Graduate's Guide

Despite the fact that most advanced scientific research and inventions that are kept secret for different reasons, the classic scientific knowledge is taught in schools and universities in order to save the time, money and effort needed to research and find what has been already found. Similarly in life and at work, if you forget an important event that harmed you in anyway, you may go through the same painful event once again sometime in the future. They say about painful events/experiences: to forget is to repeat. Since life is too short to experience everything personally, it is always recommended to be a good observer and learn not only from one’s own mistakes, but also from observing the mistakes of others.

The contents of this book represent a combination of my observation during my professional life, feed-back of graduates, and also from observations conveyed to me by friends and colleagues at work in different countries. This is in addition to some personal experience. I think that it is essential to convey life experience to young ones (professional and otherwise) in order to ease their progress, minimize their mistakes and minimize the cases when they are taken advantage of. After all, life is too short to adventure personally in every field of life. If one does that, he will not have much time or money left to apply what has been learned, just like what the Chinese proverb says: “Experience is a comb given to us by nature when we are bald.” This book represents an attempt to deliver a comb to the readers before losing their hair.

The determination of the relatively better choice requires a good knowledge of the advantages and disadvantages of each alternative route to be selected after graduation. In order to achieve this knowledge, I always recommend seeking advices from reliable and experienced wise persons before making the final decision in any aspect of personal and professional life. In fact, it is most recommended to consult more than one person of such properties regarding the same subject. The reason for this is simply because each adviser is likely to submit a different opinion/solution that is derived from his personal experience and according to his view of life in general. After consulting more than one reliable friend and professional about the ←15 | 16→same subject, one must always accept the responsibility of the consequences resulting from the final decision and not blame that who recommended the decision. In this book, the aim is simply to clarify the advantages and disadvantages of each choice regarding what is best to do after graduation, and also, to warn against the common mistakes/risks that may have negative consequences on the quality of both personal and professional life.