Choosing What to Study and Why It Matters Less than You'd Think

Looking at the demographics for my website, my readers are usually in the 16-20 something range. This, plus the fact that I’m in the middle of my university studies myself, makes me think this is the right time to tell you what I believe about choosing a field of study. This won’t be any sort of definitive guideline, rather, it is a list of reasons not to take this step of your life too seriously. Just seriously enough 👌

There is so much pressure currently, getting increasingly more overwhelming the more you approach your application deadlines. Let’s say you have a course in mind, you even chose a country and a university. All seems good, but unavoidably, you get to the point of doubt. Is this the right thing for me? Then you reassure yourself, of course it is, you were made to be a insert job title. Then you get to another point of doubt, you meet someone who works in the sphere and get conflicted. Even if you’re already studying and even working in your sphere, surely a moment arises when you think to yourself that maybe your choice wasn’t as good. This, at least in my opinion, comes from the fact that there are just so many options. If you are good at maths, you can go into everything from programming, to engineering, to architecture, etc. Good at English? Take languages, philosophy, literature, history, etc. And since the uni journey takes a few years, not a week or something, it doesn’t feel too intuitive that you can change your decision later on.

Sticking to 1 subject - a surefire way to frustration

If you have ever taken a good look at any successful person, they are rarely extremely good at just one thing. Elon Musk isn’t just an engineer, he is also a businessman, marketer, manager. Take any famous creative person as well - if they had not been good at advertising, business, etc, they wouldn’t have become famous for their drawings in the first place.

On the other hand (which is really the same metaphorical hand), many people who are good at one sphere are just that. Good mathematicians, good painters, so on… If they ever get any sort of success, it would stem from their personal skills and expertise, not from the piece of paper they got at the end of their degree.

That’s not to say that university is useless - just the contrary, otherwise I wouldn’t be in one as well. It’s just far from the only thing you need to do in your life to get successful. As sad as it is, there are many skilled people on this planet, and in order to get the good bucks, we need to stand out from the crowd. So, try not to pressure yourself too much over what exactly you’ll study. Imagine this scenario, you choose Course X, let’s say it’s Biomedical Engineering, the course I’m into right now. I’m quite enjoying it, but this does not mean I will like it forever, and I can always go back to some of my other options - programming, graphic design (yeah, I was a confused teen). Even if I decide Biomedical Engineering is too difficult, too underpaid, I can always rely on the skills I learned in uni to still be able to pursue a job in a number of careers. And if I am so hell-bent on getting another degree, I can always try and get one with a different course - I’ll already have the necessary study skills and determination in excess anyway.

What I’m trying to say, is that the decision you make when you’re 16, 17, or 18 is probably not going to be the best one. It can still be a very very good one, but it mustn’t be the final be-all decision that will rule the remainder of your life. If you’re still not quite sure if that’s bonkers or not, read ahead, I got my arguments ready cracks knuckles

There isn’t a perfect job

Just as I was doing my programming homework for uni today (I have a Python class), I thought to myself - to be a programmer, apparently, you need good organization and time management skills, as well as analytical thinking. Doesn’t this make me by default a very good programmer? For a moment I really contemplated whether being a biomedical engineer even makes sense. But then I thought on. Would I really enjoy being a computer guy as well? Maybe, maybe not. Would I have the opportunity to help people medically as a computer guy? Probably not.

There is at least one reason why you would be fitting for some type of profession, for any type really. If someone is good enough at marketing, they’d be able to persuade you to take up literally any job.

Do you have some computer skills? Why not become a computer guy!

You don’t know what a computer is? This is the future of the technological world, you’ll learn it, why not study IT?

The truth is, if you spend enough time studying and practicing something, you’ll get good at it. This is both the nice and terrible truth. I’ve always said my girlfriend is great at maths, objectively, and she is. Does it mean she needs to study some sort of engineering when she is actually interested in music and culture? Absolutely not, obviously.

And this is true even if you look at it from the opposite angle - just as much as you would be good at any skill with enough time and effort, you would also never be perfectly suited for a given profession. There are always bad days, there are always reasons to quit. This happens because humans aren’t equal to their professions. We are much more, much more complex and colourful, and if we were so rigid that we could have been put in just one box, we’d all be parked in the same office building typing our lives away. Thankfully, we don’t need to.

Skills are everywhere

Somewhere above I mentioned that you can always restart at a given point. This doesn’t mean getting back at the beginning of your uni career. You can still be a uni graduate, but a uni graduate on their way to a cooking class, a coding class, an interview for a job you haven’t studied years for. Especially in our age of information (and informational overload, even), you have no excuse not to learn a skill if you wish to, and possibly have a few bucks to spare. There are thousands of free and paid courses in any skill you can think of, hell, I’m almost sure they’d start certifying people to become doctors after some classes on Skillshare (whether they should is another question).

From what I know of programming people, who are in university, mind you, you mainly learn programming in your own time and on the job. No amount of uni preparations will be enough if you don’t get to practice, and thankfully, practice opportunities are everywhere.

So it becomes more of a question of “Do I have the energy required to get this skillful?“.

There is this thing I realized, as to why people choose to go to university so readily, even though it is so expensive and demanding. The truth is that once you get accepted into university, you get a free pass not to think about your future for a few years. While you’re studying, you can just study. The problem comes when you graduate and you still don’t have an idea as to what future you want to choose. And this can definitely be a good thing because at 18 years old, you are probably not in the best condition to choose for the rest of your life. Thankfully, you have lots of years to do so, and again, no decision is final and terminal. Just don’t treat uni as an escape mechanism - rather, try and perceive it as this giant workshop, where you’ll meet a ton of like-minded people, who will help guide you in the direction that will make you happy. Or, as I’m trying to say this whole article, one of the many directions that will make you happy.

Life is long and full of opportunities

As cheesy as this last paragraph is, this is the truth. You’ll have literally so many opportunities to goof around and choose for yourself again and again. As long as you make some good money to keep the roof above your head, who says you need to work in just one profession? Especially when you’re young, you have enough wiggle room to experiment with how you perceive yourself both professionally and on a personal front, why not use this time to do some soul-searching?

I have friends who knew what they’d study for as long as I know them, others are still wondering. Both have the same chances of being happy and successful, by their own definition. And there is always the chance that one may doubt their career choices, no matter how good they think they got it. Life just knows how to throw good curveballs at us. So we either get damn good at dodging (not recommended), or we take the hits and seek happiness and fulfillment even when hardship and doubt come our way.

What do you think of university? Is it a good thing or is it the devil’s (and capitalism’s) spawn?

[And for those of you who are in uni, you can read my articles on how to get Laserbeam Study and Work focus and some Time Management skills]