At just 15 years of age, Francesco Cassar had already started his journey to finding his dream career and this all happened when he got accepted for a scholarship in Bosnia Herzegovina.
The path to finding his dream career wasn’t an easy one, countless obstacles came in his way and it meant a variety of career changes. Francesco is a 20-year-old student pilot, with a side job in accounts, working his way up to become a commercial pilot.
During our teenage years, it is quite natural for one to yearn to experience something different than the usual routine and scenery. This is exactly what Francesco felt and so, after finishing secondary school, he was off to the “charismatically beautiful“, as he describes it, Bosnia Herzegovina for a two-year scholarship at the United World College (UWC)!
Francesco received numerous questions on why he decided to leave Malta at such a young age; “Is Malta not good enough?” “What would you do without your family?” but he never let such questions discourage him from doing what he wanted to do. All that said, Francesco still admitted that deep down, he knew how much he would miss his family. “Leaving the family, especially my twin sister, was not the easiest thing to do.” His sister was always his pillar of support, given that she is also a pilot herself, she served as an important role model in Francesco’s life when it came to changing careers.
When it came to moving abroad, Francesco chose to look at the bigger picture. He knew that this experience would not only give him a better education but also make him more of an independent person.
While the application process was quite plain-sailing (or should I say, plane-sailing), getting accepted was not. “It was a whole rollercoaster from the beginning,” Francesco said. He first had applied back in October 2015, and found out he got rejected almost four months later around February 2016. The school decided to give him a chance and urged him to fill in a more intensive process for a bigger pool of scholarships. He persevered and eventually got the call. He had gotten accepted.
Before he knew it, Francesco was enrolled in a two-year course about politics and economics in Bosnia-Herzegovina at 15 years old. The experience was a whirlwind of new experiences, from meeting new people, to new cultures and new areas of interest. His view of the world started expanding as he continued to explore opportunities and areas he might want to pursue. Graduated, and two years older, Francesco was on a flight back to Malta, deep in thought about what the future held for him.
It took Francesco, two years in another country studying politics and economics to realise that that was not the career path for him. So, as soon as he was back in Malta he jumped head-first into the accounting industry. Accounting was a subject he had wanted to pursue back in secondary school. However, since UWC did not offer the subject, politics and economics seemed like the second best thing for a while. After 18 months of working and studying in the accounting industry, Francesco realised that even this path has started to lose its spark since secondary school. “I love school and I love studying, so how is this making me not want to study?” This was the turning point for him.
At this point, one may feel lost and disheartened. When teens his age were on the right path to their dream job, it felt as if he was falling behind. However, what mattered to Francesco was that he comes to terms with what he really wants to do with his life. So, he started looking back.
“I remembered that even when I was young, I used to look at this big machine magically flying and I thought that this is what I want to do in life,” Francesco said. His sister, sharing the same love for pilotry as him, encouraged him, even more, to pursue in his dream and he had her full support and guidance throughout this journey.
The job of a pilot is not just about flying beautiful planes and witnessing magical landscapes, a lot of responsibility comes with it. “I knew it was one of the riskiest jobs there is out there but the more challenging it was, the more I looked forward to pursuing in it,” Francesco said. Currently, Francesco is still a student pilot, accumulating his hours to hopefully do his private pilot exam which will then lead him to be a private pilot for light aircrafts. Afterward, he will go into studying commercial theory to upgrade his license.
Being a commercial pilot is a goal that Francesco looks forward to but his dreams go over and beyond that. What he looks forward to most is to having a life, doing what he always wanted to do. “Being happy with my career, being happy with my life, living the life the way I always wanted it, regardless of my career changes, regardless of the setbacks“.
Seeing your child going back and forth with his careers might be worrisome to some parents but Francesco is forever grateful for his mum that gave him full support on his dreams. “She was willing to change the way we do things just to see me happy,” Francesco said.
It became almost a taboo for one to change their course or their career, as if their life is on the line and we are wasting our time by switching things up. Francesco is a prime example that is never too late to change your career and how important it is to have big goals and take risks. Life has no specific timeline, no one is taking the same path and everyone has their own pace. When asked for advice, Francesco likes to live by this motto; “In four years time, you will still be four years older. So why not spend those years doing something that you love?”
