Electrical Engineering – My Career And Life Pursuit
An African proverb says, "If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. ” It is trite that networking of intellectuals and like-minds is an investment that always yields positive results. It then goes without saying that interaction with others to exchange information and develop professional and/or social contacts is the sole aim of networking. It is on this premise that I firmly believe that without making contact with other individuals, one can hardly excel in his career and, generally, life pursuit.
As a student-scholar in the university, I was afforded the rare privilege of being part of a group of academics in the school and this helped me a great deal especially in securing an internship placement with AIRTEL Nigeria- a telecommunications company in Nigeria. As a result of the relationship I fostered, I was able to get necessary information, referral letters and even contacts of some persons who were more than willing to share from their wealth of experience. During the internship period, I had the opportunity to grow my network by meeting and interacting with the bigwigs in my profession through my active participation in workshops and trainings I attended. It was at one of these exercises that I met a senior colleague who recommended a training center where I could fine-tune my programming skills.
In my final year as an undergraduate of Electrical Engineering, I organized a seminar. With the aim of making my seminar presentation as professional as possible, I reached out to officials of the Transmission Company of Nigeria whom I had met earlier during a faculty-organized field trip to their company. Having them make scholarly contributions to my seminar presentation not only made it a success but also distinguished it from all others but more importantly, it helped me develop a close relationship with a staff of the company, thus, forming a bond that would transcend our professional lives.
In the coming years, I hope to build a network of individuals who are bringing about innovations through technological advancements and making giant strides in their respective fields across the African continent and the world as a whole. As of now, seventy percent of my networking activity is used equitably for bolstering up my career enhancements and personal development. The other thirty percent is used for accumulating ideas that could assist determine strategic action which would uplift. However, as I advance in my career, more effort would be allocated to exploit my network to help me determine the strategic action. It is envisaged that when responsibility increases, the problems that require solution and the results to be delivered will need cooperation, information and resources from both people within and outside one’s network. Aside from my professional line, I plan to team up with like minds from various walks of life, in order to collectively impact our immediate environment and change the world.
