When I was about to move on to high school, I took exams for Military High School, Anatolian High School, Private High School, Science High School, and Vocational High School. My biggest dream was to become an officer. However, when the results came in, I didn’t get into the Military High School. That failure deeply disappointed me.
My score was high enough to enter a prestigious French high school, but due to financial limitations, I couldn’t attend. So I had to go with my last option, a vocational high school:
Etiler Anatolian Hotel Management and Tourism Vocational High School.
I told myself, “I’ll finish the prep year, and if I don’t like it, I’ll transfer to a regular high school.”
That was the first major life decision I made on my own at 14.
Vocational schools mainly focus on industry-related training, with limited academic courses like math, Turkish, or science. Their purpose is to train skilled workers for specific sectors. But for someone dreaming of leadership, that wasn’t enough.
Still, I completed a two-year degree in Tourism and Hotel Management. Including my high school years, I interned and worked at various hotels for five summers. Higher education was always my dream. I studied hard again for the university exam and got accepted.
However, financial issues prevented me from immediately moving to Ankara. I registered for the program and froze my enrollment, planning to work another year, save enough money to support myself in Ankara, and then both work and study.
But things didn’t go as planned. My military service came due. I realized too late that by freezing my registration, I had lost my “student” status. Without doing enough research, I started my 18-month military service in January 1998.
During the service, I realized that military life wasn’t for me. The uniform looked impressive from the outside, but it wasn’t a lifestyle I could embrace. Shortly after completing my service, on December 1, 1999, I started working at TAV as a Duty Terminal Officer at Istanbul Atatürk Airport’s International Terminal. While working, I completed my bachelor’s degree, pursued an MBA in Aviation, and built the career I have today.
If I had been accepted into Military High School, I might have lived an unhappy life. If I hadn’t frozen my university registration and gone straight to study, I might not have had a steady job until 2005 due to graduation and military service.
Instead, by June 2005, I had earned the title of Terminal Manager, and just a few months later, in October 2005, I was appointed Airport Manager at Tbilisi International Airport.
Life doesn’t always take you down the path you plan, but sometimes, that path leads you somewhere entirely different, and maybe even more beautiful.
Remember: The failure that hurts you today may become the cornerstone of your greatest success tomorrow.