I'm turning 22 in a few weeks time, and while I would normally write something closer to my actual birthday, I will be in Egypt and likely to be disconnected.

It's currently very cold outside and there's a sizeable quantity of ice on the driveway outside. I haven't fallen yet but it seems likely. The weather has prevented me from training much in the last week and this has probably contributed to the rather depressing state of mind I found myself in upon our return home from Mombasa. Endorphins are being sorely missed.

In any case, this trip to Mombasa was one of my best holidays yet, as always going to show it's not the place (we've been there several times previously) but the company which you keep. Some highlights from a superb trip-

• Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves, a night club on the beach. You haven't been clubbing until you've been clubbing in shorts. The trance/house stage on New Year's Eve was sonic heaven.


• Jetskiing. Enough said.




• Cycling on the beach. Again, enough said.


• Attempting to create my own cocktail using the all-inclusive bars' meagre selection of local spirits. In the end becoming addicted to the non-alcoholic Shirley Temple.


• Playing waterpolo against another hotel. Touching the ball about twice.


• Not sleeping a whole lot because of the less-than-opaque curtains and the early sunrise.


• An entertaining musical rendition of the Lion King just an hour before midnight on 31st December, followed by a countdown on the beach.

 
In addition, we had some fun trying to travel this holiday season-

• Our flight out was delayed by nearly an hour. We would have missed our connecting domestic flight in Nairobi had we not checked in online. Our delay resulted in the flight from Nairobi to Mombasa being delayed by nearly an hour and a half.


• Our return flight from Mombasa to Nairobi was diverted from Nairobi back to Mombasa because of an obstruction on the runway. When we reached Mombasa, the news came that Nairobi was now clear again, we refuelled and went back again. A 45 minute flight took 3 hours or so.


• Our flight leaving Nairobi was delayed by half an hour, resulted in a near miss of our connection in Amsterdam. This near miss caused half of our baggage being sent on a later flight. 2 hours later.

 
Much of the trip I spent in the company of younger friends and for the first time in my life, I am approaching a birthday with some regret for the fact that I'm getting older. By the time this decade comes to pass, it's shocking to think that my friends and I will be thirty. Anyone who knows me well knows how much I value my individuality and I worry that after the travelling stops and work begins, that's the end of my 'interesting' self.

This fear is, rationally thinking, unfounded. I've met some incredibly fascinating people who work and in any case, work is a necessary part of life. On the other hand though, many of my friends who've started work post graduation seem noticeably different - the weary way they now speak and their constant lack of time. At a recent dinner party, I turned up in a t-shirt and was shocked to see most of my peers wearing some combination of button-up shirts, sweaters and jackets. I don't want to fall into that future, where my friends in their early twenties could have passed for adults in their mid to late tenties.

In short, I want to escape the maturation curve. So if you see me wearing a shirt under a sweater before 2020, you'd better hope there's a good reason for it.

One of the characteristics of an education at the University of Cambridge is that they push you hard. This is not mere exaggeration but fact, admitted by all - whether they have been here or only know people who have been here. That is not to say that other students at other universities do not work as hard as we do, nor that they have less work. (Notably, it is impossible to know for sure without having physically experienced other universities.)

Regardless, there is a vast quantity of information that is thrown at us. It isn't helped by the short terms (we have two terms of eights weeks supplemented by a four week term before exams for some subjects, including mine). Most universities have considerably longer terms and as a result, the density of the information students have to consume each week is less. Add to this the course content (Cambridge is known for being highly theoretical in most fields of study) and the fact that for some subjects, students are taught to the same level as other universities in multiple subjects concurrently. The most prominent example of this is the Natural Sciences Tripos. I am told that we are taught the same amount of Geology as a student studying Geology full time at another university, except here it comprises only a quarter of the total course load.

All this established, it comes as a surprise to me that in discussion today after being guest-lectured by David Colver from Operis, a notable alumnus of the Computer Laboratory, my colleagues seems to have a very selfish work ethic when it comes to longer term careers. Mr. Colver was invited to speak to us as part of our Business Studies Seminars which are effectively talks by successful Computer Scientists. The teaching committee presumably recognises that not all of the year group has much real world corporate experience; motivation is provided in the form of tangible examples and inspirational stories. (Having heard several of these talks so far, I find myself thinking that their career paths are not for me at all, but that is for another post.)

Mr. Colver described his career path in the city (Operis is a financial consulting firm) and suggested that instead of spending crucial components of our working lives programming, we try to become consultants, followed by an MBA and a career in investment banking. (Again, a topic for another post.) He made a strong point though, that most premier consultancies will demand a tremendous amount of time from young employees.

As we walked out of the lecture theatre, we discussed working hours. Admittedly, the quantity of time devoted by consultants and investment bankers is huge - leaving at midnight or later, and effectively no weekends - but we considered the time that the average technologist would work. My colleagues clearly insinuated their desires for a forty hour week, i.e. 9 to 6 for 5 days. Simon, who interned at a prominent investment bank, said that he worked from 8:30am to 6pm everyday. For comparison, when interning over summer, I worked 8:30am to 6:30pm. My hours weren't (relative to other interns) too bad.

Their unwillingness to spend a greater quantity of time working confuses me. They are clearly not work-shy, several of them attained extremely high marks in past examinations which are not solely attributed to intelligence. The notion that a man must have enough time to experience life is a fair one, but I must question the logic behind this belief. In an increasingly competitive economic climate, surely it makes sense to devote yourself to your livelihood. If you don't, then someone else will, and they will climb. There is clearly a fine line to be walked between enthusiasm and obsession but more often than not there exists free time to follow your passion.

Finally, it does not appear to be a question of enjoyment. My colleagues love and enjoy their subject. So why stray away from spending more time embracing it? Talking to my corridor-mate today, I suspect that it boils down to a cultural factor: work ethic. We were discussing how Indian immigrants to the U.K. have made a substantial amount of wealth out of very little, or even nothing to begin with. There can be no argument that there was an unfair advantage either.

No doubt many (if not all) of my class mates will go onto prosper in whatever field they find themselves in. Most likely they will accomplish this without whittling away their youth in an ofice block. Irrespective, I will try my hardest to get the job done, however long it takes.