Why do you have this idea that you MUST have a career in a certain course? And that you must work in a field consistent with what you studied in Uni. This mental prison is one of the biggest problems with Kenya's education system (and it's graduates) . Sadly people refuse to move away from it. Years ago, i graduated with a BSc in Biochemistry. I wasted 5 yrs looking for non existent jobs in the medical industry, food industry etc. Every BioChem graduate only thinks of EABL, Glaxo, Bidco, Unilever etc. It's such a narrow way of thinking that sometimes i laugh when i remember that i used to think like that too. I tried teaching Biology and Chemistry in private schools, i didn't know that i was entering another prison. Now the only thing i was doing is moving from one school to another earning peanuts. My mind was now wired to only look for teaching jobs. Then one day i go visit a friend admitted at Coptic hospital along Ngong Road and i bump into a college mate (Food Technology grad), a quick scan (those you do when you meet people in order to assess how they are doing) suggests that he is doing fine. I ask him what he does, he says that he is a translator. WTF! Translator. Turns out the guy works an on call translator for the UN, embassies etc. He did French in high school and then later after Uni studied German and Mandarin. He currently has a firm and college. The long and short of it is simple: RE-INVENTION. I got motivated and decided to try something different. I retrained myself largely using free resources and now work in the Data Analytics and programming fields with considerable success. I get that most people find fulfillment working in sectors they trained in. But life is arrogant and time waits for no one. If you find that you can't pursue your "career" what stops you from trying something else, from retraining or re-inventing yourself. We've been sold and bought this lie that you must have a "career" (in the Kenyan definition), that if you trained to be a teacher or Accountant, then you have to be a teacher/accountant and nothing else. It was sad seeing teachers who had lost jobs due to the closure of schools suffering due to loss of income. What was uniquely sad in all that were profiled in the media was how they seemed to believe that their livelihoods depended 100% on teaching, that there's nothing else they could do. You get stuck in a mental frame that makes you incapable of imagining that other possibilities exist. This could be the reason why people with very little education seem to be doing well in kenya; they are not imprisoned in the "career" prison, they can afford to think "outside the box" because they don't have a box to begin with. It amazes me that a young man with a business/hustle that is doing well will tell you "hapa najishikilia tu nikitafuta job", because his mind is trained to believe that unless he is a bank teller at Equity or Working for Safaricom then he has failed in life. That unless he pursues a career or works in a field he was trained in he has failed in life. He'd rather get a 50K "job" and then sell his business that brought 150K. It never occurs to him that he can grow his business or explore other areas of growth. I just don't get this kind of logic. It's so much ingrained in Kenyans that many don't even realise how stupid it is. Once you hit your 30's and start getting family obligations you'll lose the time and freedom needed to re-invent yourself and start a long journey to misery and settling for less. Like i said before, life is arrogant and unforgiving for those who seek comfort in familiar territory. You need to re-invent yourself, you need to explore other options, forgive yourself and realise that other possibilities exist. Re-learn. Learn a new skill. Try something else. Good luck

Why do you have this idea that you MUST have a career in a certain course? And that you must work in a field consistent with what you studied in Uni. This mental prison is one of the biggest problems with Kenya's education system (and it's graduates) . Sadly people refuse to move away from it. Years ago, i graduated with a BSc in Biochemistry. I wasted 5 yrs looking for non existent jobs in the medical industry, food industry etc. Every BioChem graduate only thinks of EABL, Glaxo, Bidco, Unilever etc. It's such a narrow way of thinking that sometimes i laugh when i remember that i used to think like that too. I tried teaching Biology and Chemistry in private schools, i didn't know that i was entering another prison. Now the only thing i was doing is moving from one school to another earning peanuts. My mind was now wired to only look for teaching jobs. Then one day i go visit a friend admitted at Coptic hospital along Ngong Road and i bump into a college mate (Food Technology grad), a quick scan (those you do when you meet people in order to assess how they are doing) suggests that he is doing fine. I ask him what he does, he says that he is a translator. WTF! Translator. Turns out the guy works an on call translator for the UN, embassies etc. He did French in high school and then later after Uni studied German and Mandarin. He currently has a firm and college. The long and short of it is simple: RE-INVENTION. I got motivated and decided to try something different. I retrained myself largely using free resources and now work in the Data Analytics and programming fields with considerable success. I get that most people find fulfillment working in sectors they trained in. But life is arrogant and time waits for no one. If you find that you can't pursue your "career" what stops you from trying something else, from retraining or re-inventing yourself. We've been sold and bought this lie that you must have a "career" (in the Kenyan definition), that if you trained to be a teacher or Accountant, then you have to be a teacher/accountant and nothing else. It was sad seeing teachers who had lost jobs due to the closure of schools suffering due to loss of income. What was uniquely sad in all that were profiled in the media was how they seemed to believe that their livelihoods depended 100% on teaching, that there's nothing else they could do. You get stuck in a mental frame that makes you incapable of imagining that other possibilities exist. This could be the reason why people with very little education seem to be doing well in kenya; they are not imprisoned in the "career" prison, they can afford to think "outside the box" because they don't have a box to begin with. It amazes me that a young man with a business/hustle that is doing well will tell you "hapa najishikilia tu nikitafuta job", because his mind is trained to believe that unless he is a bank teller at Equity or Working for Safaricom then he has failed in life. That unless he pursues a career or works in a field he was trained in he has failed in life. He'd rather get a 50K "job" and then sell his business that brought 150K. It never occurs to him that he can grow his business or explore other areas of growth. I just don't get this kind of logic. It's so much ingrained in Kenyans that many don't even realise how stupid it is. Once you hit your 30's and start getting family obligations you'll lose the time and freedom needed to re-invent yourself and start a long journey to misery and settling for less. Like i said before, life is arrogant and unforgiving for those who seek comfort in familiar territory. You need to re-invent yourself, you need to explore other options, forgive yourself and realise that other possibilities exist. Re-learn. Learn a new skill. Try something else. Good luck