WHEN my friends and I were civil engineering students attending the Yangon Technological University, we had so many plans for the future and hopes for the years to come. But life doesn’t always work the way you plan and dreams inevitably change.

There are two career options open to engineering students. We could either find work with a private company or find a job as a government servant. My friends who wanted to work in private companies are now working for the government and those who wanted to be government servants are running their own businesses. Some of us are not working in engineering at all.

When we were at university we spent hours down at the tea shop discussing what would become of us. Some of us wanted to travel overseas and some were determined to stay in Myanmar. Most of our group are now doing the opposite of what we said back then.

Ko Soe Hlaing, who had wanted to work for his family business trading Nga-pi (fish-paste) is now working on a government construction site in Hlaing township.

“Yes, I had a strong desire to do run my own business because it can be more profitable but I became a government servant through the Yangon City Development Committee because I think my job is more secure,” he said.

Ko Soe Hlaing is now an assistant engineer at the YCDC Engineering Department and said he is happy with his work.

“The income is not so good, but it’s okay. It’s enough for my daily expenses,” he said.

Not all of my friends are happy with where they have ended up, including Ko Zayar Myo who always wanted to be a journalist. After graduation he began working as a site engineer for a private company.

Six months later he found a job with a publishing house but found that he still wasn’t happy.

“I knew I couldn’t get as much money in a journalist’s position as I could working as an engineer but that was what I wanted to do. At first I was happy but now I am not. Making a living as a journalist is much harder than I expected,” he said.

Ko Zayar Myo said he is looking for work as a government servant.

Ko Thet Htway worked as an interior decoration engineer at Pan Hlaing Estate in Hlaing Tharyar township for one year and had mixed feelings about his job.

“Working at a private company is neither good nor bad. The advantage is getting a lot of money, enough for your daily life. Being a government servant, I won’t get a big salary a month, but the position is secure for the rest of my life,” he said.

The most financially successful man in our group is Ko Naing Min Kyaw, who works as a site engineer for a private construction company and has been promoted to the position of general manager. With cell-phone in hand he was taught to manage a number of workers at a building site not far out of town.

Ko Naing Min Kyaw earns more than K100,000 a month and said it is not enough. Needless to say Ko Naing Min Kyaw has no desire to become a government servant.

Ko Tin Moe Aung, who graduated with a degree in aeronautical engineering in 2001, found his niche working as a private tutor.

“I realised my ambition was to run a successful local magazine with short stories, poems and articles. But only when I reached my final year of YTU, did I realise what I want to be. I am not interested in my major engineering subjects, and I enjoy giving extra classes to students in the tenth standard,” he said
Many of my friends turned their backs on engineering altogether. Many are happy in their new found careers, and others have regrets, but regrets are common. So often in Myanmar we have to disregard our degrees in a bid to make some money.