You’re in your last grade of high school. You’ve just spent the past three years learning and with graduation a mere 10 months away it’s time to make some choices. The counsellors come in, the university reps come in, brochures are handed out and the sweat starts to pour as thousands of young minds decide on what job they want to do for the rest of their life… in a few brief months.

Theoritically you should have a great idea of what you want to do by now. You’ve had all of high school to figure out your future career, and technically all of grade school too. You’ve been to the career fairs and perhaps you’ve used those ridiculous “career finder” programs to discover what you were meant to be in 50 easy questions. In reality you’ve been busy with homework, sitting through insane amounts of lecture time (we had 90 minutes per course 5 times a week), working part-time, and still having time for going out and listening to rebellious music. Sure you’ve thought about it all before, but with little real experience in the career that you’re contemplating the application due date is approaching at tremendous velocity.

Hit the brakes and step back from it all. I did this when my university applications were coming up and chose to take a year off. It’s one of the best things I’ve ever done. It was also one of the toughest mentally, and a prime example of the binding power of the beaten path.

I’d been writing computer code since grade 8 and at the start of grade 12 (in a 13 grade system) I was absolutely convinced that I wanted to become a software developer. I loved programming and felt that it was the perfect career for me. Computer science and software engineering are the kinds of things that are easy for parents, friends, and counsellors to encourage so I had a lot of support for going in this direction. There was plenty of job opportunity, it was a white collar cushy job, and would make good money (note: these three points have huge fine print attached, but who knows that in high school?). I was also damn good at it too and got some recognition in computing contests.

By the start of grade 13 when applications were being filled out, I was no longer sure of computer science at all. This doubt had crept in as the prior summer had begun, and I entertained the idea of taking a year off. When applications came around I had done a significant amount of research on it and logically knew it to be a good idea. Nevertheless it was one of the hardest choices I’ve made in etching out my future.

I encountered a great deal of external and internal resistance. Those around me were worried that I might not go to university after the year was up. I would be a year behind everyone I knew. This simply wasn’t “the way things were done”. People that took a year off were slower, indecisive, and generally not on the fast track to success. It sounds silly, but with the strength of peer and social pressure these kinds of arguments felt far stronger than the logic I had come up with.

In the end I bit the bullet and went with my gut. While my friends were fretting about their programs and a disturbing amount were making program choices based on difficulty, I sat back and contemplated my own future. I decided to cancel the second term of grade 13, having registered for a single chemistry course in the first place and not needing it to graduate. That effectively bought me an extra half a year, and so my life changed.

I used my year and a half primarily to explore the entrepreneurial side of things. It almost felt like a simulation since I was isolated from most of the long-term effects that my decisions might have - I was still living with my parents and even if I didn’t make a red cent through the entire time I would be right back where I started when university applications came again. I learned a great deal and it was in that time when I could explore my options freely that I was finally able to say with complete confidence that a software development career was not for me. Instead I started several ventures and had a crash course in the reality of entrepreneurship and life outside of school.

My decision to take a year off reshaped my life and me drastically. Had I not done so I would have checked off “Computer Science” on my form instead of “Business” and been regretting my decision after I had spent four years on tuition. I also learned that I did have the power to take a different path and to make my own choices, despite tremendous pressure from the outside world. I would go so far as to say that by the time I entered university I was a completely different person. Then there was the knowledge and practical experience I was able to gain. With the entirety of my time focused on what I wanted to do and learn, and not on geography or derivatives or molecules, the amount that I could absorb in that time was incredible.

If you’re at the point in your life where you still have this door open to you, here are some reasons why you should consider taking it:

• You will gain invaluable experience that will make university and getting work much easier.
• A fulltime job for a year when you have no living expenses will allow you to create a five digit figure in your bank account.
• Choosing a program or school you hate is very expensive.
• It’s nice to take a break after being in a classroom for 12 years.

Best of luck.

Got something to say? Leave a response to this post.

 Get the latest updates by subscribing to the feed.

Semi-Related Posts

• Opportunity Cost - From Economics Theory to Life Application
• About
• What It Means to Wake Up and Take Charge of Your Life
• Applying 4th Grade Math to Business Success

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 1st, 2006 at 6:16 am and is filed under Achievement, Education. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.