Comments on: How does your average Indian student make a career choice?

By: Kaushik

Kaushik — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 07:09:49 +0000

Chandini, how right you are.

If all of us had been chasing our childhood fantasies – there would have been quite a few liftmen, truck drivers, paleontologists and a lot of fancy professions – and very few nation builders.

I am thankful that my friends who did JEE have still not realized that their dreams are “borrowed” because quite a few of them are doing quality research and some pretty constructive work for the country (one of them is part of the Golden Quadrilateral project) instead of becoming B-grade actors, local club footballers and abstract painters.

For myself, I am thankful that I did not chase my childhood dream (read fantasy) of becoming a Don Corleone (I saw the movie when I was 10), and I am happier that I had Mr. XYZ’s Son and Mr. ABC’s daughter as my inspirations to become an IIT / IIM Grad as I still believe as another “Phantom”, I would have been nowhere, and neither would the society have benefited from me

By: Chandini

Chandini — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 06:51:45 +0000

Interesting article, it forces me to reflect back on why I actually chose to appear for JEE.
“Borrowed dreams don’t make for happy realities.”, a witty quote,but as mentioned by Nancy, the smartness is in right borrowing.

I can speak for myself, born to doctor parents, the natural career choice for me should have been to get into medicine too. But my decision to become an engineer was actually steered by my mother, who from her own professional experience could predict that hospitals were not the place for me. I believe that parents should have a major role in shaping their child’s future. As kids, we may be fascinated by certain fields, but are largely unaware of the reality, of what lies beneath. A certain profession may look glossy, or the made for us, but we at that time do not the cons, the needs and demands of the career. However, a parent’s own experience, combined with their understanding of their child’s nature, makes them a good judge of what would be best suited for their kid. The best decision can be reached by self introspection, exploring and deciding your interest, but also including your parents’ advice in your final decision.

In a way, I am following my mother’s dream, but happily, it also happens to be the right one for me.

By: Theodore

Theodore — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 19:57:02 +0000

Excellent article on an important topic. Coincidentally, I was just creating a website today related to this topic just before stumbling upon this article.

My take on this is… help the 6th-8th grade kids have a peek into these career fields in very simple terms. Over 2 or 3 years, they should explore and learn what they want to do. Also, I think today there are enough opportunities in every field to make good money. So, not missing out on this opportunity is even more important for this generation.

With that in mind I made this dumb website with a quarter-page of content. But, with community support it could become a fantastic resource for young people. Check it out and contribute through the comments section. Can we make a difference?

LearnOnNetProject-Career

By: AT_korvus

AT_korvus — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 09:09:33 +0000

I vividly remember what I wanted to be when I grew up. Unfortunately, my father was against the whole “Adventuring Archeologist in the manner of Indiana Jones”, while my mother was against me being a secret agent.

My parent’s decision that I should have an engineering degree (look at Mr XYZs son, he has such good grades, he’ll get throiugh an awesome college) did not go well with certain stakeholders (me), who rather fancied a career in journalism. Heck, the only reason I gave CAT was because I knew that with English as my strong point, I could breeze through the selection process.

Right now, I am in a job that suits me the best out of all the options that we had at Joka, and I’m wondering, wouldn’t it be awesome if I took up writing part time.

By: Bijay Rungta

Bijay Rungta — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 22:00:52 +0000

For me, getting a job for survival was a need at one point of time.

I tried to find a job after BSc but on Organization was ready to entertain a fresh Graduate.

All the Interviews I attended were for Call Center, Sales etc. which I was sure can not be my calling. I couldn’t perform there. But each Day, after each Interview made me more informed and a better understanding of my own interests, and as to where I will be happy and perform the best.

Somehow I managed to find a job after struggling for more than an Year. Here I just took the Opportunity to develop a Website even though I had no idea how to build one, but I had heard that even Kids know HTML.

That gave me a lot of confidence.
And then this was an Internet era, where you could type a few words and find documents around the web on that Subject. I just went ahead and
Within a month of working I started to feel that this was my calling..

I think it takes a lot of time if you want to take an informed and well thought of decision to choose a Career by yourself.

At 10 you hardly know what you want to do in life.

A Similar Posts by my Mentor and Friend Mr Abhishek Rungta.
Are you what you always wanted to be?
http://www.abhishekrungta.com/are-you-what-you-always-wanted-to-be/67

By: Chandrima

Chandrima — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 08:48:07 +0000

@ Umesh: That’s exactly what I meant in my take on people who drift from job to job. Sometimes it commitment which does make “Borrowed dreams” one’s own dreams
@ Nancy: Spot on about the “right borrowing”!

By: Nancy Verma

Nancy Verma — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 23:05:27 +0000

Some really nice points in the article.
“Borrowed dreams don’t make for happy realities.”
I think they can make happy realities only upto a certain level, never in long-term. So, yes you can clear JEE following your peers. But after undergraduation, one should try to be more mature in making career decisions and look for what fits you.
One should try to never borrow others dream , but one can always borrow others ideas, approaches to achieve their own goals, aspirations. So, overall one should do the right borrowing…

By: Umesh

Umesh — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 13:19:03 +0000

Good article, Chandrima…………when I joined IIT D in 1978 after my second attempt at JEE, it was just following fathers footsteps as we never had “internet option ” , coaching / career institutes, but it was a commitment to stand on your own feet which drove me to get into professional career!However , if I was finishing my school in the present era, I would have also taken a quite a few inputs from the different platforms available in public domain!!……………Umesh

By: Chandrima

Chandrima — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 10:18:55 +0000

@ Saha: The line was sarcastic in nature, hinting towards the fact that the rickshawpuller’s son can dream much bigger than his father and often achieves it too, even though we fail to notice it from our middle-class balconies.
The career suited for us may or may not be “different”, it maybe the something rather conventional as I hinted in the “Driftwood” para. The idea of the post was only to take a look at the different kinds of forces that shape our careers rather than to stereotype anyone into any one class. We are all a combination of many many factors, and human beings are way too complex to be easily generalized.

By: Debit

Debit — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 05:23:32 +0000

Very nice article

Loved the line: “Borrowed dreams don’t make for happy realities.”

@Saha: For your frndz who are not unsatified with leading “borrowed dreams”, its just that may b they have not yet realized that they have borrowed them..