EXTRACTS FROM THE SPEECH PREPARED FOR MY DAUGHTER: TOPIC - ZEROING IN ON A CAREER

Every student dreams of a professional journey of very high satisfaction and is equally wary about getting into anything else. The one question that always comes up into the mind of a student, is about the career that he would finally want to pursue. That is because, as a single category of activity in our life, it is our career that is going to take up most of our time. And so, a good career can take us to very high levels of professional and emotional satisfaction. Sometimes a student takes up a career because his parents dream of seeing him in a particular position of power, in that career. And after the student takes up that career, many times he or she would find the career engine losing its steam, after a journey of a few years. Only very few hit the success path in this route.

Several years back, very few dared to explore beyond the thresholds of the traditional career choices like Engineering, Medicine, Top Management, the glamourous Civil Services or Chartered Accountancy. In fact to get a good bride or a good groom, one had to be into one of these careers. Although India is seeing a huge wave of change today, these traditional choices still dominate the marriage markets in many places in the country. Over the last decade, our conservative middle class have started opening up to choices like hotel management and fashion. A career with Indian Armed Forces is of course even today something that is taken up after lots of rumination, as there are lot of challenges for the family life in such a career.

Some times a career choice is largely influenced by a business that has been run by the family across generations and it becomes a matter of prestige for the next generation to take up the reins. So here, students go through a forced choice, curtailing their probable opportunities to exhibit capabilities in another field that they would have otherwise been a part of.

Parents have a big role in helping the child in zeroing in on a choice. Many times they could help in a big way by not taking emotional and subjective decisions, but by being very objective, keeping in mind what the child is really passionate about. Sometimes children are influenced by fancy ideas and these could influence their choices too. Parents need to spend time and if possible get them to talk to people working in different fields, so as to understand the pros and cons before making a choice.

Spending a short period, like for e.g. a self driven micro internship during a holiday period can help the student to get a feel of the processes and procedures of an engineering firm, a hospital, an accounting firm or even a few days at the office of a top management executive or a civil services bureaucrat. It will prove to be a good foundation for the career decisions that are made, as the student would get a feel at a very high level, as to whether the profession would suit his interest and temperament, These aspects cannot be decided by just reading a subject in depth or by scoring high marks in a subject.

A career well chosen, will be soaked with so much passion and that will certainly put the student on a fast track towards success, not just in material terms, but by also taking him through a professional journey of lasting satisfaction and fulfilment.

MEMORIES OF MY FIRST SUPERIOR

The first sight of the factory from outside the gate was stunning and beautiful. Three buildings that were three different companies of the same organization stood close to each other and each looked like a master piece in civil engineering. Lush green lawns filled with flowers in full bloom, adorned the areas surrounding each of these buildings. Many times a new recruit gets so overwhelmed with the sheer grandeur of these types in a large organization and would never know the imminent political undercurrents that would soon engulf him. It was the same with me too. It was my first job and my father had come with me on the first day and waited outside till I disappeared through the entrance to the factory reception area. He was proud as would have been the case with any parent, as he could always hold his head high in his social circle and tell his friends and relatives that his son was with one of the biggest engineering giants in India.

It took about a week for the orientation to slip by and then I met my first superior. I looked at him like I looked at my teacher, with so much reverence and awe. I was already given the role of a shift supervisor along with a senior supervisor. Before my boss stepped into the bay every day, he would bend and touch the ground first and then his forehead as a mark of worship. I liked it and I also started putting the cross before I stepped into the bay. Sometimes it’s funny that we tend to learn many things from our first superior. I liked the way he walked around the bay with his hands behind his back like an army officer.

When he found some time he would tell me that he would spend some time with me to teach me CNC programming and he led me to a few manuals related to the same. I think due the busy schedules that he go into later, we never really got a chance to sit down. The manuals were soporific to be frank and I really battled with it in my night shifts, trying to get something out of it and all attempts turned out futile.  Each time I saw my boss go past me I always had this feeling he would ask me about what I have done in CNC programming and I really could not do much. But a few days later, I found a friendly worker Freddy Cunningham who took me up the CNC horizontal boring machine and gave me a good introduction to CNC programming with all the practical nuances. And with that I really took off well.

But although we saw each other many times, my boss never asked me what I was into or what I had learnt. We smiled when I wished him each morning and his smile would reveal his grayish yellow teeth dressed with the betel that he was constantly chewing. He was bald and very beautifully kept the few hairs that remained on the central part of his head well set. On some days especially when the workers showed extreme dissent, and things were beyond his control, I could see him sitting alone in his cabin with his hair ruffled and his composure all gone. I would be sitting just outside his cube in the department room and the muffled hum of the machines and cranes would still be heard through the closed door.  The smell of coolant from used waste cloth and that of tools and inserts that lay around would be all over the room. There were two glass panes for his cube through which people from outside could see him.  All the supervisors would be out in the bay and I could see my boss sometimes sit just gazing and allowing his thoughts to drift through his mind. Having been there by then for a few weeks, I had also got to hear the political scene out there and what my boss was going through. This face of my boss, that face of helplessness in the middle of extreme tension and pressure, had and still does have a great impact on me. This is what makes me unconsciously run away from political scenes anywhere.

