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You probably spent time in university trying to get an engineering degree and now you have made yourself and your family really proud. It is a little unfortunate that you live in this country and your engineering degree can’t be used for much, we have come up with a list of practical things you can use your engineering degree for. Here’s a list of things you can use your engineering degree for:
1.You can become a cultural dancer.
Yes, a cultural dancer. We all know how technical dancing can be, cultural dances are even more technical. You’ll need all the knowledge you have from technical drawing to kill those dance moves.
2.Fix light bulbs for your parents.
Yup, you spent 5years in university to help your parents fix their light bulbs. You have to let them know their money was not wasted and that you learnt all the things you were taught. Good and useful child.
3.Help your mum sign into her email address.
Studying engineering comes with super memory and no one knows that fact more than your mum. It is also a confirmation that you learnt everything that you were taught and that your mothers prayers while you were in university did not waste. She’ll probably call all her friends to brag about how her child is a brilliant engineer. Sounds like a win to us.
4.Change the oil in the cars.
This is the highest way to prove your worth and definitely the most important thing you can use your degree for. That’s the best way to get the wheels running, after doing this, we advise you to apply for a job at Tesla.
5.Sell the certificate and use the money to relocate.
A lot of people want to become engineers but do not have the time to sit through hours of rigorous lectures. We advise you to sell your certificate to such people and ensure you do not sell it for cheap. Use the proceeds from sales of your certificate to leave the country. Seems like value for money.
Engineering is an interesting course to study, especially when you are a curious, intelligent and handsy person. Nonetheless, the course would stress you and give you occasional sleepless nights. Here’s a list of things that you will be able to relate to if you studied engineering at a Nigerian University.
1.Knowing the content of K. A. Stroud Engineering Mathematics Textbook from top to bottom.
Sorry that we hit this sensitive spot, but the ability of this textbook to help relive your past trauma is unmatched. It’s impossible to forget this textbook.
2.Wondering if Thermodynamics is a real course or an excuse to torture students.
If the word torture could be replaced, it should be replaced with thermodynamics. If you studied engineering and enjoyed learning thermodynamics, we are worried about the kind of adult you turned out to be.
3.Learning Engineering Design with a T- square and TD board.
Not only was this a useless course for a lot of engineering students, if you studied in a Nigerian university, you probably had to draw with your hand. You’ll be dressed up looking really good, dragging a TD board with you. Ah God.
4.Asking yourself if you really need that degree when studying for an exam.
If you studied engineering, you probably asked yourself ‘’do I even like this course?’’ more than ten times in an academic year. Engineering students live in a constant state of I hate it here.
5.Seeing formulas in your dream.
This is the deepest mud, not only will the course stress you in real life, but it would also follow you to your dreams. The x, the y, the shokolokogbamgbose.
6.Cramming coding languages and writing them with pen and paper.
Oh oh, it sounds like a lie till you’ve schooled in a Nigerian university. You thought seeing formulas in your dream was the deepest mud, this one takes the cake.
7.Learning with software from 1988 in 2021.
If Nigeria isn’t in 2021 yet, how will the universities be?. As if it’s not bad enough that the lecturers are teaching with outdated software, they’ll be teaching it with strong head too.
8.Getting a job and realizing you have to teach yourself everything the job requires.
You’ll spend 5 years getting that degree, and spend another 1 year or more teaching yourself all the things your boss expects you to know.
Every week, Zikoko seeks to understand how people move the Naira in and out of their lives. Some stories will be struggle-ish, others will be bougie. All the time, it’ll be revealing.
This is #NairaLife, episode 96.
What’s your oldest memory of money?
I’d say not having a lot of it. My dad had money, but it did not seem that way. I felt we were poor. I remember back in secondary school, I had to wear worn-out shoes and bags, my uniforms were not anything to speak about, and while my friends were going on trips out of the country, that was not the reality for me.
We had this policy in my house where you didn’t get an allowance until SS 1. So until SS 1, I couldn’t buy anything during break period.
In JSS 1, I had this friend in JSS 2 who always seemed to have a lot of money. At break time, he’d buy me a barbecue, which was a big deal then. After a few months, we found out that he was actually stealing the money. His parents beat him for it.
I’d say that was my first memory of “if you want to have friends or be cool or be popular, you need to have money”.
What was it like growing up generally?
