There's no money in my chosen profession. Only hype about prestige and honor. Had I took up other course like nursing, engineering or perhaps a computer science course, I would have been working some where else outside of this beautiful country infested with corrupt people. I want to go back to school and take a better profession. But I no longer have the luxury of time and money. I am now a father of two very young innocent beautiful girls who looked at me as inexhaustible source of money for their Jolibee, dresses and chocolates.
I had a cousin who took up engineering. He didn't have a license but have plenty of working experience. First, he struggled to find a jobs here in the Philippines who discriminate non-licensed engineers. Later on, after he was able to amassed a wealth of job experience and expertise, he was hired abroad by a British employer that paid him 10,000 Euro (650K Pesos) a month net of expenses. It was a job he did not thought to have. Thanks for his not having a license or he would have grown complacent and got stocked here in the Philippines just like most Filipino licensed engineers.
In my case, I took up the much hyped Accountancy course. I took the overly strict and difficult CPA board exam and luckily passed it in first attempt. "Wow!" I said to my self. "I am now a CPA and can get a good paying job " I thought. Three months after I passed the CPA board, I can barely land even a janitorial job. Accounting firms were so choosy of hiring neophyte CPA's who are "Cum Laudes" and graduate of so called "elite schools" and pay them barely minimum rates. After years of working as Accountant, I laugh to myself becoming a member of underpaid, under-appreciated and overly hyped profession.
So I thought of studying Law course was good academic advancement and so I went. After 5 years of reading crooked English grammars from law books, I happily took the bar exam and with God's grace I already failed the Bar exam twice. The budget to take one bar exam is about 120K pesos or more. I won't take the Bar exam this year for financial reasons.
I am now earning a salary enough to bring food to the table and give clothes to my family. Forget about a home or a car, even if my salary is doubled or tripled, I can still not afford to buy a house or a car.
So now what? I don't know. I guess I will just hang on for a while and if things do not improve here in Philippines, Canada, Australia or New Zealand sounds a good option to go. After all, my wife is an accountancy graduate too and I'm sure my daughters will easily adopt a new environment with their young age.
It's really sad to see our lives passed by right our very eyes while working here in Philippines. Its like paddling a boat hard enough with getting anywhere.
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2 comments:
i am a student from one of the schools you mentioned here - san beda- but i will not take that against you. i do not know how it feels as i still have two years to go, but i must say that should hang on to it. i have a brod who failed the bar four times, he took it for the fifth and last time last year (2006) and he passed convincingly. you can do the same just believe and never lose the enthusiasm. im a cpa board flunker by the way, i am proving my wares in the college of law
I too am a father to two beutiful girls. One is 6 years old and the other is 5 years old. When I took the Bar in 1999 and failed, I thought I already gave up my dream of being an Atty. I got married, then my two girls followed shortly thereafter. Then 2005 came. I haven't opened my Books for 6 years but I decided to make one last stand and fight again and take the 2006 bar exams. I said to myself, I woudn't let the bar exams get the best of me. Unlike you it was my last under the five strike rule. I gave myself a year to prepare since I had to update myself with the new laws. I passed that bar exams. I guess it is never too late to become a lawyer. It only takes perseverance, faith and a lot of prayers.
I still havent taken down the posters my daughters have posted in my study room to cheer me on during those fateful days of September, 2006. It continues to remind me that in this life, nothing is impossible.
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