I’m kind of surprised; most colleges and universities I’ve seen still have a ceremony for people graduating at the end of the fall semester. It’s not nearly as elaborate as the one ending the spring semester, but it’s still something.
Still, most of life is going to be like that. Usually no real ceremonies for the last day on the job. Move out of your old house/apartment is a lot of work at the end and then you lock the door for the last time.
Congratulations, you’re an adult now.
Slight difference; being an ex on has the opposite effect on your ability to get a job.
Agreed, Exxon is a horrible company but I hear the pay is good. It would be tough for an ex-con to get a job as well.
Oof, touché.
Leaving it as is.
Validation need not come from anywhere outside yourself. Set your own goals. Do your best. Pat yourself on the back. People who ‘recognize’ you only do so superficially anyway. No one can truly know what you’ve done or where you’ve been.
I mean, sure, but it is still nice to have some external validation now and again you know?
…said the mouse in the maze.
How about climbing over those walls, up the leg of the biggest scientist, enter through the eye socket, and hollow out that skull. That’s all the validation anyone needs. Yum!
Getting out of the military is a lot like that as well
… and then i walked out of the Outprocessing building and took off my beret while still in uniform and walked to my car.
I had my CO sign a paper and then I grabbed my two bags and walked off base. Got an uber to the airport and that was that. Most anticipated but anticlimactic day of my life. I did smoke weed for the first time that day though so that was fun
I just didn’t go to my graduation ceremony, despite there being free dinner. Was (and had been for ages) struggling with pretty bad depression and didn’t feel I deserved any of it.
I’ve got 3 degrees and have a Gold Duke of Edinburgh award (if you do bronze, silver, and gold, you get to shake hands with a failed king)
- Never went to any graduation ceremony
- Never went to Buckingham Palace to shake hands with Prince Philip.
I am right now, sitting at home in my jammies eating burritos. I regret nothing.
I graduated in the winter in 2023, didn’t attend the ceremony or anything. I have really bad social anxiety so the ceremony seemed like more stress than a celebration for me, I just ordered food and relaxed. But I do remember, after walking out of my last final, thinking “damn do that’s it huh”, I know it’s just a bachelors degree but I didn’t believe in myself enough to even think I’d ever actually graduate. Things turned out okay though, even had a job lined up before graduation which was lucky given the current job market for software engineering. Believe in yourself, your hard work got you that degree, proud of you man!
Thanks. I’ve done pretty well for myself, I’d like to say. I landed a nice job around six months later and have been able to show my talent pretty well. Due to fighting with depression I entered the workforce around ten years after most of my peers. As an engineer, I’ve caught up the median pay for my peers with 15 years more experience. Can’t complain.
Didn’t go to any of mine outside of high school because I was a kid and my parents could force me on that one. By the time I finished grad school I really felt like I was just another person in an increasingly growing rat race. It’s not even that I haven’t accomplished anything so much as I haven’t accomplished anything particularly unique that sets me apart and grants me intellectual value.
I skipped as much as my parents would let me get away with, because in my mind, walking for graduation is give the graduate’s family and friends a chance to formally congratulate them. I hated every minute of it, but I can deal with that for one day to make my family happy.
When I finished school, I was already working full-time in my career (internship turned into a FT opportunity), so walking didn’t feel valuable at all.
The school to hospice informal incarceration pipeline is omnipresent for the working class, and college/trades level is right there in the middle. Right after kid jail and before wage slavery.
If one is not inclined to social gatherings but still feel a need for something to signal this passage (or any other), a good option is to perform a personal ritual of choice.
Human brains seem to be inclined to appreciate symbolism.
We are, we are, we are, we are
We are the engineers!
We can, we can, we can, we can
Demolish forty beers
Drink rum, drink rum, drink rum, drink rum
And come along with us!
'Cos we don’t give a fuck about anyone else
Who don’t give a fuck about us.
That’s what the first engineer I ever met said, but to be fair he was a combat engineer. Those guys are scary. Stick to electronics and bridges…
I have an MSc and have spent the day cleaning gutters, I have no idea what to do and am unsure whether I’d be better off dead.
Why you do graduation ceremony btw? We don’t do that here.
It’s a pretty big accomplishment so the schools like to throw a little party. It also allows students to invite family to see the campus and get an idea of how fast they can chug a beer.
First you listen to a bunch of speeches. Then they call everyone’s name individually, and you walk across a stage, shake hands with some people, get handed a degree. Then maybe everyone throws their hat in the air.
The worst part for me was that during my high school graduation, I was expected to shake the governor’s hand. I had been quite involved in politics that election, but not old enough to vote, and I really disliked out governor (they were in the majority party and barely won w/ <200 votes after multiple recounts, when most major party governors won by >10%). The governor apparently attended my high school, hence the invitation.
Add to that the complete worthlessness of my high school diploma, because I was able to get a 2-year degree before getting my diploma due to concurrent enrollment at a local community college. So not only was it a worthless degree at a school I barely attended the last two years, I had to shake the hand of a politician I hated.
Screw graduation ceremonies, they’re complete wastes of time.
Yeah I just had em mail me the thing
Good job anon. Now take a long break and get back to it when you have your long term goals sorted.
