graduation) for you to set as your direction. You’re left to discover your own direction and set your own goals. It’s very easy to feel lost, without direction and that you’re treading water and not accomplishing anything.
Haha, there’s a great article about this in Eye Magazine. “Welcome to Your Quarterlife Crisis”