Human expectations and desires, in a nutshell, can be summarized by the immortal Pink Floyd line “In a world of magnets and miracles…..we reached the dizzying heights of that dreamed of world." The species of engineering aspirants are victims to it too.
As I enter the final lap of my engineering, I can safely say tht I have learnt some of the grim realities of the business (that are a definite accompaniment while one is training to be an engineer.)
At the threshold of an important career decision, lies the age-old question where most engineering students falter. Most of us have asked our own selves at one point or the other, the crucial question of “MBA or MS?” The predicament remains the same, but the victims keep changing. There are exceptions to this majority though, the one’s who are determined and know exactly their roadmap in life. However, for the larger chunk of the fraternity, awaits a voyage that traverses confusion-stricken crossroads, brainwashing sessions with seniors and peers, the same discussion that repeats itself over and over again. And it doesn’t end at that, the by-products being, parental pressure and the drive to seek an avenue that will fetch lucrative job opportunities. Amidst all this, there are those who might suggest the confused souls to do a bit of introspection, to ask themselves what they really want from life, where exactly do their interests and aptitude lie. Some ring the bells of the process of elimination, which comes in handy when you are playing with your luck in the midst of a GRE or CAT exam. But personally, I’m not sure if it does help at this juncture in life. Different people with different perceptions definitely give varied opinions. Having gone through this myself, I’m aware that the oppressed underdog knows all of these and more. What he doesn’t know is the path to take through the maze.
The solution indeed is not easy to find. Atleast I haven’t found a single spirit who knows a fool-proof way out of it. However, after much hearsay and conjecture I have realized that there is no definite answer or modus-operandi. The question remains unanswered but what I did learn is…..You can go anywhere you want, the question is…..where do u want to go? That brings us to where we started from, the seed of all desires….the ultimate pedestal that one wants to reach in life and that zenith is different for every person. Once you know the goal, you know the path. And the only way to reach it is to resist the mob psychology and FOLLOW YOUR DREAM!!!
So, to all my fellow engineers, as I pass out of engineering, the only word of advice that I pass down to you in legacy is: Listen to your heart!
1 comment:
That is fine. Listen to your heart. But heart does not speak. And many times we hear from the heart exactly what we want to hear or what others want us to hear from our heart.
There are always dilemmas. But information helps to overcome the dilemma. Here are few things that can help you to decide your career:
1) See what you have done till now and identify the things that you consider as your acheivements and thought that you had fun doing those. Obviously those are the things that you enjoy doing most and have fun while doing those. If you had the most fun achoring a show, then even if you are a trained engineer, take up anchoring of a show as career since you will enjoy doing it and add value to the show since you will be creative while doing it. Creativity is a function of hard-work, innovation and time you put in it. So if you like doing a particular thing you will be creative in it since monotonicity will vicitmize you at some point and since you like the field so much you will be forced to innovate in it out of boredom.
2)See if a thing you like doing most is interesting even in most stressful situations and check if you are doing good in it. If you still enjoy then it means that even if you are stressed still you will do well. It also means that you will be able to handle failures well in that field since you like doing it so much. And handling failures well is one of the ost important ingredient in a sucessful career.
3) Talk to sensible people. Talk to people in their mid career. If you want to do MBA in finance, talk to a manager in a bank. See what his work profile is and think if you would like to do that job at the age of 40. If the answer is yes, then you are fit to become a finance manager. This approach is a serious myth buster about what you thought of the field/work profile and what it actually is.
4) Last thing you should worry about is pay-check. Because good people in all the fileds get paid reasonably well (atleast more than 20 lakhs per anum in INR in India) or 150k USD p.a in US. The important thing in making money is being good at what you are doing and you can be good at what you are doing only by having a passion for it, strong like for it and a will power to suceed.
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