Why to get a summer job? Opinion piece
Most of us wait for the studies to end and vacation to begin when the weather gets warmer and summer closer. To have a little free time after a year of hard work sounds like a luxury to me. Time without deadlines and being able to meet all your friends you normally would not have a chance to meet, hanging out with them without worries and just passing time eating ice cream seems like a real way to get your battery loaded again and relax. So, why bother to get a job and spend all the sunny days locked inside of four walls sitting eight hours per day from eight to four, five days a week in front of a computer. Having a job ensures you do not have free-time or free will to decide how to spent your vacation. Moreover, does it really leave you any room for relaxing and preparing for the next autumn’s studies? The bottom line is, summers are for relaxing so that one would be ready for the next year having all the energy in the universe to concentrate to studying.
However, having a free summer is not as fun as it sounds like. Most of people need some kind of routine in their lives and not having any responsibilities usually messes it up. Furthermore, not having anything to do can be fun at first but then get highly boring which can lead people do stupid things or get depressed. Also, being a student without a job is financially challenging since working during the summer brings the funds the student can use during the next academic year which enables the student to study full-time. Moreover, being the only one from your group of friends can make the person feel unappreciated, it also gives more lonely free-time since all the other friends spend their days working.
I for one have huge trouble of motivating myself to work. I have never been the kind of a person who sits in the office from nine to five. I need constantly new challenges, variability and people around. In my current job description I am supposed to work eight hours a day, five days a week, sitting in front of computer and that is it for four months. Yep, I do get good money out of it and it is going to look darn good in my CV but how long will I be able to motivate myself with those two things. I have noticed that getting paid a lot does not add the value of the work itself to me. Am I willing to spend the whole summer locked inside, instead of having the time of my life outside, just because of the money? I have tried to think about the positive sides of having the job: I get to meet new people that is always important, networking you see, even thought they would not be exactly from my business field. Then having the good salary is important to me since I am planning to go to exchange after Christmas and I will need the money there, plus it would be nice to make trip abroad during the autumn break. I need the routine in my life and having the job provides it, I just could not survive doing nothing at all. Creating milestones helps also, since then the time does not feel so long. My boss gave me a hint that if I learn the job fast enough I might have a change to do business trip to France, so that gives a good kick to me to learn quick. I am not going to downplay the fact how much I need the experience from professional field and how good this job is going to look in the CV. Moreover, I have nothing to lose, only to win: new experiences, money and professional growth. Plus, all my friends will be working anyways so what would I do alone during the empty days.
Briefly, in my opinion having a summer job is definitely a positive thing although it comes with the down side not having the summer-off. Every coin has two sides but I still think that missing the summer is not fatal since one still has autumn, winter and spring holidays –well as long as one is a student at least. So why not sit in the office for while and make money?
satuski 