Should I be scared?
“One of the greatest discoveries a man makes, one of his great surprises, is to find he can do what he was afraid he couldn’t do.” — Henry Ford
The words of a very successful man, a pioneer in the motor industry during his time. Thanks to him, a giant American automobile maker exists. Sometimes I wonder if he was scared during his time, pitching the ideas he had to investors and all. That reminds me, I’m yet to watch the movie, Ford vs Ferrari I have on my hard drive. Well, enough of Henry Ford, he did his part and this article is about me. Care to know more about him? You can look him up here.
So why am I writing this? Well because I am scared of failing. I grew up with people around saying, it’s okay to fail, it makes you a better person, blah blah but it’s different when said, to when experienced. In as much as I am personally not a fan of exams, the so-called tester of memory. I literary grew up not knowing what failure in any exam was. I wouldn't say I was a genius or something similar, I was just above average I guess.
Then boom, my year two first semester result came out and the dreaded EE211(Basic Electrical Engineering) which ironically isn't basic at all, was an F. Then MTH215(Linear Algebra) too, same F. Wow, EE211 though nobody wants an F, I could understand because the exam was something else. But MTH215, the course I put more time than others to, the one I even took a Udemy course on. I came back to my school lodge and was literally devastated that day. Was this how the failing felt like? The much-appraised failure? For the first and only time in my life, I felt ‘depressed’. Well, this is a story for another day.
Now to the main agenda. the sole purpose of this article is the ‘new’ fear in me. I enrolled in the Google Africa Developer Scholarship (GADS) Program last year and got to the Project phase but didn't make it to the last phase. Received a mail from Andela this month (May) asking If I would be available to take the Associate Android Developer certification exam this May. I was scared and reluctant to reply but I did after a few days, later on, I received the voucher for my exam.
I have less than 19 days to take the exam apparently and I feel I am not yet ready to take such an exam, an 8-hour exam. I, someone who started Android Development around June last year thanks to GADS, and has been managing to combine it with school work.
“Courage is knowing what not to fear.” - Plato
I have doubts, very serious doubts. I am giving it my all, to be honest, but I feel the effort is not really yielding anything. I guess this is due to my generation and fast life. I also know success takes time, it took Ford Motors a lot of time to be able to make over $150 billion in revenue. Despite my fears, I will take the exam, it’s the least I can do. Should I be scared? I think I should according to Oga Plato but it’s not a bad thing.
Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it? What are your thoughts? Share them with me below. Oh, and I write random stuff concerning me most times in my head and I have been advised to write down some.
