They Start Young These Days

A few days ago I got an e-mail from a fellow Nuffnanger

It reads:

Dear Mr Timothy,

I am aware your time is rather limited and I would understand if you could not find the time to reply.

My name is Yap Ki-yun, and I am currently a student studying in Asia Pacific Institute of Information Technology, located in Technology Park Malaysia, nearby Bukit Jalil.

I just turned 18 in June, and I am now in the 3rd semester of my Foundation program.

There is a module which is Research Method for Degree Study, and there is an assignment. The assignment is that us, the students need to know which company we wish to work for once we graduate.

I realize that there is a 'Career' page in the Nuffnang website, and it was truly helpful since it was launched but I hope to clarify some of my doubts through this email.

Being a blogger myself, and also a Nuffnanger for almost a year now, I have seen Nuffnang continuously improving tremendously since I first joined in last year. It is no doubt fast growing in Asia Pacific and the proof of this is the recent opening of the Phillipines office. In a few years, I expect online advertising to be more competitive as Internet is gaining more users by the day and the number of blogs are increasing.

I am impressed by how Nuffnang has grown so rapidly, and by how the "Nuffies" have managed to do such a great job and have so much fun at the same time.

Long story short, I wish to be a part of Nuffnang after I graduate.I am planning to do Business Computing for my degree majoring in Marketing.

Needless to say it is a long way to go, but I hope to be able to contribute in the future.

May I know what positions will be available for me?

And what skills would be ideal for a student like me to develop in order to work in a company such as Nuffnang?

or courses that is suitable to attend that offers something that we can equip ourselves with.

If you have read till here, I sincerely thank you for your time and your willingness to read.

Regards,
Ki-yun

Now I can't help but say I'm pretty impressed. I mean when I was 18 I really had no clue what I wanted to be and what I wanted to do. I just thought then that perhaps I was going to go into finance and work in a bank, after all that's what everyone else around me seems to be doing.

But here's someone at that age I once was and has such a clear idea of what he wanted to do.

I replied his e-mail:


Hi Ki Yun,

Thank you very much for your e-mail and most importantly thank you for your vote in confidence of the growth of Nuffnang. That vote does not come unappreciated, having gone through many hurdles in the growth of Nuffnang.

Remember that in the early days of Nuffnang there were many skeptics that had doubt we would come so far... and to be honest today when I look back at how far we've come in such a short time, even I am surprised. We do however owe it all to a lot of luck and support we've had from the right people, including people like yourself. I admire you for knowing what you want at such a young age. When I was your age (and that wasn't too long ago), I had no idea what I was going to do with my life. Now let me answer your question.

To be honest, all sorts of people from all sorts of backgrounds work at Nuffnang. We have sales people, ad operations, admin, blogger relations, finance, programmers, designers and more.
I myself studied economics and whatever work experience I had was in finance and now I'm in advertising, isn't that quite a leap. I guess to me it's not so much what background you've had but how willing you are to learn and how passionate you are about Nuffnang and if there is something I appreciate and can't take for granted for is that all the Nuffies are just as passionate as I am about Nuffnang and the things we do, some even more.

Nevertheless, you are indeed making a big decision right now and I think you should think of what you really want to do rather than where you want to work because you're at an age where mindsets change very quickly.

When I was 18 I wasn't sure what I wanted to do but I thought that I wanted to work at an investment bank. Once I graduated however, I had this burning desire to be an entrepreneur. Perhaps by the time you graduate you might have found another true calling, and it may not be working at Nuffnang.

So Ki Yun, decide on what you really want to do and preferably try to pick up a course that would give you some kind of skill set like computer science, or accounting or something.

Today I have an economics degree out in my pocket but if you compare me with someone with an accounting degree, there is nothing that I can do that the accounting degree holder can't.. but there sure is something that he/she will be able to do that I can't ie audit/accounting.

In the next few years when you do graduate, feel free to drop me a mail and I will be more than happy to interview you to see where you might fit in. Good luck in the next few important years of your life Ki Yun! Do take care. PS: Would you mind if I share your nice e-mail on my blog with my readers?

-Timothy Tiah


Now I know it sounds a little bit like I was discouraging him in my reply... maybe just a little but I was just trying to be honest.

Do you guys agree or disagree with my reply?

I am however fascinated how increasingly a lot of young people at a really young age now know what they want to do with their lives.