Passion counts in one's career success

One of the most recurring debates on education is the career path that students take. In the past, it was a straight affair with students getting what they wanted and later going into conventional employment. However, times have changed and so have career trajectories of many.

Okwiri Oduor, the new winner of the 2014 Caine Prize for African Writing, has excelled in a subject she pursued with passion.

Speaking to Amka na BBC morning news show, she said she chose to venture into writing after experiences at the Nakuru Law Courts where she served as an intern.

After spending years training as a lawyer and perhaps to satisfy her parents’ wishes, she has finally settled on what her heart treasures most: A passion for pen and paper, and not legal robes.

And this passion has shot her to international recognition. The monetary bounty attached to the prize may not be her peak, but the passion to excel may drive her to greater heights.

There are other Kenyans who have ventured into different fields and gained national and international recognition.

Hilary Ng’weno, a Harvard University trained physicist, is one of the many Kenyans who have defied the straight-career path.

Further afield, in Nigeria, Elechi Amadi was a physics and mathematics teacher who wrote a literary masterpiece, The Concubine.

The text was a literary set book in Kenya for many seasons. Cyprian Ekwensi, another Nigerian, was a career civil servant when he wrote Burning Grass. In Guinea, William Conton was also in the civil service when he wrote a literary gem, The African.

Dr James Michira, a senior Communication lecturer at the University of Nairobi, says passion is churning out successful careers in many students at different levels.

“It is no longer easy to say that a trained teacher will end up teaching. It is only easy to say that passion is driving thousands into new careers. Those who are driven by passion are likely to do better in the new fields and generate high levels of career satisfaction. In fact, one of the fundamentals in education in developed economies is that careers are determined and solely driven by passion,” says Michira.

Elkanah Sifuna, a banker, finds creativity and satisfaction in his new career path. Though a trained teacher from Kenyatta University, Sifuna had always wanted to work in a bank.

“I developed a strong passion for working in a bank while in Standard Six. Even when I joined university, I was convinced that my office was in the bank and not in the classroom,” says Sifuna.

After attending interviews, he finally got a job at the bank and is happy at his career progress. The career switch did not , however, go down well with his parents who believed Sifuna was better off in a high school classroom. However, his parents are now supportive of him.

Carol Gitonga, a career expert in Nairobi, says passion is the single most determinant of success in careers.

“Unless we breathe passion into what we do, sitting in our offices may just be a painful ritual to earn a salary. A teacher who wakes up daily to teach but does so with dry passion is just that. The passion in any subject is equal to the depth of career success and satisfaction,’’ she says.

Her challenge to parents is that they should sit with their children and listen to their passion.

“Parents who usually dictate career choices to their children ought to allow them to express passion. Children should be given space to determine careers based on their strong liking.

“Evidence continues to show that career productivity and rise is at peak when passion into any subject takes the first seat,” she says.

Photo: www.yourblackworld.net