Does age matter?

Hi everyone,

I would like to ask you guys about your experience during your career path in business. I have been having a hard time thinking about my future as a foreign student in Europe.

I came to Austria when I was 19, after the first year of my University in Vietnam. Back then I was a student with excellent grades at my university, my life was as normal as other students so I wanted to challenge myself, step out of my comfort zone and study abroad. I started to learn German in 1 year and enrolled in the Bachelor Program at the Vienna University of Economics and Business. I had not known before that such a long and difficult road was waiting for me, as I used to study English in my home country and I thought that studying in German would be that same easy. However, I had a shock when I started university because I did not understand anything although I was always the best one in my German course. I started to get use dto earning bad grades in exams for which I studied a lot. Then my family experienced extreme turbulence in many years, so I started to finance my studies on my own, going to work sometimes 5 jobs at the same time. As a result, I spent 7 years on my Bachelor. Now I'm a B.Sc. student, I could speak German, English and Spanish fluently, I managed to did one exchange semester in Spain during my studies, but I'm already 27. I have not had any professional experience so far because being a third-world student, I was never allowed to work more than 10 hours (that's why I had to take up 5 different jobs where official papers are not required) or even do an internship in Austria. When I look at my friends' linkedIn profiles, I feel sad because most of them are already managers, leaders or PhD students. I will start my Master next year so probably I will finish it when I'm 29.

I'm aware of my situation and I know that everyone has their own pace and their own path. My path is not a usual one and the length of my studies might be a hindering factor to my career development. In Austria and Germany I think they put a lot of emphasis on the length of your studies and your professional experience. Many times I feel depressed because I know had my family been able to support me financially, I would have done better than this. I don't want to go back to my home country because the life quality there is very bad, people die everyday because of traffic accidents, food is poisoned and crime rates are extremely high. I want to build my career here and support my parents later when I get a job. I want to work for the UN later on or for any multinational company, because I know I'm good at languages.

Do you think it is possible for me to build a career at the beginning of 30? I'm female and sometimes I even thought that maybe I would not be able to have children because many transitions in my life are delayed. I know I'm being pessimistic and full of fear, but in fact, many friends of mine quit or were sent back to their home countries because they could not stand such a life here where there are more barriers than support to us foreigners.

I would be very grateful for any advice or experience!

Best,