{"id":469,"date":"2019-07-17T09:06:05","date_gmt":"2019-07-17T07:06:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.developmentresearch.eu\/?p=469"},"modified":"2020-01-29T12:13:17","modified_gmt":"2020-01-29T11:13:17","slug":"5-things-that-will-frustrate-the-heck-out-of-you-when-studying-international-development","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.developmentresearch.eu\/?p=469","title":{"rendered":"5 Things that will Frustrate the Heck out of you when studying International Development"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Stella Yoh<\/em><\/p>\n

International Development is our passion \u2013 that\u2019s why we\u2019re all here. It\u2019s what keeps us going through\u00a0these\u00a0late nights\u00a0and grey London days.<\/p>\n

But let\u2019s face it,\u00a0it\u2019s not always a fun ride.\u00a0As fulfilling as it is, studying International Development can be a real struggle, and if you haven\u2019t had an existential crisis by now, you sure as hell have one coming your way.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Here are the five biggest frustrations that International Development students feel at least once during their studies.<\/p>\n

Everything depends on context.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sometimes you wonder if the main purpose of a top-notch education is learning how to say \u201cit depends\u201d with class (i.e. academic rigor).\u00a0 Almost every literature you read by almost every renowned academic will talk about how context specific everything is. You will rarely find anything that lays things out in a simple manner, and even more rarely, with a clear solution. If you\u00a0ever\u00a0find\u00a0a good, simple answer, it will most likely be wrong (think KONY 2012<\/a>). This can be really frustrating to us students, who supposedly came to school to get answers. Instead, we somehow end\u00a0up getting even more confused?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
I think we can all relate to this<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

The\u00a0Chicken or\u00a0the\u00a0Egg? No one knows.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Some people really believe in the power\u00a0of\u00a0institutions<\/a>. Others think growth depends solely on what you\u2019re born with<\/a>. We all agree that all the \u201cgood\u201d things (democracy, well-functioning markets and state, etc.) are strongly correlated with economic growth. We\u2019ve all seen at least one of the numerous classic 45\u00b0 scatterplots, (below):<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
GDP & Democracy (see original: https:\/\/economics.mit.edu\/files\/5677)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
GDP & education (original: http:\/\/hanushek.stanford.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/publications\/Pareto Lecture.<\u201cTHE scatterplot\u201d of international development><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But what comes first?\u00a0 The good thing or the economy? Does one good thing cause another, or the other way around? Are governments corrupt because they are poor? Or are they poor because they are corrupt?\u00a0 Here\u2019s\u00a0an\u00a0answer: it depends.<\/p>\n

Wear all hats, or else (but choose the hat wisely).\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

International Development is a highly interdisciplinary area of study. You can\u2019t\u00a0possibly focus\u00a0just on economics, or anthropology, or political science,\u00a0because\u00a0all of them are closely\u00a0intertwined. The good\u00a0side of this is that you will get a wide perspective\u00a0and learn from\u00a0the best practices of\u00a0each field.\u00a0\u00a0But\u00a0this also means that\u00a0you\u2019ll\u00a0face a massive identity crisis, because eventually, you\u2019ll\u00a0have to choose your\u00a0main research discipline.\u00a0And although all methodologies are truly valuable,\u00a0some hats are\u00a0more\u00a0mainstream\u00a0than others (i.e. get you more funding and\/or job opportunities).<\/p>\n

Learn to wear all hats, but choose your main hat wisely.<\/p>\n

Pessimism vs. me: does it even matter?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Have you ever met\u00a0an idealist senior\u00a0development\u00a0professional? I\u00a0certainly\u00a0haven\u2019t.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0more we learn about development, the more we\u00a0have\u00a0to battle with encroaching cynicism. The\u00a0development industry is nowhere near perfect, and there\u00a0is the repeated theme of\u00a0disillusioned\u00a0practitioners\u00a0going\u00a0back to the private sector (or for some, to academia).\u00a0Many others\u00a0stick it out, but\u00a0are well aware of their limitations.<\/p>\n

Understandably,\u00a0tackling multifaceted, deeply-rooted problems in development can be very difficult, and even some of the world\u2019s best minds are fatalistic. Studying\u00a0(or practicing)\u00a0development\u00a0thus requires an\u00a0extraordinary peace of mind where constant cynicism is balanced out by constant optimism, like Gramsci in his prison days: pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will.<\/p>\n

Welcome to the Real World.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

You wrote a distinction paper on climate change, but this really cool job on corporate responsibility wants someone with 8+ years of experience. Sound familiar?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Once we survive the intellectual frustrations of the classroom, we are immediately slapped in the face by the job market.\u00a0Most entry points to development organizations are highly competitive internships with little to no pay; and most decent full-time roles look for previous experience in investment banking\u00a0or\u00a0management consulting (or equivalent). Almost every\u00a0talk and\u00a0guide (like this one<\/a>)\u00a0recommends<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Zen Riddle for Millenials \u2013 original: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=jFzUbgpWNf8<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

getting\u00a0private sector experience\u00a0in leading firms. But weren\u2019t these giant\u00a0corporations the\u00a0bad guys<\/em>? Now you\u2019re telling us to go work for them?<\/p>\n

This\u00a0ginormous gap between what we learn\u00a0and\u00a0what we can\u00a0actually do in real life,\u00a0is by far the biggest frustration\u00a0us\u00a0students can have (the LSE careers blog<\/a> can be a good resource, by the way).<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve good grades and\u00a0a heart with passion,\u00a0so why won\u2019t they hire\u00a0you? Welcome to the real world, mate.<\/p>\n

Surprisingly enough, the point of this article isn\u2019t actually to dishearten you.\u00a0These are real frustrations that you will at some point in time feel\u00a0when studying International Development. And despite these difficulties, most\u00a0of you will end up working in development, in one way or another.<\/p>\n

Because\u00a0despite\u00a0everything, you love it anyway.<\/p>\n

Because this world, as\u00a0imperfect it is,\u00a0needs\u00a0more\u00a0people like you\u00a0and I, who genuinely care about the problems and the solutions\u00a0we come up with, however imperfect. And\u00a0whatever we end up\u00a0becoming in the future,\u00a0be it investment banker or head of an NGO, we\u00a0would be able to use our learnings and hopefully\u00a0begin to\u00a0work together to make things better, one step at a time.<\/p>\n

So\u00a0congratulations development students.\u00a0We\u00a0have a long journey ahead of\u00a0us.<\/p>\n

Image: <\/strong>Du\u0161an Smetana on Unsplash<\/a><\/p>\n

This article was initially published on the Oxfam “From Poverty to Power” blog<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Stella Yoh International Development is our passion \u2013 that\u2019s why we\u2019re all here. It\u2019s what keeps us going through\u00a0these\u00a0late nights\u00a0and grey London days. But let\u2019s face it,\u00a0it\u2019s not always a fun ride.\u00a0As fulfilling as it is, studying International Development can be a real struggle, and if you haven\u2019t had an existential crisis by now, … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “5 Things that will Frustrate the Heck out of you when studying International Development”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":471,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[20],"class_list":["post-469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinionpieces","tag-knowledge"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.developmentresearch.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/dusan-smetana-AIdplNT2ZIM-unsplash-e1563188864339.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/papI3v-7z","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.developmentresearch.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.developmentresearch.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.developmentresearch.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.developmentresearch.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.developmentresearch.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=469"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.developmentresearch.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":475,"href":"https:\/\/www.developmentresearch.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469\/revisions\/475"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.developmentresearch.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/471"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.developmentresearch.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.developmentresearch.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.developmentresearch.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}