Back to School, finally?

After 11 years of reconsidering & attempting to further my educational progress (post-diploma in landscape architecture), I have finally successfully applied and been accepted into a Bachelors programme. In the meantime, I had gone through multiple jobs (a landscape architecture & building architecture drafter, an architectural project assistant, a landscape project assistant), a part-time diploma programme, and a few MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) in varied disciplines.

2010-2013 | Plan A: Architecture

My plan, initially, was to pursue a degree in Architecture. Multiple attempts over a few years & design portfolios proved futile (I’d written about my attempts here & here). Then I thought, I’m probably not cut out for creative work & design… but what if I had the talent for the engineering side of Built Environment?

2014-2019 | Plan B: Civil Engineering

Only one way to find out: I enrolled into BCA (Building & Construction Authority – Singapore’s statutory board that handles the local built environment industry) Academy’s 3.5-year part-time Diploma in Construction Engineering; There were unfortunately no other locally-recognised part-time diploma options for civil engineering, so construction engineering was the closest I could get (Had no idea it would make me suitable to work at construction sites as a site supervisor or project engineer, prior to starting the programme – kinda went in ‘blind’).

Upon graduation from BCA Academy, I had hoped to pursue a part-time degree in Civil Engineering with the support of my current workplace, but sadly my workplace had strange ‘red tapes’ that hindered such a progression. It didn’t help that the only available locally-recognised part-time bachelors programme was at a hard-to-get-to location with classes that started too early and my workplace wasn’t willing to allow me flexible working hours. You may ask: Why not change your job, then? I did consider that, applied for many openings and even received one successful offer that was directly relevant to my Construction diploma & my potential Civil degree, but it was to be a shift work, working nights on some days. At the time, I was in a serious relationship and planning for marriage & starting a family, so I deliberated heavily with my partner (who was already in a shift job and would continue to be for years to come), and came to the decision to pass on the job offer. In addition, the night shifts wouldn’t really be helpful in coordinating my night classes for the degree.

2020 | Plan C?

In early 2020, I was at my favourite biannual event – the Singapore Airshow (I wrote about my experience at my maiden Airshow visit in 2014 here). I was casually browsing through the booths when I came across one by an aeronautical university. My then-fiancé, an aircraft engineer, had at the time, recently told me of his rough plans to pursue a degree, so I approached the booth to find out more on his behalf. By the end of the day, the thought played heavily in my mind: What if I pursued it – Is it time for me to move on to my Plan C – make a move into the aviation industry?

During my stint as an architectural drafter in 2012, I was into listening to documentaries on YouTube while doing work. I listened to a huge variety of documentaries, and one of my favourite series was Seconds From Disaster (wrote about that before too, here). It was almost a natural progression to also binge-watch Air Crash Investigation, where I found myself being fascinated by how & why planes get into situations. In 2018, I even found time to casually (and very happily!) take on a MOOC in Forensic Engineering offered by TUDelft via edX – the course only further cemented my idea that if my plans to go into architecture (Plan A) & civil engineering (Plan B) failed, I could go into aviation (Plan C).

2021 | Life happens… (And when life give you lemons, you make lemonade. Seriously.)

Winding back to early 2020. Somehow, months after that Airshow, things happened… and my romantic relationship fell apart. Marriage & starting a family were no longer on the cards. But pursuing further studies seemed to be a still-viable opportunity, so I grabbed it, despite the utter emotional and mental stress I was in at the point of application. As God would have it, the process went smoothly, and by end-2020 I was offered a place in SUSS’s (Singapore University of Social Sciences) part-time BEng Aerospace Systems programme.

With no relevant working experience nor education background, whatsoever. Just a strong passion & nerding out on 13 seasons of Air Crash Investigation (side note: there are 20 seasons at the time of writing this post, btw; I have yet to catch up with the 7 seasons from 2015-2020). What was I thinking?

Yet, I knew without a doubt, I had to take on this challenge. I’ve been asking for a chance to pursue a degree – this is it. I’ve been asking for a way to get out of a career track that barely has any promising, appealing future – this is it. I’ve been asking for a life where I get to to say “I chose this path” instead of “I had no choice”.

This is it.

I am taking this and owning it. I pray I will be able to manage everything just fine, God-willing.

Term 1 begins 25 January 2021. Wish me luck!