By: Muhammad Danjuma Abubakar
On the weekend, while scrolling through my phone casually, I clicked on the Google App to open the search box. I stared for a while as I had no question in mind. Although, it is advised that one should have a specific question in mind before attempting to consult the internet; to enable the user to save precious time and better organisation the resources therefrom.
As I was thinking about which question was most relevant to the search, I suddenly typed ‘best paying jobs that can earn me millions’ as my query in the search box. This took a better part of my time for hours as I kept searching through Google – the most admired search engine today, to find out the ‘best jobs’ that could earn a person millions, whether in naira or whatever currency.
The outcomes from the search engine result pages (SERP) could not cease to amaze me. The more results I got, the greater my curiosity for further searches as I kept re-phrasing the queries.
While on this, I also remembered that our society today is such that it overrates affluence and attaches respect to any ‘rich wheat’ regardless of whether one can genuinely justify the means to its acquisition.
Because of these, most young Nigerians wish, in a resolute manner, to find a professional career in jobs that could offer them huge pay to enable them to build a big house and get a car or cars of choice, among other acquisitions in the shortest time possible. These are society’s key indicators for measuring success in life or otherwise.
Emphatically, it is because of the perceived belief that studying certain courses in the university could translate more in good paying jobs that some parents impress it upon their children to forfeit one university admission for another or go to a greater length such as using monies to get the desired choice of course(s) of study for their children.
In one of my recent articles titled ‘Our Schools, the rots and dangerous implications’, I discussed some of these unfortunate realities and how best to tackle them. That aside.
As I realised further the fact that our youths today do not choose a career or job that aligns with their interests but those ones that pay more, I took my research more seriously as I began to write down the results from my search queries. And at the end, I got massive results from my google searches.
Good-paying jobs could fetch you millions are many. Yet, I was shocked to see that most jobs I had expected to find, considering the perceived potential of the courses leading to those jobs, did not make a list, and those least expected were on the list. How ironic!
Some list of the careers/jobs I expected to find are: Politics, Aeronautical engineering, Pilot, Photography, Data visualisation, Water resources engineering, web development and Planning Officer. Others are shipping and logistics, music, and filmmaking, among others. I did not find any of these.
For clarity, my expectations were well placed. Because for example, politics is one of the most desirous ambitions, particularly in Nigeria, where even a ward councillor easily amasses wealth within his shortest period in office. Most Nigerians, especially those who wish to feel they belong, desire to win an elective office.
Another notable example is photography. It is estimated that over 20,000 events take place in Lagos State every day, according to the vanguard newspapers report.
Photography has become a speciality that has stood the taste of all times and has proven to be a money-spinning venture. If you must know, politicians of class, businessmen, top government functionaries and blue-chip organisations now have trained photographers in addition to their spokespersons and media teams. This is why even some universities, particularly overseas, now run degree and even higher degree programs in modern Photography.
Similarly, the job of being an aeronautical engineer or pilot could also be very rewarding. According to statistics from Statista, the number of current active commercial aircraft is more than 25,000 globally, with Africa accounting for 888 of this number, with an annual growth rate of no less than 3.8%.
But, the only very financially fulfilling jobs, according to Google, despite repeated searches, were a Sales manager, Chief executive officer, Financial manager, Software developer, Lawyer, Investment Banker, Negotiations expert, Neurosurgeon, Psychiatrist, Human Resources Manager, Risks Analysts among others.
The best cure for ignorance is a constant search for knowledge. So, I took my research further this time by picking each of these jobs one at a time to ask google again ‘why they were the best-paying job. I wondered, this time, why I kept receiving tips on ‘how to be successful and earn better pay’ instead.
Put differently. My search results indicated that there are key conditions for you to excel and eventually earn more in these jobs earlier regarded as the ‘most financially’ rewarding. Google listed the conditions to include; passion, staying evergreen through the search for new ideas, and competence, among others.
At this point, it is reasonable to believe that any legitimate job and vocation is a best-paying job and could make you a millionaire when you imbibe certain principles.
Therefore, instead of seeking the best-paying jobs, the youths must rather seek a job that aligns with their purpose and personality in life, seek to become like a ‘bunch of keys’ with broad ideas and creativity in their chosen career and seek to work to learn more, not to earn more; because it is said that, when you work more than you earn; you will later earn more than you work.
Muhammad Danjuma Abubakar lives in Minna, Niger State. He can be contacted via muhammadcares4u@gmail.com.