Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Rudderless Life

As I prepare to enter another phase in my life, sometimes I look back and see at what I have done till now. Did I ever have a direction where I wanted to go or did I just do what the others around me were doing.

Going for IIT-JEE was one such thing I had done as all of my friends were doing the same. There is always a lack of knowledge for the students as to their career choices when they are in school. The situation isn't too much better in colleges either. At least here in India, people generally tend to follow the crowd rather than make informed and well thought out decisions.

Even I was the same, having no idea what I wanted to do, I also followed the crowd and prepared for IIT. Though I didn't crack the exam, I performed well enough to get into IT-BHU. When I was in college I always felt that even though I had achieved something, I still didn't know whether that was what I wanted to become.

Then came another bit of information, that it doesn't matter what you studied in your graduation, everyone (at least the majority) goes into the software field. It was also a popular choice because it saved you from the rigors of the field job and also supposedly paid you well. So, a software job it was for me too(but I really feel that if you don't want to pursue higher studies, then getting into software field for a non-CS engineer is a BIG mistake).

Even though my decisions were always dependent on what the others were doing, but I always wanted to do the things better than everyone else around me.

At the time of placements I was lucky enough to have four job offers. Now I had to choose. Since I knew that the top two choices for me were paying me about the same, I decided to go for a job that would make me stand out i.e go for a company that recruits 3-4 people rather than 30. So, I finally joined Fair Isaac.

Again, since most of the people around me wanted to go for an MBA in the near future, so even I tried for the same. I had decided that if I were to do an MBA, it would only be from IIM-ABC or FMS (I always had a fascination for FMS being from Delhi). This may have been because I knew that I can achieve it or because I wanted to prove that I could compete with the best.

Personally I believe, most of the people from my college don't have the confidence to wait for a couple of years as all of them have felt the failure of just missing out on the IITs and are maybe satisfied with something below the best. That is one thing everyone should try to overcome - being satisfied with what you achieve. According to me, its all about confidence and self-belief. Everyone in IT-BHU has a good aptitude to crack the exam and everyone has the capability to achieve the best.

If just doing an MBA was my aim, then I could have got through a top-10 ranked B-School last year only, because i had a decent percentile. But this time, I did not want to compromise. So, I planned to wait for two years. But due to parental pressure, I gave the CAT exam, and luckily I cracked it with an amazingly high 99.98%le and got calls from all IIMs and converted all the calls except Ahemdabad.

Although, I don't know whether i would make all the right choices while I would be there in IIMB, but one thing is for sure, I would never regret any decision I have ever made in my life. Making mistakes is a part of life and you need to learn from them rather than ruing your decisions all your life.

I still don't know what I want to do in life. I am still as rudderless as i was before, but I know one thing for sure, I would certainly enjoy the journey as I have up to now.

8 comments:

Grewal (Nitin) said...

dude--- even getting into IT BHU dnt mean u compromised but wasting one year ...to get a IIT tag is nt worthwhile now a days...so like ur motto...do the best..watever u do..result may vary

Unknown said...

Nice post bhaiya .. always refreshing to know about your perception of things .. probably because it leads to the deduction of need to enjoy life .. which is pretty much my take on things as well :D

P.S. My story is strikingly similar to yours till the joining of job part .. hoping the similarity continues :P

deepb said...

was this a brag post?
damn, nothing about migrant labor here.
more comments to follow, btw do you realise I am the only that takes the pains to comment on each of your entries.(or maybe this just means, I need to get a life)
-basu

paras said...

Following the herd may be an understatement depicting young INdian mentality. Most of us are indeed doing the same thing all our lives.
Some of us do succeed, but still there remains a hollow feeling, may be I wasn't made for something which I did throughout my life.Same could be said about this articel. Amul seem toh have acheived best education he could have and ofcourse job. But still he seems unsure wheather he is 'there' or not!!
It really sums up our narrow spectrum of thinkin!!!

Kris said...

I realise I do fall in the "most of us" category. trust me a year in the IT industry, as of now i am of this feeling i would gladly join any B-rung Bschool. been a part of the rat race all along and i am dying to make an escape... but i guess like most of us... i am scared... i wish i get over it soon...

Kris said...

on a lighter note, i did give you your next target right?? :P he he he

i wish you well my friend, i surely do... :)

Rajat said...

The path should be derived from the goal that you want to achieve. If not till now, this is the time when you should be clear about the goal, your destination..

Then you know what you are doing and why you are doing. I feel that MBA is a path and not a goal. So saying that doing it from x,y,z institutes will have p,q,r things and you will achieve a,b,c out of that does make little sense. Go and find out what are your a,b,c things that you want to achieve.

Ankit a.k.a. Maggy said...

Hi
May I know what was the package Fair Isaac offered you during campus placement?
Thnx
Ankit