The first time we travelled out of the country, my dad said, “This is the amount that you will have for the trip.” I took the money — I didn’t spend it on food or rides or any of those things that people spend money on to have fun when they travel — I spent it on clothes and shoes and a bag because I wanted to look nice at school.
My understanding of money was utilitarian: “There isn’t a lot of this thing, so when you get it, put it to good use.”
My first university allowance was ₦30k, and I went to one of these private universities where you only had to spend on food. I knew how to save towards my goals, and I liked to look good. I learnt to take that money, spend a little of it on food and essentials, then save towards the things that would make me happy: nice shirts.
So as early as my first year in university, I used to buy one shirt for like ₦5,500.
Ah, the TMs and H&Cs.
Exactly! That’s all I had money for. I never went to parties, bought phones or anything.
I bought my first smartphone in 2014, almost one year after I’d graduated. HTC. I loved that phone.
Interes–
I’ll add that before I left uni, things got significantly harder for us as a family. My dad disappeared. My allowance went from ₦40k a month to ₦5k when my mum could afford it.
Thankfully, my girlfriend at the time was an amazing person, the original glucose guardian, until she cheated and left me.
I –
About my dad, I can’t properly explain it because I don’t understand it myself. He was well-off, worked in an oil company. I think I noticed that things started to get bad just after he retired.
He was always complaining about money, even though I literally never asked for anything. One day he packed his things and left.
He came to school and told my brother and me that he would no longer be paying our fees or supporting us.
“Aired dfkm.”
Bruh.
My mum saw me through the rest of uni.
What did she do for a living?
She was a civil servant, so she was earning peanuts. But she’s an amazing person who’d done a lot of good in her life, so she called in a lot of favours.
In my final year, God blessed her with a well-paying job, and our story changed.
After uni, I was adamant about serving in Lagos, so I begged her help make sure I served in Lagos. My reason: I had to get a job and start working sharp, sharp so I could marry my wonderful girlfriend. My mum helped me get a job.
How did she get you your job?
She was walking down the street where she worked and saw this company She didn’t even know what they did. She just started talking with one of the people who she assumed was working there and told him about me. Anyway, he ended up asking for my CV. Turns out we went to the same uni, and that’s how I got in the door.
The pay was ₦35k. Working there throughout NYSC, ₦35k + ₦19,800, wasn’t bad at all at the time.
Anyway, I was able to save up enough to buy my first car. This was including all the money I’d saved up from uni.
Wollop. You bought a car?
The car plus shipping was like ₦700k. The good old days. The dollar was ₦150.
Fun fact, I still have the car, and it’s worth more now than when I bought it. Time to throw Nigeria away.
Hahaha. Okay. So after NYSC?
Immediately after NYSC, I got a job at an oil company. The starting pay was ₦350k/month. For the first time, I had more money than I knew how to spend. Anyway, I earned this for about 10 months before I moved jobs, another oil company, this time the pay was ₦500k.
I got a few promotions, and by the time I was leaving the company in 2019, I was earning roughly ₦1 million a month, excluding bonuses. I left to a bigger oil company and currently earn about ₦4 million/month.
You can’t be calling money like this and be rushing. Oya, break it down for me.
Hahaha.
In 2020, I landed a side hustle that generates up to 600k a month for me.
Wait, how does one add a side hustle in the middle of a pandemic that generates this much?
Well, it’s very capital intensive. I lend money to people who then lend money to folks that take high-interest short term loans. So if they’re lending out that money at 10% interest per month, they borrow from me at 4% per month.
Hmm. Is there like an app for this?
Well, none that I know of. I know someone who has a company that does this. He came to me about a year after he’d started looking for funding. It was high-risk, but it’s also high reward.
Interesting. So how does he find people in need of loans?
They find him. A lot of people live above their means, so he only loans money to salary earners who are in steady employment. Think of someone who’s been working at a bank for over 5 years.
This is fascinating.
Yup. Nigerians are amazing.
Back to the bag. What type of oil and gas worker do I have to be for my income to grow like this?
It has to be exploration, development and production; The guys who actually produce oil and gas, not servicing companies. That one na scam. Also, you’d have to get a job at one of the international oil companies. Some smaller indigenous ones pay well too sha.
Engineers and geologists typically earn the most, but everyone gets paid quite well. I’m a petroleum engineer, and I do production and completions engineering.
You’ve come a long way, man. How has this shaped you?
