Originally Posted by Unregistered

I worked for 7 years since graduation.

My first job was only 1.8k/month. I did not study hard in school, got a basic degree, took the first job I could find. I was those slack types who wont turn up for classes, never study prepare for exams, never bother to find internships, never bothered to put up a good impression in front of professors to get reccomendation letters. I was just interested in living a happy life and enjoy my uni days.

The 1.8k job shocked me to my senses.. I was a total loser by any country's standard and especially by Singapore's standard. I was a liability to my family which was poor.

I did not give up. I choose to fight against the system and struggle to overcome my poor start. I took night classes 4 times a week to get professional certifications, work OT in my jobs to learn anything that I thought could help me move from a non finance back office job to a front office job, which I ultimately did. When my boss or colleagues ask me out for drinks, dinner etc. I will go no matter how much I hate to socialize(i am an introvert). I will go to seminars to network. All in hope that people will be more willing to teach me. I will volunteer for extra work. I will stay back to help my colleagues do their work so that I can learn what they are doing. I was also lucky to have good bosses who recognized my drive and gave me the responsibilities to perform. When I go home at 10-11pm either after work or classes, I stay up to study until 2am. Next day, I reported to work at 9am on time. My salary was so low that I had to scrimp and save to pay for my classes. Dinner and lunch was usually only a piece of bread and water from the tap.

Gradually, things improved and my pay jumped almost 10 times over these years.

But as I switch jobs and increase my salary, it just made me more and more unhappy as I climb and see more and more pple earning so much more than me.

after a while I realise, it was the journey that I loved, the constant learning, the passion that I had to learn new things and apply them to practical solutions to help people.

But