Why I Left My Engineering Career To Be a Teacher in China!
Hello Steem Blockchain!
Since high school, I've always wanted to be an engineer. When I got accepted to the University of Toronto's Mechanical Engineering program, I was jumping up and down ecstatically and couldn't wait to tell all of my friends.
I was so excited because I was going to learn how to design and build things. Things that people use and benefit from. I couldn't wait to begin because I always like building things and putting stuff together.
Two projects I worked on in my final year of university.
But upon working as an engineer for only 1 year, I left.
I decided to turn my life into a new direction. My next chapter was moving to China to become a teacher. Why would I do such a thing. What happened along the way that made me leave my engineering career and do something almost completely unrelated?
Let me explain.
Engineering: Reality vs. Expectations
I always liked hands-on work. As a child, I always took apart my toys and then tried to put it back together. Sometimes I magically ended up with some extra parts after doing so, hahah.
When I was in university, I joined the Formula SAE racing team. A team that builds a racecar from the ground up annually and competes internationally. It was an awesome team to be apart of. I learned so much and go to contribute a lot. I felt like an engineer. I felt like I was learning practical knowledge that could be applied in my life in the future.
I am in the back row, 2nd from the left.
The University of Toronto has an internship program called PEY: Professional Experience Year, whereby students can take a break from their studies after 3rd year, and work for a company in an engineering-related job. I participated in this program.
I worked for a very large automotive company that designs, manufactures and tests parts for cars. I essentially did the exact same job an engineer at this company would do. It was a great experience. I learned a lot about what an engineer does on a daily basis and got experience in the corporate world.
Concurrently, I saw reality. I saw what my life would be like if I graduated and become an engineer in the future. And to be honest, it wasn't something I was too excited about anymore.
Engineering wasn't what I thought it would be. As a matter of fact, it just felt like any corporate job. A job I have to wake up early in the morning to go to, get stuck in traffic jams, work from 8am to 6pm and then head back home (in traffic). I have always detested this kind of lifestyle. I hate it when someone tells me I have to wake up to go to work and it conflicts with what I want to do. I don't like having to be at a certain location for a long duration of time without the freedom to get up and go somewhere else as I please.
Call me spoiled and stubborn, but that is how I have always felt and it has never changed.
What Creativity?
I always dreamed about working for an aerospace company: Think NASA or Boeing. I was even excited to work in automotive. In my mind I thought I would have the freedom to design a whole car and bring it to life. Well, that dream went poof.
Corporations don't like to waste money on brand new ideas. It's akin to reinventing the wheel. Instead, in order to minimize risk and save money, corporation will make slight modifications to older versions of a part and you are responsible for making sure that this new part meets the customer specifications.
Just look at most car manufacturers. Every year, they come out with a new car, but it's not like its a complete overhaul from the previous year. Even look at cell phone manufacturers. They don't need innovation, they need results and revenue. Making something completely new can take a turn for the worst and ruin profits.
Why I Teach in China
I wanted something different. I wanted to have the freedom to travel and wake up when I wanted to. My job in China does exactly that. When I don't have class, I am free to stay in my apartment and work on other things. I am not expected to work solely on school work everyday. That allows me to make awesome posts on Steem and record videos for DTube & YouTube.
What I'd like to mention is that I am not only an English teacher. I teach math, science and business. Not everyone can teach these subjects. I teach my students advanced mathematics that they will learn when they go to university if they major in something like math or engineering. I am happy to do this, because I don't feel like I completely wasted my degree by only teaching English. I still am putting my knowledge to use!
Creating Multiple Streams of Income
My job also allows me to live in the manufacturing hub of the world and find other ways to make money. A typical 9 to 5 (or 8 to 6 in my old job) would be too time-consuming to work on other projects. Here in China, I get to live in an awesome country with very low expenses, and check out factories to make products that I want to sell.
I have been able to try out Amazon by making glass straws in China and I learned a whole lot from that experience.
If you are interested in buying these, CLICK HERE
Travel
I now get to work an awesome job with a good salary in China. I have so much free time to travel around the country and Asia and this is what I have always wanted. I feel so fortunate to be able to escape the rat-race at 23 years old (2014, when I first came to China)
Dalian, Liaoning
Sure, my salary would probably be higher if I worked as an engineer, but so would my expenses and I'd have to sacrifice a lot of time. If you factor in the cost of rent, a car, insurance, etc., then I might actually be making the same amount of money. I can save so much money here because my expenses are so low. Also factor in the fact that I have so much free time these days and I think that alone is worth a lot!
Nowadays, I don't see how I could ever go back to a 9-5 type of job. I have too much freedom here and am excited to create multiple streams of income. I plan to make all of my money online so that I am free to go wherever I want.
Conclusion
I am glad I got to get my feet wet by participating in a year long internship. I don't have any negative feelings towards the company I worked for. It's just that I didn't get to do what I wanted. Engineering is a lot of paper work and there are a lot of legal restrictions involved.
I would love to take engineering and use it to design a new product or create something of my own. For now, I know that I don't want to work in the corporate world anymore and would rather follow what makes me happy and try to monetize that. I think I am doing a good job so far since I am happy with how I am doing on Steemit/DTube.
Thanks for reading & watching!
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Hi Kenan, nice post. I'm also an engineer but never worked in a company. Decided it would be more fun to start my own. Traveled around a lot as well and am coming to China to enjoy the higher quality of living (all that food!). You should have a look as well into new product development and innovation consultancy. I found that's where you can use curiosity and creativity.
