Attitude Isn't Everything, Just Like Deg Isn't Everything

Warning! Long wordy entry!!

Like what is mentioned above. Attitude isn't everything when you don't have a degree nowadays. But likewise, just because you have a degree/masters, doesn't mean you are everything as well. I had a serious discussion over this matter with Feng many months ago, when I tried to persuade him to take a degree. But something happened which he'll not be able to take it..at least for this year.

During our discussion (more like debate), I stood on the side of having a degree is a plus. He, of course, stood at the side of having a degree isn't everything; attitude counts. He told me he had friends who were degree holders, top honours no less, earning lesser than a diploma holder in the company, working his ass off to get just a measely 3K despite having over 5years of working experience. I agreed to a certain extent that some degree holders are rather sway (unlucky). They paid alot of money to get that piece of paper, spent countless nights studying, killed millions of brain cells just for such lousy jobs. But let me give you 2 examples of my friends who are doing pretty well now. Kids in secondary school/poly/JC, please read and maybe change your failing results to As!

Crystal is a friend whom I got closer during my repeat year in poly back in year 2000. Both of us were from the same lecture hall and were smokers. We smoked together back then. But the difference between us is that although she slacked alot during class, she makes up for it by studying very hard (as in no sleep) before the exams. However, I was too playful. I mean, I took for granted that I had studied all these before, I need not work that hard at all. I was wrong. Apparently I failed in 1999 because I had weak foundations. When I repeat in 2000, I was actually given a 2nd chance to work hard to build my foundations. I guess I was too full of myself. When I got kicked out of poly in year 2001, Crystal moved onto year 2. And in 2002, when I returned to TP (another course..apparently IT/ICP and Hospitality Mgmt don't accept removed students), Crystal was studying her final year le. When I'm struggling with my 2nd year, Crystal was already in the work force earning experience whereas I'm still struggling with my studies..which has another 2 more years before it ends.

Crystal, after the near-death of being removed, became very hardworking. So much so, she was putting in 18hrs of work everyday. Yes..18. She was having a very good working attitude. The boss and managers all love her. Who doesn't? All these for a measely pay of 1800/mth WITHOUT OT pay. Crystal, after working for a couple of years, decided to quit and study full time. She decided to go Aust to pursue a deg. She can afford it, cause her family's rich. As in really rich! Her house has a gym!! As in HER HOUSE...her mom bought all the equipments on a whim. That's how rich they are. I asked her why she decided to go study. She told me that her manager asked her into the office one day and told her that they wanted to promote her. So they asked for her degree. She didn't have any. She was only a diploma student. And the manager told her this," I want to promote you, really I do. But our company's policy is that you have to have a degree before you can be a manager." This spurred her to get a degree. Life doesn't get more real and uglier than this.

Fast forward to 2008. Crystal has a degree in IT. She's working in a company that gives her monthly pay in USD (she's pretty pissed now that the USD has dropped), allows her to earn so much that she's able to travel around the world every year. She'd been to Cairo, USA, India, Spain and goodness knows where. And at every destination, she stays at least 10 days and above. She's now a project manager. Cause she has the attitude AND the degree.

Vera. Vera is a secondary school friend of mine. She's in the top class whereas I'm in the bottom class. She's very hardworking also. She's those kind of people who has good grades, go JC, go Uni and have a good job. Not neccessarily though. She told me when she graduated from NTU, her first job's pay was only 1600. That's equivalent to a diploma holder's pay ok. But she was ok with it. She coninued to work hard, and her job required her to fly often. After working at the company for 2 years, her efforts were not wasted. She was headhunted. Now she's earning 4K+ every month, living the life she never had. She can buy things and not worry about money. She has the degree AND the attitude.

Back when I was younger, I always wanted to study in Singapore uni. I told my mom I wanted to go SRJC and then to NUS/NTU. But I was all talk and no action. I continued to play around and not paying attention in class. And like most secondary school students, me and my friends compared who had the lowest marks and was proud of it. We would go around comparing our marks and then when someone failed, I would be the one (most of the time) telling them,"Hey your marks still ok lor! You got 40 leh! I only got 20+!" By and by, I was somehow the benchmark of making people feel good about themselves. Whenever anyone failed, they would come to me and compare marks, just in hope that I'll score lower than them. Thinking back, when I DID score better than them, I was elated.

Looking back, I did kinda regret why I didn't study just this harder abit. Not during my secondary school of course, cause I did pretty good. =] TK one leh. LoL. Top 30 (ranked 26 in 1998) school in SG leh. *Proud* I was pretty regretting why I didn't study harder back in poly. Cause people of my age are having at least 2 years of working experience by the time I finally graduated in 2005. And by the time I gained 2 years of working experience, they had 2 years of experience AND a degree. -_-" Hard to catch up to them..will never catch up. Cause time is already lost. And now that I'm 26 and pursuing my degree, I feel kinda old. But this time, I'm set to study smart. I'm set to get my degree. Cause in this reality world, it's always better to be more educated than the next person. My uncle, who is 50 this year, is doing his doctorate. I need to get a degree to educate myself and hage a stupid piece of paper to fall back on. It's so obvious. The pay wise that is.

Normal uni grad - starting pay $2200 and above
Honours uni grad - starting pay $2600 and above
Normal dip grad - starting pay $1500 and above
Merit dip grad - starting pay $1900 and above

Isn't this just enough to justify how much aht stupid paper is worth? A $700 difference ok!! 700/mth is equals to $8400/yr!!! Meaning, you can go Japan every year for shopping!! Hahahaha...I miss Japan too much.

I told my friend this, so I decided to share with you..

Good results + Good attitude = Good prospect
Good results + Bad attitude = Good pay
Bad results + Good attitude = So-so life with little prospect
Bad results + Bad attitude = Failure

This is just my view. I think I wrote too much. But I can discuss this topic for hours!! LoL. Look at my poly classmates (from engineering). Out of the 11 of us who always meet up every month, 2 are graduating from NTU (Huiling) and Uni SA (Sue) next year. 3 are studying in uni currently. 1 is entering uni (me lor!!) this Aug. 3 are deciding to study uni next year. Only 2 are not taking a deg. That's at least a 81.82% of us taking degree. 10 years ago, a diploma is a big hoo-ha. Now, you pick a stone and throw at anyone along the streets of Orchard, chances are you would hit a degree holder or an uni undergrad. You would definitely hit a diploma holder of course, cause diplomas are just too...normal. Just like O lvl certs some 10 years ago.

15 years ago, min requirement for a taxi driver may be that as long as you know basic English and mother tongue, it's good enough. So sorry, some 9 years back, an ex colleague was taking a taxi license and he informed me that at least a 3 O lvl credit. The other time I was taking a cab, and the taxi driver was an A level holder! Soon, a degree will be nothing. In HK, a degree is already as normal as our diploma. Someday, even a masters won't be enough...so kids, even if your family can afford to send you to some private sch/overseas to study, wouldn't it be better to study hard now and enjoy later in life? I did the crime (not studying hard enough), so now I'm paying for the time lost. Which is already lost lor. No matter how hard I study or whatever, I can't turn back the clock. @#$%%^. Don't be like me ah!!!