My overarching view of money is that it’s a means to an end. And that end for me is making certain that life is soft for my wife and children in the future. I experienced not being able to pay school fees growing up, and that’s something I never want my family to go through.
I save/invest about 90% of my income. I think I live very modestly, but this may or may not be true. I think I’ve also gotten used to being able to afford anything I need. Recently, someone pointed out that I don’t know how much the individual items I purchase at supermarkets or restaurants cost because I never check price tags. The things I check price tags for are extremely expensive.
I think something that also influences my savings culture is that I don’t ever want to not have money. I’m certain that I wouldn’t be able to deal with it.
How do you decide what to save and what to invest?
Nigeria has made it easy right now. First thing I do is convert all the money I want to invest in dollars. In the beginning, I had a financial plan that I called “The Road To $1 Million”. I’d subscribed to a blog by a Nigerian entrepreneur, and he shared financial tips on investing.
This plan was basically geared towards leveraging the power of compound interest. So I set up a spreadsheet and determined what portion of my salary I needed to invest (and at what rate) to meet this goal.
I started off with fixed deposits. Again, these were the good days so it was 12.5% I think.
Anyway, I shifted to mutual funds, then got some great opportunities to buy land in Lekki from some folks who were relocating.
These days, I’m not looking to invest in anything Nigerian except actual Nigerians. I buy forex and split between Eurobonds, crypto and stock via a private equity fund that’s managed by folks who know this a lot more than I do.
Interesting.
Nothing is in naira except monthly expenses, an emergency fund that’s in a liquid mutual fund and my side hustle.
I used to be a dollar sceptic and touted all that talk about the naira being undervalued blah blah. Well, the best piece of investment advice I got this year was from my fund manager. The dollar had just risen to ₦390, and I wasn’t sure whether to buy.
His words: “I can’t tell you if the dollar will be higher or lower next week or in a month, but if you’re in this for the long run – 5 years and above – then whatever price you buy dollars at now is a bargain.” 23% since then.
You have a fund manager?
Haha, I just realised that that sounded super bougie. I use two private equity funds and the folks who do all the portfolio management are the fund managers. Because it’s private equity, I interact with them directly. So there’s a personal touch.
If you’re rich enough, even the very popular financial institutions offer private wealth management services.
What’s your portfolio looking like these days? Combined.
Total value? I’d need to crunch some numbers, but back of the envelope, maybe $250k.
This is a #NairaLife record.
Haha. Plus, I still stay with my mom. That’s sure to be an interesting fact. I’ve never had an apartment of my own.
WHICH BRINGS ME TO THE NEXT PART. WHAT ARE YOUR MONTHLY EXPENSES LIKE?
Barely 100k a month. I spend almost nothing fuelling my car because I’m currently working from home. Before, it used to be ₦30k. Utilities take about ₦50k. Then I give a percentage of my income to my local church. Food and stuff take another ₦50k.
This amount only rises due to miscellaneous girlfriend expenses, and to be honest, I see that as an investment. I need to chook this in and mention that my girlfriend is amazing. She’s also super independent so I basically have to beg her to accept any of this stuff. And I typically get a gift back in return. So I don’t even know if it counts as an expense.
How much are you going to have earned by the 30th of this month?
This month is a bonus month, so it’s not very representative, but the amount is about ₦20 million.
Please break this down for me. From where to where?
It’s the way employment contracts are set up. You have an amount that you earn annually but you’ll get paid bulk of that at certain times.
That means a better way to measure your income is per annum.
Yeah. Best way really. So it’s around ₦42 million. It’s difficult to say exactly until the year ends.
I find it interesting that you said “rich enough” earlier. You realise you’re rich, right?
Rich enough for me means ensuring that life is soft for my wife and kids forever. I think about school fees, a house, vacations and those other miscellaneous items and I know this isn’t rich. It’s the middle class without the responsibilities.
I’ve never given this much detail about my finances to anyone ever.
I appreciate this a lot.
Random, but one of the things that have been super helpful along the way is that I pay zero black tax. We share bills for electricity and utilities, but I have zero obligation to any family member to send them money. No one needs it. I’m very insulated from the extended family because they all abandoned us when things went bad.
Looking at where you are in your career, how much do you feel like you should be earning?
Hmmm, that’s tough to answer. Up until last year, I was very convinced that I was being significantly underpaid. When I changed jobs, I believe the pay became representative of my experience level.
Everyone knows that the problem with earning in naira is that the value of your earnings are constantly being eroded. I’d say right now I should be earning about $130k per annum.
