Its been a year since I left college. I took a somewhat different path compared to my other friends. I decided to join a start-up instead of a big MNC. There were a few hiccups initially, but by God's grace I finally found my footing and am doing pretty well now. I wanted to share with you some of the things that I have come to realise in this short period. Once you graduate from college there are 2 kinds of job you can go for:
1) The MNC that conducts aptitude tests and retrains you from scratch in their organisations. This means that if you were good at anything in college, you are going to lose that touch now. 2) The smaller (or even MNCs) companies that look for only specific skills and hire you looking at your matching skill sets. Now most people in an Indian Engineering college will happily admit that they do not have interest in any particular technology and do not really care about a "meaningful" job. I would urge such individual to continue reading this mail, since I am going to address them too. Let me briefly tell you about the current transitional phase that the computing world is going through. Computing is surely going to move from the PC to handheld devices in the future. The iPad has sold 3 million units in 80 days. Every other mobile company is scurrying to ship Android and Meego (both linux based operating systems) installed devices into the market. For the first time in the history of computing, an open platform is being pushed as the default choice as operating system on so many hardware platforms. That means, Linux will be everywhere. If you arent already on Linux, you are already pretty outdated. I see in Bangalore a lot of companies working on various breeds of these devices. Small handhelds that let you do a few tasks well. All these will inevitably run Linux. Hence, the industry is looking for talent, and talent in this sector is surprisingly scarce. Sure, a company could train you and then use you, but what if you already have the skills from your college days? Wouldnt you be a better bet then? Here is where I urge each and everyone of you to have a project of your own in college. Not one of those "copy/paste" projects that we submit at the end of the semester to our professors, but a real piece of software that does something useful. More importantly, let the world know about your project. Tell your friends about it and update your facebook status messages saying you have developed this new thing. I am also telling this to all the people who do work on some project but never share it with anyone else for whatever reason. But what if you dont give a damn about all this? What if you are least interested in writing code? I would argue that there is something useful that can be written by even the most dis-interested of the lot. For example, would you, the Counter Strike addict, like an sms alert every time someone creates a new CS server on the lan? Would you be interested in streaming CS matches on your mobiles devices? Do you want an alert whenever a new movie is uploaded on DC++? At the end of the day, it is surprising how far these small projects take you in your career. There will be thousands and thousands of students who will still not have any idea about the latest technologies (or even obsolete technologies). In this context, you will stand out from the crowd and will be easily noticed. Working in companies like TCS and Infosys is generally not an enjoyable experience. I do not have personal experience in this regard, but I can tell you this from what I have heard. But we have responsibilities towards our families, and hence we must earn. Ideally though we should be able to earn well and enjoy the work as well. This mail is about how to make yourself fit for this ideal situation. First, develop a skill. It maybe in any category (completely unrelated to software as well). Second, let people know about it. Third, approach organisations that work in that field. Chances are that if you develop a skill in a public space like the internet, you will be noticed while still in college. Hence it is important to be in a public space. It also helps refine your skill through feedback. Look at Afzal and Harsh Vardhan Singh (the duo who went to Cannes Film Festival from our college). They did exactly this. They are truly finding meaning in their lives. The fact is that after a few years in the software industry you will start hating your life. I am only saying that you realise this earlier while still in college. It seems too much work to have to look for a job on your own, which is understandable considering that companies visit our campuses to take us. But think about all the other fields. Aspiring actors move to Mumbai. Models carry a portfolio to offices before they make it big. Even the kind of gruelling process GRE aspirants go through while applying to universities is an example. All of this is to find a spot of harmony and accord with ones own natural abilities and the work place. Yet, in software, we happily forego this peace. It is sad. I am not advising that you not appear for MNC interviews in college. I would not advise anyone to take that sort of risk. I am instead asking you to be good enough to get through those interviews (which you already are) and also strive to find a meaningful place for yourself in the industry parallely. Once you are out of college, you will realise how quickly 4 years passed by, but the fact of the matter is that 4 years is ample time to do so many useful things. Each one of you could build something truly amazing in these 4 years. Make sure you do it and also tell everyone about it. All you have to do is devote a few hours per week, and it will generally lead to an immensely better life in the industry. The silicon valleys of the west were built on these basics. Its our time now. -- Debayan Banerjee Software Engineer -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "GNU/Linux Users' Group, NIT Durgapur" group. _______________________________________________ Ilugd mailing list Ilugd@lists.linux-delhi.org http://frodo.hserus.net/mailman/listinfo/ilugd
