I went to a recruitment talk today by Liberty Global, a company that does lots of stuff. The email from the university mentioned finance, technology and cybersecurity, the latter two in which I am looking for jobs.
These things always give out merch, and today they gave out USB converters and sweets. The irony of the USB converters is that cybersecurity lesson 1 is “Do not plug in random dongles”. Needless to say, the event was only about finance, as their tech and cybersecurity graduate schemes had already closed.
The guy giving the talk was Charlie Bracken. He has 7 kids and later I found out that he made 17 million pounds a year in 2021. Say he works 80 hours a week. That’s over 4000 pounds an hour!
Afterwards, I was queueing up to talk to Kam Sidhu, a senior finance recruitment manager, who kindly offered to put me in touch with the tech recruitment guys for entry-level jobs. But on the way there, Charlie chatted to us in the queue. I summarised the situation – I am a third year looking for jobs in cybersecurity.
He incredulously inquired:
“Why’d you leave it so late?”
I replied, a little uneasily:
“Well, I’m doing biology and I realised that I don’t want to do it.”
He responded that I have time, being young, and that a career is something worth thinking about. But I knew that I wanted to get into tech months, maybe years ago.
So I misled him. The reality is that university has made me stagnant (a thought in the passive mood – I have become stagnant at university). And that is something this guy definitely was not. Here was a man who does not make excuses.
And never again give yourself a reason to make excuses, Vanya.
“You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.”
Marcus Aurelius