A segue, what’s something you want but can’t afford?
A big house in a particular beach estate that costs about 250-300 million.. To be honest, I’m a very content person. I only want a house because I’ve come to identify a family house as security. When stuff wasn’t going great, that was the one thing we had.
A bit further afield may be a really nice house abroad. Maybe you can give me a few ideas because the only things that have come to mind are luxury cars, planes and property. Is there anything else that’s very expensive that people spend money on?
Omo, I don’t know o. What’s the last thing you paid for that required serious planning?
…
…
Nothing I can think of. The most expensive thing I paid for recently was a MacBook. I just decided to get it. The only reason I may not be able to afford stuff immediately is that I’ve invested the money I’d have used to buy it. But my salary more than covers any wants or needs. Okay, maybe the car I bought in 2014.
When was the last time you felt really broke?
Really broke? fourth year in the university. Things were still very tough, I hadn’t had money in what felt like weeks. I remember my older brother showing up and pressing ₦5k into my hand, I cried. He was just as broke as me, probably broker, but there he was giving me what was almost certainly all the money he had.
What’s your biggest financial regret?
Not investing in dollars earlier.
Do you ever think back to one moment that might have changed everything and given you a completely different life?
Yup. I think if my dad had stuck around things would have turned out significantly worse. He was a terrible role model and just generally bad vibes.
On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your financial happiness?
I’d say 8. Money itself doesn’t make me happy. Being able to do stuff for the people I love with that money does. Right now, that’s well within my reach.
Do you ever think about retirement?
Nope. I’m too young. My career is super young. I’m not even 30! Although I’m planning towards it financially. The retirement age in my head is 45 sha. But if I’m a general manager, there’s no way I’m retiring.
Every week, Zikoko seeks to understand how people move the Naira in and out of their lives. Some stories will be struggle-ish, others will be bougie. All the time, it’ll be revealing.
This week’s #NairaLife is made possible by Premium Pension. What’s their bragging right? They’re one of the first to be licensed in this Pension grind. Over 600,000 people trust them. And their assets under management have crossed 700 billion. Big deal.
The guy in this story is not only 33 years old, he’s also looking for the next big challenge life has to throw at him. Why? Because that’s where the growth happens.
What’s the first impressionable moment of money you remember?
I can’t remember how old I was, but was one of those times I was sick and at the doctor’s, he was so impressed by my English that he gave me a 50 kobo note.
Ahhhh, a 50 kobo note!
I was crying because of injection, but somehow he still managed to give me money. I gave my mum and she kept –
– Ohhh, I know how this ends.
Hahaha. She kept it for me, till this day. That’s the earliest memory I have of money that I owned. But a lot of my childhood is filled with memories of understanding what money meant in terms of the things I couldn’t have because we couldn’t afford them.
I grew up in that time and place where there was always that one house in the neighbourhood with the coloured TV.
Everyone would go and watch from the windows – I was one of the window kids. My deprivation at that early age made me, first of all, understand that; “it’s like we’re not on the same level as these coloured TV people o.”
That gave me a “this thing I can’t have, is because of the money we don’t have” awareness.
That’s heavy. Tell me about your first paying gig.
My first real income was NYSC. You know, I had all those lofty before-25 goals too. Things like “Oh I want to be an astronaut, so I’m going to study engineering” and all those dumb dreams. Well, not dumb, but then I’m in Nigeria. You can’t be dreaming of being an Astronaut in Nigeria.
There was this phase in school where everyone in my faculty wanted to work for the oil companies. Well, since we left school, only a tiny fraction work in oil companies. So imagine me in a class of over a hundred people, only 5 or 6 ended up working with oil companies.
Now, multiply this oil company dream by every engineering faculty in Nigeria. How many openings even exist for starters?
It’s hilarious now because boys then will be like “once I get this degree, na Oil company get me.”
“No be oil company, bro.”
Hahaha. Back to NYSC, I served somewhere in the South-south working in broadcasting. In fact, I had a TV and radio show at some point sef. I first had a segment reporting on technology. Then one day, someone was away and I had to fill in, and that was my first full one hour segment.
How much were they paying?
₦5k. I worked there from 2012 till 2013. I remember that last month in NYSC very well – a mix of restlessness and a need to rest. Most people just chilled during NYSC, but I actually worked a lot, and never got that post-school break. I felt tired.
