today's the day that i've officially lived in toronto for 2 years. 2 years!
where did the time go?
i finished two post-grads. i finished 3 unpaid internships. i worked a conference. i met lots of new and interesting people. i hooked up with dudes. i dated dudes. i broke off things with dudes. dudes broke off things with me. i lost some people. i grew closer with others. i found places in the city that i enjoy and places in the city that i can't stand. i watched as friends everywhere started new chapters of their lives or stayed completely the same. i got a job break: 1 year & 11 months into living in toronto.
and i really couldn't be happier with the choices and decisions i've made in the last 2 years because they've all shaped me into a better person, one way or another.
this is also the first time since kindergarten where it's september and i'm not going back to school. that's a strange feeling. but it's about time, i guess.
i'm celebrating a lot of things tonight. my 2 years in toronto. a good friend visiting for the weekend. another friend who got married today. and one more who's leaving for france to start his masters. these are all exciting times for everyone involved. we're all getting older and moving into new phases of our lives. it's hard to believe that in a month from now, i'll be 25. i know that i've accomplished a lot in my short little life and i'm looking forward to the next 25 years!
here's to many more exciting toronto years to come!
Showing posts with label masters. Show all posts
Showing posts with label masters. Show all posts
Sep 1, 2013
Jun 13, 2013
just remember what's right for me, might be not right for you
ten days ago was the last time i applied to a job.
eight days ago was the last time i had an interview.
things could be better.
it's not that i've given up hope in my job search, it's just been ridiculously time consuming and draining on my enthusiasm for things that matter. in just over a year, from april 2012 to june 2013, i've had thirty different interviews. do you know how difficult it is to go in each time and pretty much say very similar answers to the same questions every employer asks?
the absolute worst is having interviews for shitty, minimum wage jobs that i know i'm capable of doing but technically now, i shouldn't even be getting interviews for them as i'm overqualified. beyond the absolute worst, is seeing masters/phd students in a similar field apply for the same jobs and beat me for them. i suppose they're "more qualified" than me, but sometimes, i'm not even so sure. my 3 degrees must mean something.
i've had 3 interviews related to my field so far.
1) water NGO
i had an interview for the same position last year. i was stoked to get an interview again. it's a summer position, talking to people about water/lake issues on the toronto beaches and reporting on results. simple. something i'd be amazing doing because i enjoy talking to people, i'm great at managing a team to do stuff well, and i know my shit when i'm talking about something i'm interested and passionate about. she asked a lot of the same questions from last time. it was the same lady. she remembered me. it seemed to go well. she told me i was a strong candidate.
funny how "you're a strong candidate" turns into "let's re-post the job posting and not hire you." i don't think i'll apply again next year.
2) sustainable tourism
here's a job i applied to through linkedin and actually heard a response. everything about this job was right up my alley. it integrated all 7 years of my education into one beautiful job. except for the fact that the interview was nearly an hour away and in the worst possible location ever. but the good news was that i'd only have to show up to that office once a week and the majority of the work would be done out of the downtown office, closer to me.
the interview itself lasted close to 2 hours. they had a lot of questions for me that showed them i knew what i was talking about. and i also had a fair amount of questions for them. before they even got to talking to me, the lady running the organization had offered to give me a ride home. of course, i took it. i was pretty stoked on that -- people aren't that nice and that's how i knew i was a strong candidate.
i followed up a few days later with the requested writing sample but didn't have the email address of the lady who gave me the ride home, so i sent it to the HR manager (the one who i had been in contact with and who was the second person interviewing me). i expected at least a "thanks" response but didn't get it. so, after a few more days, i sent another follow up email to the lady who gave me the ride home through the organization's general email and received a response the next day, thanking me for the sample and that they're still doing interviews.
they're hoping to make a decision "within the next two weeks" - so cross your fingers, because i am.
