I started working at a relatively late age compared to many people. I wish my family had made me work from a much younger age. Still, I can work as diligently as most people in the workforce. In fact, seeing laziness even in the simplest job bothers me because I believe there is no place for whining in the workplace.

My first job to earn money was designing logos. I'm not actually a designer, nor do I know how to draw professionally. However, thanks to the Photoshop program I learned out of personal curiosity, I could manipulate images. My brother and I did logo and video editing jobs on freelance sites. In fact, he did more work than me during that period.

Journey Across Sectors: From Waiter to Pharmacy

I took my first professional step in my career as a waiter in a cafe. The conditions were quite difficult and intense, but I focused on doing the best I could. Although my work ethic was noticed, it was a place with very high staff turnover. After working there for two months, I found an opportunity to work in a pharmacy.

During this process, I gained concrete experience in sales, retail, and customer communication. As a sales assistant, I had few opportunities to engage in dialogue with customers; at the pharmacy, however, I focused on communicating with people from different countries, understanding their problems, and offering solutions. This experience gave me serious confidence. This pharmacy experience, which lasted a total of six months, was a real school for my communication skills.

Courier Work and Team Spirit

During my Erasmus period, when my financial resources ran out, I started looking for a job. I chose bicycle courier work as a solution. I found a free bicycle and courier bag and started working. My roommate was doing the same job. Although it was quite a challenging and exhausting experience, we had a lot of fun together.

Along with a few experiences I haven't mentioned, these processes showed me that in working life, it's not so much the work itself that matters, but rather who you do it with. Even the most exhausting job can be enjoyable when done with the right people. By the right people, I mean positive, supportive, and respectful individuals. Not everyone needs to be highly intelligent or talented; what matters is being able to form a team that complements each other.

Empty Confidence and System Criticism

I also encountered a certain stereotype during this process: people who think they are the best at a job simply because they have been doing it for a long time. This empty confidence can cause problems in their relationships with other employees. Because they think they know everything best, they are closed to innovation Because they think they know everything best, they are closed to innovation and do not value the ideas of people who are junior to them.

Moreover, they tend to shift their responsibilities onto others. Managers are sometimes influenced by this empty self-confidence, which can lead to unfairness. Such people place excessive importance on values such as money and status, so their motivation is not to improve the job, but only to shine themselves. I personally hate this kind of cheap calculation. The bonus and tip discussions I've seen so far have always cooled me off from the teams I'm in.

"A person knows their own business."

My motivation is to do my job well and support my teammates. Money and status are just a means to an end for me, not the goal. When I explain this, some people think "you can't find people who will work like that." In fact, this perspective is a result of capitalism. In a system that teaches people to overemphasize individual success and competition, it becomes difficult to expect people to think differently.

However, this situation is not an absolute part of human nature. Looking back at history, we see that societies with real shared values, rather than false values such as money and status, achieved great success in a very short time. It's not just about working, it's about what values you work for.