Career, Education, Student Finance, Startup and Gap Year Features

Details: Written by OriginalSteps; Category: Original Careers; Published: 12 July 2012; Last Updated: 20 January 2016

Aamruth Shankarappa: I test helicopters as a career

"Studying in Germany was a complete different experience for me! I received a lot of opportunities to work as a student with many multinational organizations like AUDI and BMW. This provided a good overview into both International and European business markets. After my Masters, an offer from an Avionic organization presented itself in testing helicopters which I accepted."- Amruth Shankarappa

Where on the planet are you currently located? The land of beer-Munich, Germany.

You were born in India and done a fair bit of travel, how did you end up in Germany of all places? I was crazy about cars (like BMW) while I was in India and New Zealand, so wanted to learn the technical concept about automobile and space. So I landed in Germany and I am still crazy about cars!

Details: Written by OriginalSteps; Category: Get Educated; Published: 12 July 2012; Last Updated: 31 March 2016

"...I think that students underestimate the change from final year of high school to university. The level, standard and volume of work is much higher. For the first time, they are independent and need to take personal responsibility-no lecturer is going to monitor their attendance at class. They also need to learn how to manage their time more effectively."- Carin Stern

The challenges of education, student finance and graduate employment

Getting educated is no joke, a desperate global market is struggling to either get accepted into a tertiary institution, access funding for their studies, dealing with dropping out of a study program and trying to obtain employment. These are hard challenges, choices and decisions for a young generation which have their whole lives ahead of them. The solution is for individuals to tackle these challenges head on, one individual at a time! FirstStep.me spoke with Carin Stern from Ernst & Young (South Africa) about how young individuals need to be better prepared before heading into university and the working world.

Details: Written by OriginalSteps; Category: Gap Year Adventures; Published: 25 June 2012; Last Updated: 15 March 2016

Q: I am looking to change my career path and take a break, one of my options is to teach English in Europe, I am not too fond of the cold and keener on Southern Europe. I am a first language English speaker and speak a little bit of French, please can you help find me more information on this option.

A: Hi there, cool career change and interesting that you are choosing Europe and Southern European in particular. Most European summers are warm enough providing nice long days, so rather keep your options open and look at all of Europe, for the winter months you can head down to Southern Europe because it is much warmer than in the north at that time of year.

Read more: Teaching English in Europe

Details: Written by OriginalSteps; Category: Gap Year Adventures; Published: 11 July 2012; Last Updated: 17 March 2016

Roaming Newton and the great South African adventure debate

"...my closing statement went around the lines of if you translate the title of the movie Die Hard from German into English it translates back into “Die Slowly”! You would think that was a slam-dunk for a closing statement and would make any Matlock or Good Wife fan proud."

Roaming Newton returns to South Africa to show the Bavarians his backyard!

The great debate continues…

I have been in Bavaria for some months now, with the whimsy of winter over and the splash of summer knocking on the door, I find myself watching Top Gun dubbed in German - it was not so long ago I remember how by total chance I found Harrison Ford speaking in this foreign language whilst rescuing Sean Connery in an Indiana Jones adventure.

Funny to think that it was around that time I was roped into a conversation, actually argument of “whose country is better than whose”- yes it was childish and my closing statement went around the lines of if you translate the title of the movie Die Hard from German into English it translates back into “Die Slowly”! You would think that was a slam-dunk for a closing statement and would make any Matlock or Good Wife fan proud.

Details: Written by OriginalSteps; Category: Careers and Popular Culture; Published: 22 June 2012; Last Updated: 25 November 2015

My Song by Harry Belafonte

Written with Vanity Fair contributing editor Michael Shnayerson, My Song is an inspiring story of performance and protest, from a superstar singer and actor who was on the front lines of practically every progressive political battle in modern memory.