3) project coordinator
this is the first time i had an interview for a project coordinator role. i refreshed my memory of a number of project management related tools and techniques so that i was well versed in the language, should they ask. and oh boy, did they ever. i was interviewed by 4 people at a small research firm. one older dude who reminded me of my terrible professor from last semester by being a dick. this guy was basically poking at me to see how opinionated i could get and what my reaction would be with him being an ignorant, aggressive prick.
the good thing was how i've never been one to "lash out" so to speak when someone talks shit about something i do or something i'm passionate about. i'll correct people when necessary. i'll give an opinion, when necessary. but these all have boundaries and limits. and i know how to stay within them -- even though they might not. i think i handled it pretty well.
they told me they had a shortlist of preferred, strong candidates they were interviewing - about 4 or 5. so i guess that's a plus. they were hoping to have a decision made sometime next week. it'd be nice to get this one, too.
my lack of motivation for applying to jobs is mostly caused by my anticipation to receive job offers from the sustainable tourism place or the research firm. and also that there hasn't been too much worth going after.
plus, i've got nxne to worry about this week. priorities.
eight days ago was the last time i had an interview.
things could be better.
it's not that i've given up hope in my job search, it's just been ridiculously time consuming and draining on my enthusiasm for things that matter. in just over a year, from april 2012 to june 2013, i've had thirty different interviews. do you know how difficult it is to go in each time and pretty much say very similar answers to the same questions every employer asks?
the absolute worst is having interviews for shitty, minimum wage jobs that i know i'm capable of doing but technically now, i shouldn't even be getting interviews for them as i'm overqualified. beyond the absolute worst, is seeing masters/phd students in a similar field apply for the same jobs and beat me for them. i suppose they're "more qualified" than me, but sometimes, i'm not even so sure. my 3 degrees must mean something.
i've had 3 interviews related to my field so far.
1) water NGO
i had an interview for the same position last year. i was stoked to get an interview again. it's a summer position, talking to people about water/lake issues on the toronto beaches and reporting on results. simple. something i'd be amazing doing because i enjoy talking to people, i'm great at managing a team to do stuff well, and i know my shit when i'm talking about something i'm interested and passionate about. she asked a lot of the same questions from last time. it was the same lady. she remembered me. it seemed to go well. she told me i was a strong candidate.
funny how "you're a strong candidate" turns into "let's re-post the job posting and not hire you." i don't think i'll apply again next year.
2) sustainable tourism
here's a job i applied to through linkedin and actually heard a response. everything about this job was right up my alley. it integrated all 7 years of my education into one beautiful job. except for the fact that the interview was nearly an hour away and in the worst possible location ever. but the good news was that i'd only have to show up to that office once a week and the majority of the work would be done out of the downtown office, closer to me.
the interview itself lasted close to 2 hours. they had a lot of questions for me that showed them i knew what i was talking about. and i also had a fair amount of questions for them. before they even got to talking to me, the lady running the organization had offered to give me a ride home. of course, i took it. i was pretty stoked on that -- people aren't that nice and that's how i knew i was a strong candidate.
i followed up a few days later with the requested writing sample but didn't have the email address of the lady who gave me the ride home, so i sent it to the HR manager (the one who i had been in contact with and who was the second person interviewing me). i expected at least a "thanks" response but didn't get it. so, after a few more days, i sent another follow up email to the lady who gave me the ride home through the organization's general email and received a response the next day, thanking me for the sample and that they're still doing interviews.
they're hoping to make a decision "within the next two weeks" - so cross your fingers, because i am.
3) project coordinator
this is the first time i had an interview for a project coordinator role. i refreshed my memory of a number of project management related tools and techniques so that i was well versed in the language, should they ask. and oh boy, did they ever. i was interviewed by 4 people at a small research firm. one older dude who reminded me of my terrible professor from last semester by being a dick. this guy was basically poking at me to see how opinionated i could get and what my reaction would be with him being an ignorant, aggressive prick.
the good thing was how i've never been one to "lash out" so to speak when someone talks shit about something i do or something i'm passionate about. i'll correct people when necessary. i'll give an opinion, when necessary. but these all have boundaries and limits. and i know how to stay within them -- even though they might not. i think i handled it pretty well.
they told me they had a shortlist of preferred, strong candidates they were interviewing - about 4 or 5. so i guess that's a plus. they were hoping to have a decision made sometime next week. it'd be nice to get this one, too.
my lack of motivation for applying to jobs is mostly caused by my anticipation to receive job offers from the sustainable tourism place or the research firm. and also that there hasn't been too much worth going after.
plus, i've got nxne to worry about this week. priorities.
Mar 16, 2013
pilot project
my education has been an ongoing series of pilot projects over the course of seven years.
i'm not kidding.