When I finished serving in October, I had some money saved up – I went home with ₦60k saved.
When I got home in December – home was in the southeast by the way – everyone was like “ahhh congrats” but in my head, I was like “okay what’s next?”
I graduated with a 2-2 – I just knew I wasn’t going to end up in an oil company. So whenever I hear anyone say “2-1 is not important” I just say what an idiot.
So I started to optimise my life for industries that were not optimised for grades, but for skills instead.
Lucky for me, towards the end of December, a friend reached out telling me that someone needed people to start a radio show. By the 2nd of January, I packed my bags and was off to a new town in the South-south. No time.
But you needed to rest, still.
I also needed to make money, somehow. We ended up starting a show – I wasn’t paid in the first month because the owner of the radio show wanted traction first. Within a month, the reception was pretty good.
How did you know the reception was good?
I was in a cab one day and listening to a recording of the show. People in the cab were legit talking about it and had no idea it was me. It felt so good. I also started hearing it at some parks on loudspeakers.
Meanwhile, in all this time, I was still thinking of getting a job in engineering so I wouldn’t waste my engineering degree.
I did get an engineering gig though – it was the saddest job I ever did in my life.
Ouch.
Bruh. It was an oil servicing company. The gig paid me 48k net, and radio was giving me 15k – I was juggling both. I still couldn’t afford a house, so I was squatting with a married cousin who lived with his wife in a mini-flat – living room and one bedroom. This was 2014.
Then in October of that year, oil prices crashed.
Ah, I remember that.
Then the layoffs followed. I’d heard of people getting laid off from their jobs before and always thought of it as a super sad thing. But at that point in time when it happened to me, it was a relieving moment.
You got laid off.
Yep, February 2015. Everyone on my team. As HR was talking to us, I was just smiling. Why? I said I was relieved.
Relieved to be relieved. Don’t judge me, man.
Hahaha. Do you know what I did after I got my letter? I just called one of my friends, and we went to a restaurant. I bought Jollof Rice, Moi-Moi, Chicken. I just ate to relief.
Hahaha.
I told my cousin, and he started calling people he knew in oil servicing firms. The story was the same, layoffs everywhere.
Then I turned my sights to Lagos.
Ghen-ghen.
I started looking for jobs in media agencies, startups, anyone interested in hiring. I got an interview at a startup in Lagos, they told me to show up the next Monday for an interview. Meanwhile, I’d travelled somewhere for a wedding for the weekend. I just showed up with my backpack, and suits, and left all my things in my cousin’s house.
I never went back there again.
That is wild.
I got the job, it was a startup. Also, the job paid 80k. It was a sort of admin role as an assistant, but I really needed that foot in the door. I got my KPIs and smashed all of them from my probation-ish period.
Energy.
Then it was time to renegotiate the salary after a few months. I got moved to another team, marketing. I asked for double. To be honest, the only reason I could afford the commute and life on that salary, compared to where I was staying, was because I was sleeping at the office sometimes.
We did the back and forth, and I got the 160k.
It was the first time in my life that I wasn’t living from salary to salary, ever. I took a loan and rented a room close to work. I bought a fridge – it cost 51k – and I felt the quality of my life improve drastically.
How?
I grew up in a house with a fridge, but I think I took it for granted. This was the first time since I moved to Lagos that I didn’t have to go out to buy cold water, I could also preserve things. At work, 2016 was also a lot of growth for me. But by the end of the year, some layoffs were happening, and it was one of those “leave or get laid off” scenarios.
I didn’t see that coming.
Roles evolve in startups. A role might exist now, and become redundant later. Mine got redundant. Also, they were trying to cut costs. I got a severance, which was basically about my salary. I spent that December 2016 just sleeping, fuelling my generator and watching shows and movies.
Towards the end of the month is when I was like, okay, I need to get a job. It was like that subtle panic I had after NYSC. The difference this time was that I wasn’t at home, so I had no safety net and free food.
By January, I was flat broke. My folks at home didn’t even know I had lost a job, and I couldn’t ask them to send me money or anything. My parents are retired, and they’re too old for me to be a burden on them. So I just had to wing it by myself.
By February though, I was back at a new job, except I actually took a pay cut.
How?
When I was leaving my last job, my last monthly salary was ₦200k, but now I was at ₦120k. I needed the money badly. Anyway, the new job was at an advertising agency. I gave myself 6 months, but then an exciting project came. That kept me for longer.
