Hey everybody,
As you might know I am about to graduate from the wonderful Northeastern University and I have no idea what I am going to do later. Oh of course I know what I
would like to work in, but I don't know how to reach that goal per se. For older readers, you've been there, you know how it is to ask yourself questions "Am I making the right choice", "will I regret it if I do this" etc... And that's pretty much the state of mind I had lately.
And then I started to do something really immature but that proved to the best idea I ever had. I started to just ignore the pressure, take the ostrich-like approach if you wish. I focused on school work and MassChallenge and my friends. I started blogging again, reconnected on Twitter, posted my resume on Monster, let it go and had some interviews, began going intensively on TED.com and began translating for them. All in all nothing that could "get me a job" as my parents would say. Well that's true. Yeah.
However, what I realized by doing all of those things (and being an intern for 6 months taught me that too) is that first of all I don't need the get the best job in the big corporation that my parents have always dreamt for me. Not only do I not need it but I most certainly don't want it. I look at my friends who are about to embark on a life-long of frustration, in a dark office with a tedious job and a lot of money. Good for them. Not for me.
I also know that I am not happy if I stay too long at the same place, I want to move all the time, I want to discover new things or I grow tired of my environment. Zapping generation, it's what my parents call us. How is it a bad thing? I don't think it is, it's the way of life, not being able to do the same thing for a long period of time is not necessarily bad and is not necessarily a sign of inconsistency. It is the sign that our generation is changing, and so is the world. And this is due to technological improvements, globalization or what have you. Now all we need is the dinosaurs to realize what's happening.
Because I accepted the fact that I need to change, I started looking into that path of life, and I've seen the trend. It is not only me, it is indeed all of us, we are always on the go, it put my hopes higher than they were and I decided to embrace the change.
What's moving now is entrepreneurship; and by that I don't mean I want to create my company or whatever. Well actually I do, but not now. What I mean by that is that start-ups, young businesses, small businesses are attracting more and more people, including me, because they change faster. "Ability to adapt to a fast-paced environment" is written in almost every job description and I want to say "the only way I can prove that to you is by telling you my age, because all of us are able to adapt to a fast-paced environment, this is what we dream of". Having a nomad life, expatriating often, changing jobs, changing positions and tasks is what I want my life to look like.
What is even better with globalization is that we can do that now. I have a computer with a built-in webcam and microphone, most likely I got Internet everywhere I go, I got an iPhone and a bike. Today my office can be my bed and tomorrow the coffee shop around the corner. Next year? For all I know it could Accra, Ghana or Boulder, Colorado or even Paris, France. I can wake up to the mountains or the sea and have the job I'd have if I was living in the city. It's up to us, it's possible and it's happening. Now.
To get more insight of the life of a nomad, check out my cousin's blog
52ndwest. A French citizen living in secluded Austria who travels around to Mexico, Europe and the US. It's the way to be.
Yours truly,
