Less than half a decade back, I thought I had found the genesis of my career with my admission into one of the prestigious institutions in the country to pursue under graduation in mechanical engineering but even now after an exponential learning and exploration curve in the past four years, I feel incomplete in identifying my dream. Before I ponder over the failure of exploring my dream, I am obliged to mention the success of exploring myself which by far is the best learning experience I could ever have dreamed of.
It all began when my studious sister failed to make it into the jee exam and and kept going on about the perks of being an IITian. I had no clue about what an engineer actually does, except that they build things. Even when I was determined to choose nothing but the mechanical stream that took me further away from home, I didn't realise it was very much short of building sports cars and humanoids. But like most stereotypical youths in the country, I assured myself that it is my ambition to get into IIT and become a scientist(only if I had known what it takes to be one..:P) and embarked on a two year strenuous coaching exercise after my secondary education, leaving a well endowed boarding school for a cramped multi-storey building with the soul motto of manufacturing IITians. It was indeed worth the workouts, if I wanted to be an engineer as all said and done IITs are still the best colleges in the country. Unlike popular perception, there is very less or no pressure on academics and it feels like a freedom from slavery after the two year(for a few,it's much longer) exercise. As always, freedom without restrictions could prove detrimental to many and so it happens for most of the brightest minds(at least believed to be so) of the country after enlisting into IIT. We still try to keep ourselves worthwhile by engaging in various extracurricular and club activities but in the process get obsessed with filling our resume, neglecting the topmost column that caters to the academic score. The major fault is listening to the hearsay advices that float around preaching academics is not very much important and it is sufficient to have a threshold cgpa to get a decent job placement, which happens to be a non-core industry for all but the computer science graduates. I wouldn't say it is false but the regret one(I speak for myself) has at the end of the course isn't less either.
During my years at college, I wanted to build my career in many a paths like a trader, a consultant, an entrepreneur and so on like a kid who wants to be a doctor,engineer,artist all at once. I understood that I am another proof to the meme 'In India, people become engineers before they decide what to do in life'. As we realise that it is too late to change tracks now, we try to pick the best option available which incidentally turn out to be management profiles and not engineering ones. This draws the ire of public who accuse the IITians of using the taxpayers' money without returning anything to the nation. Of course, one can't blame the common man for being misguided by the media that tend to blow up the packages and shrink the achievements and contributions of IITians. But the opportunities to payback to the society right from the beginning of career is close to nil. I recollect one of the IIT alumni from the early '60s saying 'brain drain is better than brain in the drain' was the justification during their time(he returned to donate millions to his alma matter). Certainly the situation has altered significantly since then but only the location of work preference has been modified and not the nature of roles sought or the companies preferred. I do believe that citing folks who make up fake documents to claim public funds through different avenues is a justification for us taking care of ourselves but there is nothing wrong in living by the quote 'Charity begins at home' either. Well there is a limit to this charity and most of us realise this sooner than the rest. The many budding entrepreneurs and social activists/entrepreneurs from IITs are the living proof for that.
I guess I have gone off the track from what I set out to write today and it is pretty long already. I wouldn't wanna bore the few readers(friends who don't have a choice) by extending it any further.
I wouldn't do what I have done if I had another run at it but there is no saying whether I would be satiated with a different set of choices/decisions. Nevertheless I am proud of the learnings and friendships I garnered on the way. In short, I went in with great desires of building the gen-next devices and earn millions but came out with the dream of starting up(and earn millions too- well, there are few things that don't change easily). Hoping to realise it sooner than writing my next 'look back'..:P
It all began when my studious sister failed to make it into the jee exam and and kept going on about the perks of being an IITian. I had no clue about what an engineer actually does, except that they build things. Even when I was determined to choose nothing but the mechanical stream that took me further away from home, I didn't realise it was very much short of building sports cars and humanoids. But like most stereotypical youths in the country, I assured myself that it is my ambition to get into IIT and become a scientist(only if I had known what it takes to be one..:P) and embarked on a two year strenuous coaching exercise after my secondary education, leaving a well endowed boarding school for a cramped multi-storey building with the soul motto of manufacturing IITians. It was indeed worth the workouts, if I wanted to be an engineer as all said and done IITs are still the best colleges in the country. Unlike popular perception, there is very less or no pressure on academics and it feels like a freedom from slavery after the two year(for a few,it's much longer) exercise. As always, freedom without restrictions could prove detrimental to many and so it happens for most of the brightest minds(at least believed to be so) of the country after enlisting into IIT. We still try to keep ourselves worthwhile by engaging in various extracurricular and club activities but in the process get obsessed with filling our resume, neglecting the topmost column that caters to the academic score. The major fault is listening to the hearsay advices that float around preaching academics is not very much important and it is sufficient to have a threshold cgpa to get a decent job placement, which happens to be a non-core industry for all but the computer science graduates. I wouldn't say it is false but the regret one(I speak for myself) has at the end of the course isn't less either.
During my years at college, I wanted to build my career in many a paths like a trader, a consultant, an entrepreneur and so on like a kid who wants to be a doctor,engineer,artist all at once. I understood that I am another proof to the meme 'In India, people become engineers before they decide what to do in life'. As we realise that it is too late to change tracks now, we try to pick the best option available which incidentally turn out to be management profiles and not engineering ones. This draws the ire of public who accuse the IITians of using the taxpayers' money without returning anything to the nation. Of course, one can't blame the common man for being misguided by the media that tend to blow up the packages and shrink the achievements and contributions of IITians. But the opportunities to payback to the society right from the beginning of career is close to nil. I recollect one of the IIT alumni from the early '60s saying 'brain drain is better than brain in the drain' was the justification during their time(he returned to donate millions to his alma matter). Certainly the situation has altered significantly since then but only the location of work preference has been modified and not the nature of roles sought or the companies preferred. I do believe that citing folks who make up fake documents to claim public funds through different avenues is a justification for us taking care of ourselves but there is nothing wrong in living by the quote 'Charity begins at home' either. Well there is a limit to this charity and most of us realise this sooner than the rest. The many budding entrepreneurs and social activists/entrepreneurs from IITs are the living proof for that.
I guess I have gone off the track from what I set out to write today and it is pretty long already. I wouldn't wanna bore the few readers(friends who don't have a choice) by extending it any further.
I wouldn't do what I have done if I had another run at it but there is no saying whether I would be satiated with a different set of choices/decisions. Nevertheless I am proud of the learnings and friendships I garnered on the way. In short, I went in with great desires of building the gen-next devices and earn millions but came out with the dream of starting up(and earn millions too- well, there are few things that don't change easily). Hoping to realise it sooner than writing my next 'look back'..:P
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