Last month felt like yesterday; actually, it even felt more like a minute ago. I remember dreading the closeness of the beginning of March while I was in the latter part of February. Why was I so dreadful. March 4th was the beginning of my exams; even though they were supposed to have started in the second week of February, they were postponed by 3 weeks, which came as a relief to me because I wasn't ready for the exam at all in February. Even though the postponement bought me time, I wasn't fully prepared for most courses by the end of February. But just like the proverbial saying, "time waits for no man," the 4th of March arrived.
The exam period was a difficult one, as most times I had to read overnight, and sometimes I barely slept up to four hours a day. But swiftly, time flew by, and by the 15th of March, I was done with all my exams for the first semester. It was a major relief for me, and I was able to rest off the stress that I had in my body and mind during the exam period. However, the period of rest didn't last long because I had to start my industrial training under the Student Industrial Work Experience Scheme, abbreviated SIWES.
SIWES is a skills training program that provides certain students studying some particular courses in universities, polytechnics, and colleges of technology with the necessary experience to prepare and expose students of universities to the industrial work situations they are likely to meet after graduation.
Kudos to whoever thought out that idea and decided to add it to the national tertiary education system because most of what is taught in classes is just theories or outdated information. Working in an industry related to one's field of study is very beneficial, as one gets to see modern standard practices and the application of the theoretical knowledge one has learned in the classroom.
My SIWES is to last a total of six months and replace the period of my second semester in school. While others might be busy learning in school during this period, I am expected to be working in the industry, learning and performing the tasks given by my supervisors. So after days of finishing my exams, I had to start looking for SIWES placement by applying to companies and asking them to take me as an industrial trainee for six months. This was what I did during the later part of March, and I wasn't alone. My two friends occasionally joined me in my search for an IT position. We started going from one chemical manufacturing or handling company to another to submit our SIWES letter. It was fun as we went to places we hadn't been to and also to industries that we hadn't been to before. But the troubling part was that most companies would promise to get back to us, but none did.
Before this moment, I never fully understood how hard it was to get an industrial training placement, but now I realize it is a very difficult process, and there are many reasons as to why. The first is that there are limited industrial companies in the city of Lagos, and these companies have an allocated amount of trainees they can accept; in fact, most companies don't collect up to five and perhaps a maximum of 10. Without tens of thousands of students looking for IT placement during this period, the little space available is in contention with thousands. I think the second reason why most companies are not collecting IT is due to the bad economic situation in the country. Many companies are scaling down their staff, and they wouldn't want to cater to IT students with their slim budgets. The third reason why finding IT placement is more difficult is that most companies only accept you if you come through someone in the company, meaning if you have a connection with that company, but if you don't, you won't be accepted. I can say that most people who have gotten IT placement at my level are students who used connections to get it. For someone like me and my colleagues with little or no connection, we have to search hard and hope we are called back by the company after submitting our application letter.
Away from the IT hunt, the last day of March was a holiday; it was Easter Sunday, and I would say that I enjoyed this Sunday because I went to fellowship in a new church where I am to learn how to become their sound guy. Easter Sunday was filled with fun, and I also won a gift in the church as I beat all of the other participants in the bible quiz. I enjoyed my time in the presence of the Lord.
That's my recap of the month of march, hope you enjoyed it?