Our CEO would walk through the factory bays on a few days in a week. No one knew when he would do that. But the moment he stepped into the bay, there would be people who would quickly send signals to all the supervisors and managers and the whole place would assume theatrical dimensions.  My boss would rush to the latest horizontal boring machine that had been procured just months back and which was the cynosure of the top leadership. He would then join the workman on the carriage and go up in it at about twenty feet and be there in the pretext of having extreme focus of the machining that was in progress. 

Once the CEO left, my boss would leave the place as though the Scene 1 of Act 1 was over with no emotions attached to what went by.  I did not like this facet of my boss. A lot of supervisors in that bay copied this behaviour and joined the boss with their own theatrical performances. I saw one of them go under an iron casting that was lifted by a crane, to wipe the base and make it clean from coolant and metal chips. This was something that he could have done just standing besides the lifted casting, but he went underneath taking that risk of his life, in the desperation to portray extreme involvement when the CEO was around. During these times I would withdraw quietly and sit inside the department as I found it extremely difficult and embarrassing to put up a performance like this.

Twenty three years have gone by and I still am a misfit when it comes to performances of this type.  And on the contrary being too direct and open has also had its ramifications. May be there is a balance that I have to strike and I want to strike that soon. But I don’t know why, I still feel so much for my first boss and for all what he was going through. Many times there are thoughts like these that you can never take out of your mind.

WHERE DREAMS ARE WOVEN AND DREAMS ARE BARTERED

Through the years in my profession, I have had the opportunity to go for several campus recruitments. I found the encounter with the young students a different experience. Some of them were inspiring and in fact cathartic.I found it embarrassing though, when I along with the other members in the recruitment panel, became the cynosure of all eyes once we stepped out of the vehicle that took us into the college campuses. Sometimes I felt that they were indeed looking at us with such awe, that I really felt a halo existing over my head. Little do these students know about the extent of job insecurity and stress that individuals are into, while working with the software industry.

 
We enjoyed the recruitment while at Madurai as we had the privilege to stay at a very prominent hotel there. The days I spent there were hot and we had sporadic rainfall at night. The ambience that the hotel offered was fantastic. I also had the opportunity to go to colleges at Kovilpatti, Tuticorin and in and around Chennai. Seeing the students in all these places, I had reminiscences of the days when I along with my friends, sat in corners of the college where I graduated from, waiting for the call from the campus interviewer. I remember some of us going through the books even at the last moment before we were called in. I saw the same body language and approach in many students too that day. But I was lucky to have realized sometime in the middle of my degree stint, that we don't have to slog and prepare that way. When we passionately pursue our subjects, it will take us to dizzy heights automatically.

There were students from different backgrounds. Some of them were from very poor families and I could see how difficult it was for them to express in English. But I noticed that some of them had much more zest to do projects of very high technical calibre than the students who were from better financial backgrounds. I measured them only based on this spirit that they portrayed and I allowed them to speak freely even if they had to mix a lot of Tamil into their broken and incorrect English. I still believe that  enthusiasm on any day is a very powerful fuel in a human being to make them dream and to pursue their dreams.

I did tell some of the candidates during the course of the interview, that they could talk about themselves and their interests outside studies, as part of their introduction. This was to make them comfortable and to allow them to settle down. Some talked about their hobbies with great interest. I also asked a few to talk about any unforgettable incidents that they could share. One boy whom I found to be technically very sound, shared an incident which made him very emotional. In fact I found myself to be in an embarrassed state too as he recalled it. He told that had not been a great student for a while until the sixth standard. His parents had been strict and were putting pressure for him to get good marks. On one occasion fearing the wrath of his parents, he went ahead and forged the report card. The school teacher spotted this and informed his mother. His mother chided him an entire night and told him that she was ashamed to introduce him to anyone as her son. It wounded him very much and he left his home and did not return for weeks. Later, he came back home and then he was determined to turn around. And in the very next exam he took the report card to his mother and showed her the results. She was startled to see the marks. He had scored hundred percent in three subjects and the rest were about ninety five percent. His mother checked with the school teacher as she could not believe. That was the start of the turnaround and he remained as a very consistent student thereafter. He told me that he had a big dream of pursuing further studies in artificial intelligence after a few years.

I found another student who came in explain metallurgy and material sciences so well. He had also read through so much about the recent trends in space age materials that he exuded great confidence. His communication skills were excellent and he had a good exposure to software too. I knew that he could always be a part of my company. But I tried to discourage him from joining the software industry job rat race. Initially he tried telling me that he had seen the presentation made by my employer where it had shown several engineering projects. He told me that he could still be a part of those projects and sustain his enthusiasm for material sciences and metallurgy. But since I was not convinced, I continued to discourage him from taking up a software job. Finally at one point he opened up and told me that he had to get two of his sisters married and that he had no other way of earning a huge pay packet including the onsite opportunities that he had heard of. He also told me that his father had lost his job and there was no other earning member in their home. I felt really sad for him.

Sometimes in life it’s true and practical, that we have to beware of what we dream, as some dreams can really suck the life out of us. After all we have to remain alive to dream.