You spent years studying, complaining and maybe even crying back in college. You worked really hard to finally get that engineering degree and as soon as you did, you studied even harder to pass the licensure exam. To you, being a licensed engineer was the ultimate goal and you always kept your focus on achieving it.
The results are finally out and yes! You’re officially an engineer! Woohoo! After the celebrations and the congratulatory remarks from everyone, you suddenly find yourself alone in your room, wondering, “I finally passed the licensure exam. Now what?”
Maybe it’s a common thing among millennials to experience some form of existential crisis. Having to wonder if we’re on the right path or not, we always end up confused and feeling lost. All those years of hard work in engineering school finally paid off but what happens after? Everybody expects us to find jobs. While most of us eventually get the jobs we need to survive as of the moment, we can’t help but ask ourselves, is this it? For the rest of our lives, are we just meant to work an 8-hour job, get married and wait until we retire to enjoy life?
We question our existence in this world and we keep looking for signs that will guide us to the right path. But in most cases, these signs never come. Our thoughts become more complicated as soon as we ask about the meaning of everything we do and our purpose. We’re finally engineers, now what?
While it’s never wrong to doubt if we made the right decisions for ourselves, we mustn’t forget to face reality too. We are no longer kids who must depend on our parents to support us financially. By passing the licensure exam, we must prepare ourselves as we enter the real world. We must become the responsible adults that we should be – no more pretending that we don’t care about the law and our lives because that is no longer cool. Actually, not giving a damn about anything was never even cool to begin with. We’re in our twenties and it’s time for us to grow up, get a job (preferably a job that we enjoy doing) and make decisions that will be good for us in the long run.
Ditch the Peter Pan complex and plan out your future. If you’re not too sure about what you want to do in the long run, you don’t have to stress yourself out though. It helps if you just figure out what you want to do for now. Eventually, the decisions you make for yourself now will lead you to the things you know you want for yourself in the future.
Explore your options and always keep the door open for new possibilities. If what you wanted didn’t actually happen, it’s okay. Sometimes, failures and missed opportunities lead us to what we need to do for ourselves to grow as better individuals. Most importantly, don’t lose hope in finding the success you want. You are young and you have the rest of your life to discover what’s good and what’s bad for you. After engineering school, you have the rest of life seeing the world as it is and pursuing your dreams.
So don’t worry. Don’t fret. If you feel lost more than ever (after passing the licensure exam), remember there are still more work to do. It’s either you enjoy the ride of your life or you end up feeling miserable every step of the way. Getting lost and finding yourself can be fun, you know? So enjoy making things happen for yourself.
You finally passed the licensure exam, now what? Now be a responsible adult who makes things happen! You got this!