The best part of that year was that I was the one who got thrown to the difficult projects. That felt good. That year pushed me more than ever, I even started a side project. It all started to pay off in 2018.
How did it pay off?
People started calling me in 2018 for work, and for the first time, I realised I’d been taking for granted all the things I knew. People had actually been paying attention. I started to feel desired, and that felt so good.
I could have a decent conversation about salaries for the first time. The gig I finally settled for tripled my salary.
₦360k?
Yeah, at the time. It also came with Health Insurance and a Pension. Office goodies helped shrink my feeding budget. You know, it’s incredible how much has changed between that first ₦15k and now. I also moved to a more spacious place, a 2-bedroom apartment.
Man. Money gives you the freedom to do things, and freedom to not do the things you don’t want. Money gives you agency. The pay cut I took when I was moving to my previous job was because I couldn’t afford to reject it. Scarcity taught me the value of money, relative abundance taught me the value of agency.
Let’s talk about your monthly spending.
First of all, I try to keep my expenses below ₦100k. I’m mostly indoors. Food doesn’t cost so much. There’s the occasional movie with the babe. My routine is work, occasional relationship outings, church. My goal last year was to not live above ₦100k, and I succeeded mostly. This year though, most of it went kaput.
What changed?
I had to make a choice about wanting money in the bank or wanting to own things. I chose the latter. This year, I bought land. My folks found one at a very good deal.
Another thing is that, because my spending power has increased, I can pay for things even when I don’t have the money immediately. People are more willing to even give you loans because they know you can pay back.
The more money you have, the more people are likely to give you money?
Yes, that’s what I think. It cost me about 900k. The value, based on the area it was, actually means it should have been up to 1.5 million ideally. As I was done paying for the land, I bought a car – that cost 1.6 million. I have a few months left on the car payment. The thing is, if I was going to save to buy these things, they’d probably be useless by the time I can afford them.
Back to monthly spending.
I’m a little over 100k these days. I’ve been lucky enough to not have to worry too much about black tax, even though I send some money home to my mum, mostly upkeeps. Although, I’ve had to pay for life-threatening illness in the past before. The rest of my money goes into paying for the car.
How much do you honestly feel like you should be earning, and why?
The next gig I take should not offer me less than 800k. I actually believe I deserve more with the experience I have. But if I’m being realistic, coupled with the realities of being in Lagos, 800k net is good enough to live comfortably in most of Lagos.
In the context of forex, that’d be $4k per month. I’m thinking about what someone like me would be earning outside Nigeria. We’re doing a lot of the same things in different markets.
Anyway, I need to unlock the level of spending power where you can afford to own things and still have money left to save or invest. Not like I’ll buy a car and suddenly be unable to save.
What’s something you really want but can’t afford right now?
A decent house in a good and much safer neighbourhood. To be upwardly mobile in Nigeria is to be at risk. On one hand, the guys in the neighbourhood suddenly see you as fruit ripe for plucking. On the other hand, you’re not earning enough to be able to afford to leave that neighbourhood.
I was robbed this year.
Woah.
Petty crime, mostly. They broke in, stole my laptop, phone, and some pocket change. My house is decent, but if I could afford to after that incident, I’d have moved. I know I stick out in the neighbourhood as the guy who lives in a 2-bed flat all by himself and owns a nice car.
There’s also the police to worry about because you’re suddenly suspect because you have a car.
Sorry about that man. Thought about retirement?
I don’t really believe in the concept of “oh stop working at sixty”. I’m more interested in Financial Freedom when I can reach the point of making work an option.
Life expectancy is changing across the world, so I think what people call retirement age is not retirement age anymore.
Eventually, retirement for me will be when I have financial freedom and access to places and people that money won’t fetch me.
So where does this leave pensions for you?
Rainy day money. If all of this goes wrong, there’s this kpim kpim entering your pension account every month that you know will potentially cover you in the future.
As an end-of-year question, what’s 2020 looking like for you?
I need to move houses next year, for starters. Again, it’s mostly because I want to get married next year.
Hmmnnnn. Marriage.
Hahaha. I’d love a simple wedding, but those things are super expensive here in Nigeria. Back to the house part, my house is mostly at the bare minimum now, and I know setting it up to be able to live with a partner is going to cost money.
Also, next year, I’m looking for projects or challenges that will trigger my next level, just like it happened in 2017.
What’s something you wish you were good at?