1) brock life
i started university at 17. my interests after high school included english/writing, environment/sustainability, and general activism. no doubt, all of these things made me decide that going into hearing sciences made the mot sense (did you catch the sarcasm? good.) hearing sciences at brock was going to end with a BA in humanities. because a "science" program was humanities. what else does brock list as programs under the faculty of humanities? classics, english, philosophy, music, drama, history, liberal arts, visual arts, canadian studies... and so on. yep. still makes perfect sense.
hearing sciences required physics, biology, and chemistry. i took biology in summer school in high school. i'm awful with numbers. of course, i struggled. i excelled at my linguistics courses but failed both physics and biology. i didn't have to take chemistry until second year of the program, if i made it that far. i could change into speech and language sciences instead (it's similar but without the "science" component), but i didn't like that idea. i didn't even like what my supposed end result was going to be for hearing sciences. so, upon the end of my first year (being at least 2 courses behind), i changed my major to a program that had just started the same year i entered university: tourism and environment.
tourism and environment (TREN) was a social science. i heard about the program from a guy i met, drunk on residence one night. he only had good things to say about it. i had the ability to choose core courses and electives, of which i made an attempt to minor in writing, but the shortage of courses in writing made that nearly impossible. TREN really caught my eye. the professors stood out and the department was small. by my fourth year in university, i had grades high enough to embark on a study abroad program to new zealand with 8 other TREN folks. we got lucky that year, as the shortage of core courses for TREN and professors to teach them were the worst they had ever been so far in the program. i gained the allotted amount of courses needed for the year while in new zealand for 3 1/2 months (which didn't come cheap.. but was well worth it).
in my fifth and final year of TREN, i wrote a research project with 3 other TREN folks which received attention on all levels. not only did we end with one of the highest grades ever given in the research course, but the praise and encouragement from our department and professors was unreal. talks about publishing in journals were underway. the TREN department offered all graduating students to give feedback on where the program needed to improve for the future. if only they had done this in the beginning or halfway through so we could have changed everything we didn't like.
i decided i was going to apply to masters programs. my research project advisor (the one who gave us the grade) kept telling me he wouldn't write me a reference letter for my application to a masters because my "grades weren't good enough." well, fuck. so, i applied to a few post-graduates at colleges that had something to do with the environment. and in september 2011, i was toronto bound.
2) seneca, round 1
i got into a post-graduate certificate program called project management - environmental (PME). it was only in it's second or third year when i started. i was stoked because it had an internship and the majority of my classmates didn't have any work experience, like me. but, if you've been keeping up with this blog at all, you'll know how much i struggled with such an unorganized program and terrible professors. i learned some stuff but i'm still unaware of how it will benefit me in the long run. this runs true when one of the people interviewing me last year was concerned that i was trying to steal his job, being that i had the education to be a "project manager." sigh. yes, i'm gonna take your job with no work experience. THEY TOOK YER JOB!
a classmate in PME told me about the program she was in last year, called green business management (GBM). it was also a post-graduate certificate. when i looked into it, it definitely had more of a sustainability and environment focus rather than PME - which seemed to focus on... service? civil? government? law? actually, i have no idea what PME was centred around. i think that kind of sums up the entire program, right there. confused. the department offered us a chance to give feedback on the program and where to improve. and oh, we gave it.
i applied to GBM and got in right away. i hoped that i wouldn't have to return to school in september 2012 and that i'd get some job for at least the summer of 2012. that didn't happen, so back to seneca i went.
3) seneca, round 2
i hoped things would be different. they weren't. i quickly realized that it wasn't exactly the department or faculty's fault for having terrible programs; it was seneca not actually caring about their graduate students. GBM was only in it's third or fourth year when i started. again, my classmates were in the program to gain real-world work experience through the internship. and fuck, we all know how that's turning out. i'll give you a hint: it's not well. it seems as though most days after class ends, my program gets together and bitches about all the things that went wrong and things that need to change in the short and long-term. there are five weeks left in the program, and most of my classmates still sit there with a confused look on their face, wondering what it is that these professors are trying to teach.
i'll admit that there are 2-3 professors that i highly enjoy and make their classes a wonderful learning environment. and yes, they are much better than the shit i had to deal with in PME. but there are still so many things that need to be improved. when i looked online at the newly improved PME program this year, there were a few course changes. but when talking to current PME students, it seems that most of them are still facing similar challenges as my year did.
7 years of post-secondary education. 3 different programs running as supposed pilot projects. i finish GBM in 5 weeks. i'm tired of school and i'm tired of offering feedback on how things would be better.
somebody hire me so i can get out of this school bubble and start the real world.
i'm not kidding.
