I have done a fair bit of recruiting for Engineering Talent. These are my observations.
Going to Campuses take a lot of energy and time. Hence companies find it easier to go to a few Top level colleges to meet their Talent requirements.
In India at the time of deciding a college most students are willing to let go of a branch of their choice to get into a college of their choice. This means that all the top talent is concentrated in these very colleges. Their branch choice was a matter of a difference in rank here or there.
Skills are transient in nature. High quality candidates with the drive to do well will always be able to pick up new skills on the go. Hence companies are willing to put their bets on a student from a Top level college. This has been proven time and again in the output at the workplace.
Finally and most importantly whenever Companies have spread their net wide to look at students from a variety of colleges they have been mostly disappointed. The students have not made an effort to pick up relevant skills. If you are not from a known college then you have to possess outstanding skills to be considered.
I was beaten mercilessly more times than I can count. And I never felt bad for myself to be honest. I didn't think it affected me much. However, an incident happened that made me realise how it had twisted my views.
A few years back, my parents had their most aggressive fight in front of me.
Let me tell you first that my father was never abusive. If anything my mother is the more aggressive one. There has never been any domestic violence in our house.
But in that fight, for the first time, there was.
All I remember is my mother yelling incredibly demeaning things at my father and telling him that he's not even a man, etc…
My father told her to shut up, but she kept going and her insults got even worse. He would repeat that she needs to stop talking and she pressed further.
And for the first time, he pushed her down and beat her.
And I stood there, not feeling a thing. No anger, no sadness, no contempt, nothing. Just looked at it as if it's the most normal thing ever.
The beating wasn't hard and it lasted for a minute. Then mama rushed to our room (me and my siblings) and yelled “what were you all doing when you witnessed this happening? This is how you defend your mother when someone lays a hand on her?”.
I asked myself the same thing. What's wrong with you Salma? You're completely against domestic violence. You know there is no excuse for it. So why were you so numb?
But the scene was awfully familiar. Us speaking rudely to my mother and her beating us for dear life because we provoked her. How is that any different? Because it was done under the name of disciplining?
I scared myself by how I didn't find what happened bad to the degree I should.
And that was the first time in my life I swore that I won't beat my children. I won't make violence their norm in their eyes.
p.s: my parents made up afterwards and my father never repeated it again
It is not any specialization. All skills have a half life , ie how long will it take after 1/2 of the skill that you have is not useful. Generally the half life of many computing skills is about -3 years, Mechanical engineering is about 5–6 years.
The one item that will be in demand in 10 years is your
“ability to take a vague and ill defined problem, identify the underlying (as opposed to stated) need and actual (as opposed to stated) constraints (social thinking skill) , convert it into a proper hypothesis/need statement (critical thinking) and then craft a solution (using your combination of special skills and experience) and then defend your solution to your peers or others (communication and critical thinking and debating skills)”
If you dont have this, no specific skill will help you survive.
So rather than trying to anticipate what will be useful (we are very poor at judging this), you need the ability to learn a new skill and upgrade throughout your life: for this you need to have a strong conceptual foundation (ie ability to reuse ideas in many different contexts) and a very healthy curiosity, boldness and discipline to learn new things.
5 years ago I was convinced that MATLAB was going to dominate the engineering world…..well Ive now switched everything to Python, who knew….
I dumped 20 years of matlab expertise. But it was not a waste, I used my matlab skills to abstract the ideas and use them in Python. Ie from matlab I figured out “what I needed to do”, then, thanks to Stack Overflow I learnt how to do it in Python (thanks folks and I am perfectly willing to take the abuse if you teach me something). Eventually I started thinking “natively” in python and found better ways.
As computers and AI develops, specific skills will become less relevant.
I *hope* that eventually AI will be used to assist humans with the routine tasks (ie the star-trek model) and not the other way round (the Matrix/Terminator Model)
Hopefully AI would lead at worst to cyborgs and not robots.
In life, the lesson will repeat itself over and over, until you get it.
If you are in a loop. Ask yourself; what’s the lesson here?
Here are 5 commons lessons people forget.
1. Everyone won’t like you.
No matter how many social hacks you master. Everybody won't like you.
People tend to forget that and chase people. You give your self-worth to someone and then chase them to get it back.
How is that sane?
Piss-people off on purpose. Learn to be okay with not being liked.
2. Negative people are just on autopilot.
People discouraging you from going after your dreams? People being mean to you?
They are just chained to their emotional patterns. Trying to cope with what they haven’t let go.
There is no ill intent. I know, it’s not fun to hear it.
But it’s true.
3. But get negative people out of your life.
I know I said that there is no ill intent but there is an ill effect.
Your brain will catch up on the negativity around you. You can’t observe every thought.
You can’t change the people around you.
So it’s best to leave, even if it means being alone.
4. Small wins need celebrations.
How many times something good happened in your life?
And how many times you brushed it off as “not good enough” “doesn’t really matter”.
People tend to forget it’s the small wins that fill the journey with colors.
The end goal won't give you as much happiness as celebrating these small wins will.
