Dreams. Success. Failures.

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If someone would ask me what’s the most difficult phase of a person’s life then I would say, “It’s when you have got reasons to be happy and sad at the same time.”
Just when I was planning to take a step towards my dream, I came to know about a few more failures which became a part of life.
It was a beautiful morning which got a sudden kick start with the news of a failure. A failure which was unexpected, a failure which proved that I was careless.
Numerous thoughts, questions, answers and lot more things were banging my head while I was trying to be as normal as I could be. And yes, after a while everything was fine. I was back to normal life, a life with family and friends. I was careless again. I was dreaming again.


We live in a “socially forced” world

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We live in a world which is driven not by our thoughts but by thoughts of people around us. I call this a “socially forced” world.

As we grow up we are forced to study, forced to score good marks, forced to be an engineer, an MBA or a doctor, forced to get a good job, forced to get married and finally forced for a “happily forced living”.

Gone are the days when parents wanted their children to grow up as an artist or a creative mind. They would better want them to grow up as CompuKids, Geeks and Nerds.

It’s not that parents force their children, it’s the society that forces parents to force their children. The word “freedom” is confined to dictionary for lifetime or otherwise considered as a synonym for “disobeying”.

If we are given the “social freedom” of learning things we love to study, doing what we want to, going for a job which interests us and marrying the person we love then life would be much more easier and fun to live.

# That’s how world goes on and we continue to live, remember ?


An engineer’s dream job

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This question has been on my mind for quite a long time. Probably the day since I thought of not going for a job.

I have heard people saying ” I am soooo happy today… I got placed in xyz MNC with a 6 figure package…. I got my dream job.. ”

And every time I hear this thing, I wonder “What is a dream job for an engineer ?” I feel like asking  them these questions:

  1. Is this really a job you want ? Or is it just a start for a better job ?
  2. Do you know what work you will be doing ?
  3. Where do you see yourself after working 2 years in an MNC ?
  4. Will the 2 years of work add to your experience ?
  5. Will you be happy working on anything and everything no matter what interests you and what not ?
  6. Will you learn something new ?
  7. Where do you see yourself standing among  thousands of  other employees ?
  8. Are you happy with the payout ?
  9. Do you really think you can make a happy living with that 6 figure salary ?
  10. At the end of the day, will you be satisfied with your job ?

I know if I start asking these questions, I will face brickbats for sure.

Ok. Cool.

Think the other way, instead of being satisfied and feeling relaxed look around for better opportunities. Getting a job is not the end of the job hunt. Your job hunt must continue till the date you find a job of your choice.

You must be happy with what you do. It’s not a 6 figure or 10 figure salary that can make you happy, it’s your inner-self that must be happy.

Will you be happy if you are asked to sit idle 10 hours a day and paid a handsome amount ? Think. Money can’t buy you happiness.

“Dream job” : The job an average engineer gets after B.E./B.Tech. is never a dream job. It’s what you deserve after studying for four years and securing good marks. Your knowledge is of no use in most of these “dream” jobs.

We, the engineers, are made to work like slaves at MNCs. Anyone will get fed up of the monotonous life within a few months or a year. We work in a “limited” scope of the assigned project and the complete picture is never clear to anyone except the team leader or project head. At the end of the day, we are at a loss of both knowledge and money. Money  ? How ? Here’s a simple calculation for those who wonder “How we lose money?”

Monthly salary : around 25,000-28,000 INR (You are lucky if you get more ;-) )
Expenditure of life in a metro: 5000 bucks for house rent, some 3000 bucks for petrol for your bike, then you have expenses for the food you eat, for the tooothpaste and soap you use, clothes you wear, phone calls you make, internet charges (no one can live without that for a single day, right?), partying and hanging out with friends….oh and how could I forget cigarettes and drinks (every engineer has these two “shauks”) ;-)  and you know what all other things will get added to the list. Now, calculate your expenditure and it will go to around 20,000. Finally what are your savings 5000-8000 a month ? that’s it ? Wait, I forgot to add expenses when you will be traveling back home every third or fourth month. You know there are so many weddings you need to attend and festivals that you can’t miss. So, let’s bring down your savings to 3000-5000 per month. Yes, that’s final.

What the hell do you think can anyone learn there ? Nothing? Really, nothing ?
No, you will learn to attend meetings, behave professionally, write emails, create reports and few other things that won’t add to your knowledge. ;-)

The point of writing this is not to spread a message of leaving a job or not getting into such jobs. Instead, we should work on things which gives us satisfaction, where we have scope to learn new things and explore other areas of the field we are working in.

I truly feel, it’s better to start working in a small/mid-size software development firm rather than working at Infy, TCS, HCL or Wipro. You get a lot to learn. The only thing you will not get as a fresher is a handsome salary. But, that’s not more important than the knowledge you gain.

 


An Open Letter to Guest Faculties at C.T.A.E.

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I am writing this not to show my love or hatred against anyone. But, to express the truth. If any student/teacher finds my words/views/expressions offensive then feel free to drop your views.

Dear Sir/Madam,

We, the last benchers, absentees, students with backlogs or so called “ignorant and failure” students are not so. Not attending class doesn’t mean that we are ignorant, care less or we don’t respect you. We respect you just like we respect any other teacher/elder in this world.

The reason for not attending the classes could be different. One major reason which is common to all of us is that when you are reading out books, it doesn’t really mean teaching. We do the same on the last day of our mid-sems and sems and score pretty well.

We are the ones who are absent for the whole month but score 14-18 out of 20 in mid-sems and even pass out sems with good marks. No, we are not proud of this. But, we don’t find any sense in attending a class where you make us write what’s written in books. Instead of explaining how things are, how things work, you speak out how things are in the book.

We understand that experience comes with time and freshers always face some problems. We also understand the efforts you put in reading the book, making us writing the notes, checking our exam papers. But, that’s not everything that a student needs. A student attends the class for gaining “knowledge” not for mugging up books.

We don’t have any hatred towards you or your subject. But, we don’t like it when you shower your love over a particular student or group of students or compare us with others. It’s good to appreciate the work and efforts of hard working students. But, it’s not at all good to be biased.

You check our papers to find out every possible mistake, the most stupid questions during viva are meant for us, every request of ours is considered as “argument”, we are the ones who are humiliated whenever we attend the class and when we don’t, we are criticized.

We reply back arrogantly when everything goes beyond the limit, we are not so by nature. If you have freedom to express your views, we oppose the misuse of freedom.

To be very clear, we are not the ones as you think of us. We are also good at heart, we are also humble, we also respect elders and we also study like all other students. The sad thing is our way of studies isn’t acceptable for you.

For you, good students are those who are regular in class, who complete their work on time and who study regularly. Definitely, we are not so good because we think differently. We spend time drinking chai at thadi, we spend time doing things we like, we spend time learning new things and not being a part of “bhed chaal”. We are not even jealous of anyone because we believe in living a careless life, we don’t believe in comparisons.

We are not proud when we succeed or get placed, but we don’t even cry when we score less or fail. We live the life, enjoy and celebrate.

We will happily attend every class if you start imparting “knowledge” rather than making us write notes. We will reply to you humbly if you stop considering our “requests” as “arguments”. We will be “good students” if you stop criticizing us and humiliating us.

Please start imparting knowledge and stop behaving as if you know everything and we don’t. Sometimes, everyone needs to be strict and humble at the same time.

Thanking you.

Yours sincerely,
A student of life.