1) brock life
i started university at 17. my interests after high school included english/writing, environment/sustainability, and general activism. no doubt, all of these things made me decide that going into hearing sciences made the mot sense (did you catch the sarcasm? good.) hearing sciences at brock was going to end with a BA in humanities. because a "science" program was humanities. what else does brock list as programs under the faculty of humanities? classics, english, philosophy, music, drama, history, liberal arts, visual arts, canadian studies... and so on. yep. still makes perfect sense.
hearing sciences required physics, biology, and chemistry. i took biology in summer school in high school. i'm awful with numbers. of course, i struggled. i excelled at my linguistics courses but failed both physics and biology. i didn't have to take chemistry until second year of the program, if i made it that far. i could change into speech and language sciences instead (it's similar but without the "science" component), but i didn't like that idea. i didn't even like what my supposed end result was going to be for hearing sciences. so, upon the end of my first year (being at least 2 courses behind), i changed my major to a program that had just started the same year i entered university: tourism and environment.
tourism and environment (TREN) was a social science. i heard about the program from a guy i met, drunk on residence one night. he only had good things to say about it. i had the ability to choose core courses and electives, of which i made an attempt to minor in writing, but the shortage of courses in writing made that nearly impossible. TREN really caught my eye. the professors stood out and the department was small. by my fourth year in university, i had grades high enough to embark on a study abroad program to new zealand with 8 other TREN folks. we got lucky that year, as the shortage of core courses for TREN and professors to teach them were the worst they had ever been so far in the program. i gained the allotted amount of courses needed for the year while in new zealand for 3 1/2 months (which didn't come cheap.. but was well worth it).
in my fifth and final year of TREN, i wrote a research project with 3 other TREN folks which received attention on all levels. not only did we end with one of the highest grades ever given in the research course, but the praise and encouragement from our department and professors was unreal. talks about publishing in journals were underway. the TREN department offered all graduating students to give feedback on where the program needed to improve for the future. if only they had done this in the beginning or halfway through so we could have changed everything we didn't like.
i decided i was going to apply to masters programs. my research project advisor (the one who gave us the grade) kept telling me he wouldn't write me a reference letter for my application to a masters because my "grades weren't good enough." well, fuck. so, i applied to a few post-graduates at colleges that had something to do with the environment. and in september 2011, i was toronto bound.
2) seneca, round 1
i got into a post-graduate certificate program called project management - environmental (PME). it was only in it's second or third year when i started. i was stoked because it had an internship and the majority of my classmates didn't have any work experience, like me. but, if you've been keeping up with this blog at all, you'll know how much i struggled with such an unorganized program and terrible professors. i learned some stuff but i'm still unaware of how it will benefit me in the long run. this runs true when one of the people interviewing me last year was concerned that i was trying to steal his job, being that i had the education to be a "project manager." sigh. yes, i'm gonna take your job with no work experience. THEY TOOK YER JOB!
a classmate in PME told me about the program she was in last year, called green business management (GBM). it was also a post-graduate certificate. when i looked into it, it definitely had more of a sustainability and environment focus rather than PME - which seemed to focus on... service? civil? government? law? actually, i have no idea what PME was centred around. i think that kind of sums up the entire program, right there. confused. the department offered us a chance to give feedback on the program and where to improve. and oh, we gave it.
i applied to GBM and got in right away. i hoped that i wouldn't have to return to school in september 2012 and that i'd get some job for at least the summer of 2012. that didn't happen, so back to seneca i went.
3) seneca, round 2
i hoped things would be different. they weren't. i quickly realized that it wasn't exactly the department or faculty's fault for having terrible programs; it was seneca not actually caring about their graduate students. GBM was only in it's third or fourth year when i started. again, my classmates were in the program to gain real-world work experience through the internship. and fuck, we all know how that's turning out. i'll give you a hint: it's not well. it seems as though most days after class ends, my program gets together and bitches about all the things that went wrong and things that need to change in the short and long-term. there are five weeks left in the program, and most of my classmates still sit there with a confused look on their face, wondering what it is that these professors are trying to teach.
i'll admit that there are 2-3 professors that i highly enjoy and make their classes a wonderful learning environment. and yes, they are much better than the shit i had to deal with in PME. but there are still so many things that need to be improved. when i looked online at the newly improved PME program this year, there were a few course changes. but when talking to current PME students, it seems that most of them are still facing similar challenges as my year did.
7 years of post-secondary education. 3 different programs running as supposed pilot projects. i finish GBM in 5 weeks. i'm tired of school and i'm tired of offering feedback on how things would be better.
somebody hire me so i can get out of this school bubble and start the real world.
