When I was in school (grade school and college), I was taught so many blatantly false things about the world.
- You have to be literally the best at everything you do in order to get ahead in life because everyone is extremely skilled and knowledgeable in the real world
- You must build up as many skills as possible. the vocabulary tests and textbook memorization they have you spending years of your life on will actually come in handy one day
- Technical skills are the most important thing you can possibly possess, and the vocabulary tests, or textbook memorization they have you spending years of your life on will come in handy after you graduate
- Everyone you will meet in the workforce will be incredibly adept and skilled at their job, making it extremely competitive to get ahead, or to get a job
- You will have a great career with an incredible salary, and awesome career growth if you work hard and do everything you're supposed to do
- Education will directly help you and your career long term
Each and every one of these things is a blatant lie, a falsehood that the education system drills into people to brainwash them into thinking that There is an actual point to getting an education, and that your career will lead to growth and pay off in the long term.
Here's what the real world is actually like:
- Half of the people you work with have little/no idea what they're doing, or don't fully understand what it is they're doing. This isn't tied to age or experience. It's a pandemic problem you'll experience through any job/industry/age bracket. People are “learning as they go” or they're just acting like they know everything, and when it comes time to prove they know what they're responsible for, other people learn they don't know what they're doing at all. Managers, for example, learn as they go. You can be a “manager” who knows literally nothing about the people you're managing. Data manager, analytics manager, IT manager… who has never once in their life programmed, used excel, worked in a database. It's insanity
- Most of the stuff you learned in college, remembered in your text book, is non-existent/absent in the real world. Say you work in IT. Remember all those business terms and vocab you learned? No one knows them. Your engineers did a “bootcamp” they paid $500 for, and they don't know half of what they claim to. I've met so many “engineers” who knew less than I did, or seemed to be completely clueless. How is that possible? I know Java and Python, and this “backend engineer” doesn't know how to write an if-else, or a for loop.
- Technical skills are literally worthless. You had a 4.0 GPA and know 5 programming languages? That's great! Here's a bare-minimum salary for that job with 3% “wage increase” yearly. You'll also get laid off frequently even though you're “essential”, and when the business has record breaking profits. Look at Meta, Google, Facebook, Amazon, Apple if you don't believe me. Many people laid off or fired are extraordinarily skilled at what they do. They could cite an entire textbook on a programming language from heart, they could build a huge application in days. So if they're so technical and “valuable”, why are they laid off? The really important skills are interpersonal/social skills. Knowing how to impress people, garner support, make friends, and make people like you is infinitely more important than any technical skill you'll ever gain
- Career growth is a myth. You'll spend tons of time in company-lead career growth trainings, workshops, training, only to be denied promotions because you don't have enough experience, or you're “not the right fit” for leadership positions, but the manager they hired outside the company who knows literally nothing about your company was. That makes sense, right? Career growth is a treadmill with a carrot above it to make you think you're moving in a direction, but in reality, you're going nowhere, while keeping the lights on for them
- Education is MEANINGLESS. It's a requirement, but does it net you a higher salary? Nope! I've seen thousands of white-collar jobs that “require” a bachelor's degree or master, and they pay the exact same as other jobs that don't. Even worse is the fact that you'll encounter people who don't have a degree, and they make the same, or even more than you. Also, your degree will NOT help you move up faster. The education you have received is 100% meaningless piece of toilet paper that literally no one will ask to see, and no one will be impressed by
- You're expendable 100% of the time. No job is secure, guaranteed, or even required. How do big companies like Twitter, Meta, Google, Facebook, Amazon, Apple lay off tens of thousands of people on a whim and nothing changes? Managers, directors, analysts, help desk, IT, etc. Doesn't matter what job you are, or how important you think you are. You're never exempt from layoffs, and when layoffs do happen, the imaginary “value” that you provided to your company evaporates instantly. Nothing changes. why? Because you were spending a hideous amount of time on something that literally provided no value or anything physical at all. But you thought you did, huh?
Basically, colleges lie to young people about what the real world is actually like. I worked at several Fortune 500 companies, and the things I have learned have been incredibly enlightening. The most important thing I've learned in summary is that you should make enough time to enjoy your life because no matter how much you work on your professional skills, no matter how good of an employee become, it will simply not matter in the long run
You can spend years and years working your life away for minimal gains, but what you can't get back is time to enjoy your life