I resumed at the bank’s headquarters by 7:30am, only to be told to return at 4:30pm for a night shift. That first night, my first ever night duty, I fell asleep. The lead engineer that night reported me to our Unit Head the next day. The next night, I “dozed off again.” By the third night, the message was clear: “You either figure out how to stay awake, or you can go home and sleep as much as you want.”
That was my wake-up call. This was no ordinary role — starting scripts on Oracle, maintaining HP9000 servers on UNIX/Linux, and running End of Day (EOD) operations across 13 dot-matrix printers. If we failed, the bank wouldn’t open for business the next day because System has not completed the EOD routines. Customers would hear “system is down,” not because of network issues, but because two graduates couldn’t complete the task. The pressure was immense; I just completed NYSC days ago for this type of responsibility!
I also learnt something early: your colleague is not necessarily your friend, and the workplace is not a family. I once told a new graduate as I became “lead” in the same routine months later: “If you can’t manage your sleep, I’ll request you be replaced.” He was shocked because his “Pally” was speaking bluntly. Yes, I reminded him—if both of us should fail, the bank could see our failure as sabotage, with legal and criminal consequences. He got the message fast.
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Yet, despite the tenacity, it was super-rewarding. Fresh graduates were trusted with enormous responsibilities and paid exceptionally well—so much that many of us volunteered to work on all holidays. But the reward came with a warning: if you stopped delivering value, the exit was swift and cold. Then I came to America and saw that the two-week notice in Nigeria is uncommon; here, it is “at will” which means you can be hired today and fired today. Globally, this is the message:
Work is work. It’s not family. Don’t be deceived by the illusion. Deliver value, or step aside.
And the Lesson: Change your attitude at work. You’re not anybody’s kid there. You are valued as long as you deliver. Have a great week ahead.
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