WORKER TIP: MAKING THE SWITCH IN CAREERS

A BRICKLAYER BECOMES A MEDICAL DOCTOR …

Some of you in this group are workers. It is possible that you may want to make a switch in careers later. Some may want to do so because what they are doing now is not what they really wanted to do.

Switches are practical when you are young, single and can afford further training – as in going back to school for a year or more.

If you want to make a switch, try to learn something else while you are working where you are now.

There are books and sites on the internet that can help you learn many skills while you wait to make the switch.

When I was doing first year in uni, there was a young man (who was from the same area as me) who would turn up in our dorm in the nights to do his studies and complete his assignments.

He would be dusty all over when he came around with his small bag because during the days he worked as a bricklayer with a construction company.

You see, straight after Grade 10 he went to a technical college and learned the trade.

But there was this desire burning in him to learn more and become a professional in another field.

That was the reason why he worked during the day and studied in the nights.

A few years later, after completing his matriculation studies with UPNG, he came on to study Science.

After the first year, he decided to study Medicine – not Geology or Physics.

When I was in the field teaching for more than six years, I read in the newspaper that the bricklayer had graduated and – at the age of 30 - was now to work as a medical doctor.

A few years later I heard that the man went to US for more studies.

His story is one of many that show that if you really want something enough to sacrifice, you can have it.