Listen to Guillaume to find out why post-secondary experience will better prepare you for any job field.
This production is brought to you by CanLearn.ca
[Music fades in followed by echoing and overlapping voices.]
Having a degree in anything, will really you can open up the doors.
I have so many opportunities in front of me right now.
And it's going to help you figure out what you would really want to do as a career.
And it helped me get my dream job.
With big risk comes big gain.
[Music fades out.]
Bonjour. Je m'appelle Guillaume Houde. J'ai 24 ans.
Hello. My name is Guillaume Houde, and I'm 24 years old.
I have a college diploma in electrical engineering technology with a specialization in telecommunications. So I focussed in everything related to RF transmission, antennas, cell phones… stuff like that. Everything related to that. It's a three-year college diploma in technology.
I was about the only one in my group of friends who went for studies in technology, as opposed to a pre-university college diploma. That seemed better to me. If I decided to switch fields, it gave me a chance to have experience in telecommunications.
I liked to work with my hands, closer to the finished product, instead of having to think about managing budgets, managing staff, and doing things like that. Engineers certainly have more education, and they get paid more. On the other hand, they have to study four and a half years longer.
In my case, I could have decided to go and work right away for an audiovisual company. But I would have gotten there with no experience and no education. It would have taken me longer to learn. Obviously, in the beginning, you start with the basics. If you have a post-secondary education, whether it's a trade or a college diploma in technology, you'll certainly be further ahead at work. You'll have already gone over some of what you need to know. Studies also have to help with your pay. It'll increase faster because you have more experience and you bring more to the table.
Even if after a year if you don't like it, you're still young. It's still time to change your mind. You can decide to switch fields, and it's not necessarily that bad. If you find something else that you like even more, you're better off. As a rule of thumb you should do something you're going to like all your life, rather than following in your friends' footsteps as they go into a different field because they don't really know what to do.
Most of my friends chose to go into humanities and social sciences. It's a two-year program. And at the end of it, they have to go to university. [Music fades in] I selected a three-year diploma in technology that would allow me to either go to university or directly enter the labour force. [Music fades out.]