Being happy about every little step up. You deserve to feel that :)
5. Comfort zones are miserable.
Yes, you have done something uncomfortable in your life.
Something that challenged you and made you a better you.
But people disregard that it needs to happen daily.
Every time you escape your comfort zone; there is a new one waiting for you.
That’s the joy of life. That’s how you grow.
-Rafael Eliassen
Sunday, 2 February 2020
It’s so overwhelming to scroll through social media and see people -
Getting
engaged in Greece, being married, purchasing their dream home, moving
in with their partners, travelling the world and what not ?
It
can be so overwhelming and when you look around at what the world is
achieving and I know it can give you a sense of underachievement and
make you feel like you’re not enough.
It’s okay to feel this way but you have to always remember- you see what others want you to see about their life.
It’s moments like these where social media can do harm to your mental health and you must take a step back.
Introspect. Look within. Look around.
Look at you. Look at your parents and your friends. Look at how for your mom you’re her world.
It’s so easy to get caught up in things and people who don’t even know about our existence.
It’s in the moments like these that Practising mindfulness and breathing works.
Too many people are busy with other people’s lives and very less interested in what’s going around them.
Finding comfort in a celebrity or a bloggers life is always going to leave you hanging nowhere.
It’s
no ones job to make you feel good. You have to do that for yourself.
And the day you accept this, you will start feeling and expressing
gratitude for minute things :)
Thank you for the sunlight.
Thank you for the warmth.
Thank you for the cold wind.
Thank you. Thank you so much.
Just look around and see how many things are taking place just for you ♥️😇
If you ask just for one habit, it would be the habit of looking forward with continuous introspection of setbacks. This
would save me from self pity along with necessary improvement in my
strategy. It used to give me confidence to go ahead that played out in
the interview stage. Clear thought and expression.
-Shilpi Mittal
Friday, 31 January 2020
Before starting my journey, I wanted to succeed in lots of things.
I dreamed of becoming a football superstar. I dreamed of becoming the “next Bruce Lee”. I dreamed of winning a Nobel Prize.
Dreaming was good… but useless. I never did anything to make those dreams a reality!
Then, one day, I got tempted to win
medals in International Science Olympiads. So I started doing physics in
an extracurricular club. An hour or two per week. Was it enough? Of
course not!
I failed.
Then I changed schools and tried slightly harder. But it wasn’t enough.
I failed.
Then, I tried the hardest possible way while trying to continue my basketball trainings. Guess what? Still not enough.
I failed.
So I prioritized.
I cut basketball completely and paid my full attention to physics.
Result?
I succeeded. 6 medals.
I wanted to program an end-to-end project to gain experience.
But I was super scared. What if I get stuck? What if I fail?
It does not matter. I just started.
Coding and programming every day. Googleing my questions and the stuff I did not understand.
Result? I made an Android App and uploaded it in Play Store.
Is it a great app?
Nah. It’s crap. The UI is crap and the functionality is minimal.
But guess what? I gathered knowledge on how to make a project. Most importantly, I gained self-confidence!
I wanted to learn martial arts.
I felt that experience in combat sports
would sub-consciously give me self-confidence. After all, physical
strength was the characteristic that determined who lived and who died
for our ancestors.
But I was scared. What if they hit my nose?
I was also shy. What if I go to the club and I suck?
But I just started.
I signed up for a class and just attended one.
Did I suck? Of course.
A few months later? Not an expert but definitely can defend myself when needed.
My point?
We are all humans and it’s natural to
feel scared when trying new things. It’s convenient for our brains to
stay in our comfort zones. That is what we are used to.
But most of us do not want to stay in our comfort zones.
We want to be better, faster, stronger, smarter!
And all you need to do?
JUST. START.
You feel scared? Good. Start practicing.
You feel shy? Good. You will not when you get better.
You are not in the mood? Good. Start practicing.
The moment you stop the excuses and actually start doing the things that you NEED to do is the moment your life will change.
You still need research and you still
need to make good decisions on what to learn and do with your life. But
whatever it is you are not going to improve if you NEVER START.
Everyone feels fear. Everyone is scared.
The difference is that the winners act even when they are scared.
Do you think this person has your back? Or can you never count on him?
Do you talk or are you afraid to?
Do
you feel buoyed after a tough conversation or completely depleted,
drained, exhausted? (Watch your energy levels around this person. They
reveal a lot.)
Do you feel you trust despite difficulties, or are you full of suspicion even when things are going smoothly?
Do you feel safe or in danger, vulnerable, at risk?
Do you feel seen, loved, or diminished, belittled?
Is the relationship tough but fundamentally stable or volatile and full of constant drama?
Are you true to yourself or does the approval of the other person take precedence?
Are you clear on how far you are willing to go or is what you are willing to do a moving target you have maybe lost track of?
Remember when you said it would never be OK to be yelled at?
Does this person make you want to be better or bring out your worst possible side? Look. Look at who you have become.
The first is a healthy relationship. The second is a toxic one.
Bonus tip: the word "dependent" is a pretty solid indicator of a toxic relationship.