Investing. I have friends who know how money works. I think we generally have a basic understanding of how money works. But there are people who know trends and how money moves around the world, they know when to take advantage of these things. Earning well is good, but knowing how to maximise it is even better.
Random, but when was the last time you felt really broke?
Remember that January 2017 when I was so broke? My last money was spent on transport money back from a job interview. I don’t even know how, but one of my friends sensed that I needed money. He just called me, asked for my account number, and sent 10k. That was priceless.
On a scale of 1-10, let’s rate your financial happiness.
With the level of agency money gives me now, I’ll say a 6. I’m not rich, but when I think of where I’m coming from, I’m not doing badly. But with this 6, I’ve reached the point where I need to take on new challenges again and scale up fast.
It’s been an interesting decade for you.
Yeah, I think it has been. It’s the decade I’m learning to hold my own in the world. Moved out of my parents’ house, and it’s been a long, winding journey in self-discovery and generally trying to be my own person. I think I’ve gotten much better at navigating life at the end of the decade now than I was at the beginning of it. I’m also just older now and have clocked in the hours so that one sef dey.
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1. When you made the decision to study engineering because you wanted to build things that would change the world.
Remember how happy you were?
2. Or your parents made it for you, because it was either engineering or medicine.
The horror!
3. When you get to university and see how hard it is to get into an engineering course.
But you got in, so you feel great!
4. When you realize that the class is 97% male.
But you’re a girl! #Winning
5. When you start registering for courses and you see the ridiculously long list.
Wait, what?
6. When classes start and the lecturers all seem to be speaking Greek.
Edakun, what is Fourier and Laplace?
7. Then you realize that your Math no longer actually involved numbers, just bloody letters.
This was not the plan!
8. When your lecturer begins your first lecture of the year by showing you a pie chart of those who carried over.
I. Will. Not. Cry.
9. And most 3 or 4 unit courses seem to be taught by demon professors.
These ones want to kill me.
10. When your friends complain about their ‘many’ 10 courses while you have 16.
Don’t annoy me.
11. When you do assignments over night and finish 20 minutes before classes start.
No, no, I’m not sleeping.
12. When you actually start your assignment 20 minutes to the due time.
Gosh!
13. And you have classes from 8am to 8pm, so no food places are open by the time you’re done.
I’m one with the hunger.
14. When you finally have a free period and a lecturer fixes an extra class in it.
My God will fight for me.
16. When you hear someone saying they like the course that single-handedly destroyed your social life, self-esteem, and GPA.
Is this one mad?
17. When your class size just keeps reducing till you have less than half of the students you started the course with.
Engineering = The purge.
18. So you start contemplating changing course.
But you stop, because parents.
19. When tests results came back and the entire class failed.
You’ve never felt more together than at this time.
20. When the lecturer has covered 1500 pages of lecture notes and you ask him for AOC and he says ‘EVERYTHING’.
HAY GOD!
21. When the ‘Control Systems’ lecturer thinks that you actually understood what he was teaching.
Look at this one.
22. When you hear about a revision or tutorial class.
Yassss!
23. Then it’s exam time, and you cannot even eat or sleep.
Sleep and food are for the weak – and non-engineering students.
24. But you can calculate what you need to get to pass.
F is 40, let’s start from there.
25. When you enter the exam hall and the questions ask you about material you haven’t learned yet.
Where’s my handkerchief that the pastor blessed? *wipes answer sheet*
26. That impending sense of doom when you realize that each of the three questions on your exam sheet set has multiple, lettered parts to it, all compulsory.
And it’s a 3-Unit course.
27. Overall, this is you during exams.
I’m not mad.
28. When you hear that results are out but you don’t move, because you already know what you got.
I calculated it, please.
29. When your parents ask you to explain your results.
It is not my fault.
30. Then you realize that engineering wasn’t really your calling, but you’re stuck for 5 years.
And time does NOT go fast.
31. When your 4-year course counterparts are graduating and you’re just going for IT.
It’s okay. It’s fine. I’m okay.
32. When the lecturers actually expect you to make your final year project by yourself.
LOL! What did you teach me?
33. You can count the number of first class students in your whole department on one hand.
But your parents don’t want to hear.
34. When all of your family and friends suddenly require your help on household repairs or math. Because engineer.
You know that’s not how it works right? Well, at least, not in Nigeria.
35. When someone else in your family wants to go study engineering.
