Sunday, November 23, 2008

Next Floor: Work Experience

So I have now changed the name of this blog from Chronicles of the 12th Floor, to Chronicles of the Next Floor. For those you don't know, the 12th floor is where I spent most of my time in University: the 12th floor of the Hall Building at Concordia. The change to the Next Floor represents my quest to find the next level, the level where I can continue learning in a more practical and technical way. I believe in some camps this is called experience.

In my very long search for employment following graduating, I became incredibly bitter with the fact that without experience (or sometimes more vaguely, time since graduation, as i had already some years of experience in my field upon graduating) you can't get a job. Even internships, that are meant for people with no experience, are looking for people with experience.

Luckily, I ended up finding a job, but in a field that I am just so tired of :recycling. It leaves no room for gaining more real experience. Just plain recycling. Oh and sometimes garbage, composting, and waste-free lunches at schools. There's only so much beneficial experience i can absorb by helping people figure out which plastics are recyclable and explaining that they can only put their garbage and recycling out between 5am and 8am on the day of pick-up. I don't care if you're attached to an oxygen machine that only turns off at 10am. Find a neighbour who can help. And stop telling me you don't have neighbours, you live in a god-damn city!

I've decided then that in order to get real experiences, one needs to sacrifice a little. And that is why I decided I am going to Vietnam. I will be volunteering for 4 months with an organisation who needs help, but who have very little to offer except experience.

It's something that i want to do, and need to do. Need to do in order to gain experience, become more independent, know where i really want to be (do i want to be in Montréal forever?), and know where i really want to go (do i want to break into the community sector?).

And so this blog will follow me on my journey to answer all these questions and to overcome the million roadblocks that i can see in the horizon. Hopefully i will find the Next Floor.

3 comments:

Jeannetto said...

I like the widget and I'm glad you're updating your blog.

I dont understand this sentence:
Luckily, I ended up finding a job, but in a field that I am just so tired of, and which leads very room for gaining more real experience: recycling.

This post makes it seem like your going for the resume filler rather than helping the people, Im sure that isnt true, or at least once you arrive that view will change. Of course, saying that, I know everyday, every move you make (besides sex, unless you use recycled condoms?) is basically an attempt to help rebalance this planet.

I think you'll become a totally different person. And Im only saying that because I heard the water in Vietnam is really really dirty. And you're usually such a clean dude.

Jonathan said...

Thanks for your comment, Jeannette. I've fixed up the sentence, because it didn't really make sense.

The boring job is not really a reflection on why i am going to Vietnam, it's more of the motivation to move onto something better and more exciting.

This project in Vietnam does give me good experience, but this is the type of thing i want to be doing... possibly forever. Like you said, i am passionate about the environment.

Recycling is only a very itsy bitsy peice of the environment bubble. And i want to move on to something more meaningful.

Jeannetto said...

I see!