The Program.

You have just begun your CEGEP studies and are currently in Tremplin DEC to complete the courses common to all programs. You are still unsure as to which actual program you should choose to pursue your studies and are considering various options. You know that your current decisions will determine your future. You must choose wisely.

Choice 1 : You question the importance of pursuing college studies.

Choice 2 : You love computers so you enroll in a computer science program.

Choice 3 : Your parents want you to become a doctor so you enroll in a medicine program.

Audacious.

You and your friend have been discussing a lot about education and society lately. Your friend has managed to convince you that you don't need to pursue college studies to be successful in life. He talked about his father as an example of someone who never went to college yet now has a big house, no debt and a good income. Your self-esteem is very high and people sometimes say you're arrogant, but you think it's just because you believe in yourself and in your capacities.

Choice 1 : You believe you don't need college to be successful so you drop out.

Choice 2 : You chicken out of the idea of dropping out.

Uncharted Waters.

Much to your parent's disapproval, you have decided to follow your friend's advice and drop out of college. A heated argument with them about your decision leads you to grab your belongings and leave the house. You call the friend who has encouraged you to drop out and he lets you stay at his place. Your friend is financially independent, but you must help him pay the rent of his apartment and you need to find a job to do so. You naively believed there would be more choices available to you, but with your lack of work experience and qualifications, you realize that you can only get a minimum-wage dead-end job in fast-food places and such for the time being, despite your ambitious dreams about starting your own business from scratch.

Choice 1 : You send your resume to McDonald’s.

“Here’s your cheeseburger and diet coke, sir...”.

You have been employed by McDonald’s and begun working. Reality has hit you in the face and you are miserable. You were not prepared for leaving your parents’ house and you only had a vague idea about your business plans. You absolutely hate doing customer service as too many customers are maddening and feelings of regret keep hitting you with full-force every day. You are unsure about being able to keep up. Should you make amends with your parents, go back living with them and enroll back to college? Or are you too proud to do so and hope things will get better for you?

Choice 1 : You ask your parents to forgive you and you enroll back to college.

Choice 2 : You forget about your parents and convince yourself that things will get better.

Yikes!

Things don’t get better and your friendship with your friend — who has become your roommate — is deteriorating. You feel that you will need to get your own place soon and you are stressing over the prices of the apartments in your city. One day, you were walking to your miserable job and j-walking the street while angrily mumbling to yourself about your misfortune. Since you were not being careful and that your mind was elsewhere, you did not see a car coming and despite the driver panickingly attempting to avoid you by hitting the brakes, the force of the impact has sent you flying. You end up in a coma and wake up two weeks later at the hospital, quadriplegic for life.

Choice 1 : Game over.

Computer Science.

You feel that you’ve made the right choice. You are studying something which genuinely interests you and are getting along well with your fellow classmates whom you encounter in most of your classes. You have the motivation and drive to study. You are getting straight A's and paid internships are right around the corner. You do not regret your choice. This program will allow you to enter the job market in your field of study after obtaining your CEGEP technical diploma. Should you be ambitious and go for a university degree in computer engineering afterwards?

Choice 1 : Your parents don't realize that technology is the future, you succumb to their pressure and go study medicine in university.

Choice 2 : Think carefully about the engineering path you are considering.

Weary.

Computer engineering is a great field and you enjoy hardware slightly more than software as the latter is dependent on the former, but all the mathematics and physics which graduating in it requires makes you think twice about it because you will have to commit yourself and study hard. After obtaining your computer science diploma you don't feel like doing twice the effort now for university. The company in which you did your internship to learn the ropes has also offered you a job.

Choice 1 : Get the job and don't go to university for the engineering degree.

Choice 2 : Get the job and go to university for the engineering degree.

Code Monkey.

You have decided that you don't want to work simultaneously while getting your engineering degree as you dread the time management issues and so you would rather just get the job instead of getting sucked up in school for 4 more years. The problem is that you can only go so far with your technical DEC diploma and you are now stuck in a job with few career prospects. You are working full-time and making a decent amount of money but you are essentially writing lines and lines of computer code every day which you don't find satisfying at all and you wouldn't want to be doing the same thing for the next decades. You also had a preference for network management but since you also learned a lot about software engineering, you were also qualified for the job which you accepted in fear of missing a good opportunity. What should you do?

Choice 1 : Hope things get better.

Choice 2 : Reconsider studying computer engineering.

Oops.

3 years later, nothing has changed and every day is the same.

Choice 1 : Reconsider studying computer engineering.

Medicine.

You are frustrated about the control which your parents have on your life and you pick a random medical program without thinking too much about it just to satisfy them. After getting your technical DEC diploma, you begin to work as a medical imaging technician. The job is boring and you regret having listened to your parents every day. You are aware that the road to become a doctor is still very long and will require nearly twice as many years of overwhelming studying of something you do not enjoy compared to computer stuff. What should you do?

Choice 1 : Hope things get better.

Choice 2 : Free yourself.

Oops.

2 years later, things have not gotten better and the feeling of regret intensifies as time goes by.

Choice 1 : Make a different choice.

Time Is Precious.

It is better to have lost 5 years of your life before changing path rather than losing over 40 years of your life doing something which you do not enjoy before retirement. You shouldn't stress about your age since after only 3 years of completing a different technical DEC program you will be able to immediately work in your field of choice and consider university while gathering work experience which will come in handy in the long run.

Choice 1 : Go back to CEGEP.

Success.

By continuing your studies and having the status of student you were able to live in a student residence with cheap rent that covers all utilities. Working for the tech company allowed you to save 85% of your income and you didn't mind being a code monkey as it wasn't tedious and so you were able to study computer engineering at the same time. Hard work payed off and, after graduating, you have begun your prestigious engineering career which makes both you and your parents proud of yourself.

Choice 1 : Play again.