Hey @visforvictor. You are planning to come live in China or visit?
That's what it seems to me; all the creativity in engineering comes from starting your own business as opposed to being employed by one. New product development and innovation consultancy sounds really cool. I guess you would just be a business that people go to when they have an idea and you basically try to come up with something to meet their needs right?
Fantastic comment. Thank you!
As an old China hand, I have to congratulate you on your accomplishments in life.
I will warn you though, China can be seductive, and say 10 years later you might find yourself here, on perhaps a more permanent basis. If this is what you want, great. You can also teach almost anywhere, don't limit yourself to just one country.
I have a love/hate relationship with this place, mostly depending on who I interact with, good days and bad days, I've also come to the conclusion that there is no utopia, there is often a better path if one is willing to risk having the occasional failure.
I also have to agree, there is no love in most corporate culture, I've been in the business of corporate training, for far too long, it gets old FAST.
You are right. China is seductive. I always find myself renewing my contract for another year even though I had serious plans to leave. There are some things that annoy about this place, but there are things that keep me here. The internet situation sucks, but my lifestyle is still really good.
It seems like I don't have a reason to go back to Canada, so I might as well enjoy myself here and do what I can. It is tough to stay permanent here because of the Visa situation and you don't get any benefits like pension, retirement, etc.
Got news for you, by the time either one of us gets old enough to retire, the existing benefit and pension system will be a joke, in almost every country.
One of the things I do like about living here, is it forces me to take a D.I.Y. approach to just about everything. My mind is free of all of the mainstream culture as well. Like most of my Chinese colleagues, I'm not impressed with the state run media, and pretty much ignore it, almost total fiction, just like Hollywood.
I have no reason to go back to the States, except for large size wool socks, that is the only thing I can't find here.
The visa situation has always worked out for me, if it didn't, its their loss.
Internet is great compared many places in rural US. I have been playing the game of cat and mouse with the GFW of China for so long, its kind of a sport at this point.
If anything, when the internet is slow or just plain broken, its a good excuse to get outside, there is always something going on. Where I live, we have lots of neighborhood pets, dogs, cats, chickens, and my least favorite, roosters. Just watching people go about their everyday routines can be quite fascinating at times, usually they are also quite curious about me.
Yeah that's a good way to look at it. I've been getting myself more involved in activities that don't require the internet. I'm so behind on whatever is going on in the news or pop culture. I feel so separated from all of it.
To this day, I still find people watching one of the most interesting things to do here. Whenever I go out, I still feel like I'm on an adventure, even if it is just to the supermarket.
The supermarkets can be straight up insane.
I try to stay away from them on the weekends, or early in the mornings when all of the seniors are there.
The only comparison in the States is black Friday, its often normal operation here, total chaos, pushing, shoving, shouting, and waaay too many people all trying to occupy the same space all at once.
Suzhou, Auchan Supermarket, 2006
Hahaha! Very true. Forget about waiting in lines here. Everyone just shoves themselves to the front.
Fellow Canuck? Assume from you going to UofT (sorry if it's a wrong assumption). I think it's the bubble that bursts for many in the science fields - Engineering, Computer Science, etc. You go through school and get to learn and try new things. Get out and into the rat race and it's all about timelines, profit and cookie cutter products. And you barely have any "me" time to pursue areas of interest.
It's fantastic that you have been able to do what you are doing. Great post too.. hope it gets more traction.
Yes sir! From Mississauga, ON. You're right. While I was working as an engineer intern, I used Microsoft Excel the most. Also, I had to travel to Newmarket from Mississauga every day so by the time I got home, it was past 7pm. Only had time to go to the gym.
Thank you @jasonbu. I'm pretty happy with my progress here.
Hey buddy thanks for making this post, this has always been something I've been curious about in terms of a bit more about your background and how you wound up in China.
I currently find myself in a somewhat similar situation. I'm doing something I thought I always wanted to do working for myself and while I don't despise it and while the money is good and I have a lot of freedom my business kind of ties me down and keeps me on a schedule where as I'd like to have a bit more freedom. Currently trying to stash some money and also get some other revenue streams going so sometime not too far down the road I can move on to something else
You are someone I look up to when it comes to making money and working for yourself. I subscribed to your YouTube channel a long time ago because you were one of the online entrepreneurs that didn't sound so scammy and shady. You posted several questions for me on one of my Steemit posts about China and I ended up answering all those questions in this post: https://busy.org/@kenanqhd/why-the-heck-did-i-move-to-communist-china-q-and-a-session-thanks-to-rulesforrebels
I don't know if you saw it, but it goes into more detail about why I came to China and other questions you had.
I know you've got some shopify stores and eBay/Amazon FBA. Is it because of fulfilling orders that you are tied down and on a schedule or something?
Wow, I love your live @kenanqhd. Wish I could have something similar honestly
Thanks @dtwo, I'm flattered lol. Have a vision of where you want to be an make sure you take action on bettering yourself moment by moment. Do whatever will make you feel happier/better in this moment instead of waiting for something. Sometimes life can suck and you will want to just vanish from it all, but that isn't possible. Instead, it is important to do as many little things as possible that will make you feel better about life instead of dreaming or waiting until you change yourself or circumstances.
Start by making your bed. Accept yourself as much as possible even if you have to accept something you don't like. It is better than forcing yourself to try and change it. Momentum adds up very quickly.