Nov 8, 2011
what if
sometimes i wonder if i made the right choice.
i guess it really wasn't my choice to make. with the rejection from niagara and that being the only school i applied to for a post-grad, i was scrambling for something better. but it made me wonder and showed that it was almost fate that i didn't get in.
let's face it: 8 months at niagara would mean 8 more months of living at home and i definitely would not have been able to stand that. i doubt i would be learning anything about project management or getting 100% on assignments (okay, i don't know about the latter). still, i love every aspect of city life. the nightlife, the closeness, the transportation, the friends, the accessibility, and being on my own for sure rules.
i just imagine how things would be different if i didn't scramble to apply to seneca and get in -- even though it wasn't exactly what i wanted. but it's now shaping up to be something that could be beneficial to me in the long run.
i realized how different college life and university life are -- both through the atmosphere and the teaching/grading styles. yes, i'm post-grad, but fuck, if it's 8am and i just got up at 6am, i should have every right to show up in trackpants. fuck all of you for thinking otherwise. and the midterms. oh god, the midterms. i've written 4 so far with a 5th tomorrow. i fucking hate midterms. i didn't have any in my final year of university; i think the last time was in my 4th year. oh yeah, and what happened on that midterm? i scored 100% on short answer and essay questions. yeah. it was a good way to end my university midterm career. this also goes with final exams too -- i only had one final exam in my last year at brock and i did quite well.
i guess i'm just not a fan of testing. my memory, she ain't what she used to be and i find myself blanking on questions i should know... but don't. i prefer writing papers in order to collect my thoughts and ideas and apply them accordingly -- 'cause hell, i can express myself and argue my opinions pretty well! this seems no different in the marks i get from papers/reports/assignments so far. but, even my test scores are turning around. it's all just a matter of my focus at the time. if my mind is elsewhere (and it tends to be), i'm gonna do terrible. but if it's not, i'll more than likely be successful. hell week and a half is winding down to a close tomorrow and it's pretty much smooth sailing with only a few assignments to complete before final exams.
this seneca post-grad or a niagara post-grad was not what i intended. it's no applied master's, but it's going to have to work out.. for now. i just don't enjoy this all theory with no action thing. i want action with less theory!
i guess it really wasn't my choice to make. with the rejection from niagara and that being the only school i applied to for a post-grad, i was scrambling for something better. but it made me wonder and showed that it was almost fate that i didn't get in.
let's face it: 8 months at niagara would mean 8 more months of living at home and i definitely would not have been able to stand that. i doubt i would be learning anything about project management or getting 100% on assignments (okay, i don't know about the latter). still, i love every aspect of city life. the nightlife, the closeness, the transportation, the friends, the accessibility, and being on my own for sure rules.
i just imagine how things would be different if i didn't scramble to apply to seneca and get in -- even though it wasn't exactly what i wanted. but it's now shaping up to be something that could be beneficial to me in the long run.
i realized how different college life and university life are -- both through the atmosphere and the teaching/grading styles. yes, i'm post-grad, but fuck, if it's 8am and i just got up at 6am, i should have every right to show up in trackpants. fuck all of you for thinking otherwise. and the midterms. oh god, the midterms. i've written 4 so far with a 5th tomorrow. i fucking hate midterms. i didn't have any in my final year of university; i think the last time was in my 4th year. oh yeah, and what happened on that midterm? i scored 100% on short answer and essay questions. yeah. it was a good way to end my university midterm career. this also goes with final exams too -- i only had one final exam in my last year at brock and i did quite well.
i guess i'm just not a fan of testing. my memory, she ain't what she used to be and i find myself blanking on questions i should know... but don't. i prefer writing papers in order to collect my thoughts and ideas and apply them accordingly -- 'cause hell, i can express myself and argue my opinions pretty well! this seems no different in the marks i get from papers/reports/assignments so far. but, even my test scores are turning around. it's all just a matter of my focus at the time. if my mind is elsewhere (and it tends to be), i'm gonna do terrible. but if it's not, i'll more than likely be successful. hell week and a half is winding down to a close tomorrow and it's pretty much smooth sailing with only a few assignments to complete before final exams.
this seneca post-grad or a niagara post-grad was not what i intended. it's no applied master's, but it's going to have to work out.. for now. i just don't enjoy this all theory with no action thing. i want action with less theory!
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