What I wish I knew when I was in high school!

I was asked by the Investment Society at the University of Cape Town to come speak to 100 high school students, as part of an initiative called 100-UP. The initiative seeks to address the under-representation of learners from disadvantaged backgrounds into the University of Cape Town. It also looks to empower the learners through teaching them personal skills and about entrepreneurship. As I was preparing for the talk I kept wondering what I would have to say to high school students. Seeing that I left high school seven years ago, I thought it made sense if I told them the things I know now that I wish I knew when I was still in high school. So here is what I had to say:

I was born and raised in Zimbabwe, that is where I completed my primary school and high school education. After that I migrated to South Africa and studied Computer Science at the University of Cape Town. In my final year of university, I was fortunate enough to do an internship at an investment management company during the mid-year vacation, and at the end of that internship I received an offer to work full time for the company once I completed my degree. I still work at this investment management company and I am in my fourth year there now. I work as a software developer in the web team, so if you have ever seen someone doing their banking on the Internet, the team I work for builds and maintains a similar website for our investors. While working I also furthered my studies part time with the University of South Africa and I completed my Honours degree at the end of 2012. When I am not at work I spend some of my time running the two businesses I have been involved in starting since I left university. One is a software company I co-founded with two friends, we build software and we also run a tutoring service. The other business is a lifestyle brand that I started with my brother and is starting to take some good shape, we make t-shirts and hoodys, and we are launching an online magazine very soon. The t-shirt I am wearing today is one of our products. Ok, that is enough about me, when I was asked to come speak to you, I thought it would make sense to share some of the things I wished I knew seven years ago when I was in the same position you are in now. I hope from the lessons I share you can pick up a few and avoid having to learn from making the same mistakes I made along the way. So here are the things I think you should know.

Firstly, you should learn how to fail. Everyone fails at some point in life, some will fail to get into university, some will fail to get the job they want, some will fail tests and exams. One thing is certain, everyone will fail at some point in their life and none of us are immune to failure. What is important is to learn how to fail, and what that means is, identify the things you have learnt from your failure, dust yourself up and move on as soon as you can. You need to view failure as informative, as feedback or a wake up call. Its not the end of the world. I have failed multiple times myself but I never let it define my life, for example, at the end of 2012 I had applied for the Rhodes Scholarship for Zimbabwe that takes one to Oxford University. I always wanted to go to Oxford, it was one of those things I dreamt of doing one day. Things went well and I passed through all the stages and got to the final round where they select the final two candidates from  the seven that were left. I missed out to 2 brilliant candidates and ended up not going to Oxford. It was not the end of the world though, I continued moving and working on the opportunities that I have now.

The next point is related to the failure point. Whether you go into university or not you can still make it. I know a lot of brilliant people who never went to university but still made a success out of their lives. So failing to get into a university because your marks are not good enough or financial reasons, should not define you. Again, its not the end of the world, get up and make use of the opportunities you have around you.

You do not have to know what you want to become yet. Some of you may have an idea now what you want to do when you grow up, that is great, but its also fine if you do not have an idea. The world is changing very fast and there are jobs that are going to exist in the future that do not even exist right now. Internet usage really grew in the mid 1990s, and I was born in 1989, which means at the time I was born my current job as a web software developer did not really exist. The way to figure out what you want to do is to try a lot of different jobs and subjects and find the ones that you enjoy and keep you interested.

Related to that point, is that you can be whatever you want to be in life. Do not let that be something someone else defines for you. Do not place limitations on how far you can go in life. Most of you can already do more than you think you can. So always question your limitations and stretch yourself to achieve more.

Find what makes you happy, and do not chase money or let other people define happiness for you. People will tend to suggest you go and study a degree that has a high paying salary after you graduate. When I was deciding what to study at the University of Cape Town, a lot of my dad’s friends suggested I studied either Engineering or Accounts. I actually listed Accounts as my second option on the university application form. Computer Science was just not seen as the path to go at the time, I think my dad even started doubting too and asked me multiple times if I was sure that is what I wanted to do. I knew that is what I enjoyed working on and stuck to it, and now Software Developers are probably one of the most demanded professionals in industry. When you work on what makes you happy, you tend to do very well at it, and with the way the world works, what you do very well at tends to be rewarded by money anyway, so you will still be rich and happy. At the end of the day, you can have all the money you want in your bank account, but what is the point if you are not happy?

You need to learn how to learn, not just how to pass exams and how to memorize content that you will be examined on. That is how you grow as an individual, through learning. As I mentioned earlier, the world is changing fast and new jobs that never existed are getting/being created. You will want to be able to learn how to work in these new fields and not be stuck in one area. You will probably change careers or roles a few times in your life and it is important to be able to learn how to tackle these new challenges well. My dad started in the army, after seventeen years he left the army and started working at companies that focused on managing investments, similar to where I work now, and even then after another eight years he left to start his own bed & breakfast business which he still does now. Those are three different fields, with different challenges in one life. So it may sound strange, but it is important to learn how to learn.

Work in a real job as soon as possible, even if you do not get paid for the job, the experience you will get in a real world job is priceless. Schoolwork is valuable and I have nothing against it, however it is just but a foundational stepping-stone towards success. The homework assignments you do get marked and at the end of the year you probably pack your books in some box or even throw them away. Work in the real world is not throw away because it provides tangible value to people. So even if you work in a shop over the holidays, you will get to understand how to sell, how to market goods to clients, how profit and loss works, how to be responsible, a lot of lessons there. I did it late but I was fortunate to get to do an internship in my final year of university and the learning experience was so great it lead to a job offer at the company I still work at now.

Try to find a mentor. Try to find someone who is at a place in life you want to be at one day. Mentors are great because they already made all the mistakes you are about to make before so they can shield you against them. Do not be afraid to ask for help or advice. I know it might seem difficult to find a mentor, but you can start small, find a senior in your school who you look up to and ask them for help, or you can find a university student who was at your school before. Mentors can also be people your age, so you should try as much as possible to hang around people who have similar interests with what you want to achieve. The people you hang around have a strong influence on who you become, so be careful who you choose to spend most of your time with.

This is my final point, and if you have not been listening or if you forget everything I have said today, please try to at least remember this one. Work hard, and put in extra effort in all you do. You cannot go wrong this way. Do not expect results immediately, but I can guarantee you the extra effort you put in now will pay off at some point in the future. I have experienced it through my life. When I was in high school like you I played sports, was involved in a few extra-curricular activities and obviously focused on academics too. I always tried to work hard at everything and put in some extra effort. It pays off, it gets noticed and its rewarding to do your best in any case. Some of the hard work you will put in now will only make sense and return its value four years from now.

To end off – A “must-have” trait is to be a SELF-STARTER. This is a trait I value in people I work with and one I think is very important. Do not wait for people to come and carry you along, they do not have that responsibility, it is your life. If you have an idea and you know you can get it started, get up and get going. Most people have great ideas stored in their minds for years and they never get started, that is why I value self-starters because it is only once you get started that you can actually make any real progress. Thank You and all the best with your future!