How I Succeeded In My Career Without A University Degree

By Perminus Wainaina 

The dream for most of us is to go to school, pass the national examinations, get into a good university, join the job market and be successful. Many of us follow this route.

But is it the only way to succeed? Can you still excel as a professional without using this conventional method?

Last week, I met up with a young professional who’s not been to through formal college education. His name is Joseph and he is a communications manager at a beverage company.

Here is Joseph’s professional experience.

Joseph cleared high school in 2013. At the tail end of the year, he began his working life.

He started off as a messenger for one of his mentors. The mentor was a graphics designer, and Joseph’s work involved picking and dropping documents to clients, and any other manual office work assigned.

Some days, there would be no work for him, so he would hang around at the office.

He started getting interested in graphics design work. When the mentor noticed his inquisitive nature, she started teaching him about design work. In a few months, he had moved up from being a messenger into a trainee graphics designer.

After a year, he left the design work and started writing. Joseph says writing came naturally to him. He had found a passion.

Today, he is a communications manager at a mid-sized company – from a messenger a few years ago.

So, how did he do it?

How did Joseph manage to move up the professional ladder without a university degree?

Read on to see how Joseph Succeeded in his career without a university degree.