March 2013, Seattle, WA

“Hey Rohan, I want you to know that we really value everything you do here at Amazon. The team is held together by your work and you guided it through some very difficult times and we acknowledge that. But,…”

…nothing someone says before the word "but" really counts.

I had been promised a promotion for the insane amount of work I had put into the team through some very troubled times when literally everyone else quit. I had put in my blood, sweat and tears into stabilizing the boat. However, the promotion did not come. At first I felt betrayed and angry. I enjoyed the work I was doing at Amazon and I thought I was quite good at it. Clearly there was something missing.
 

That conversation with my manager helped me reflect and understand the real issue.I realized that day that I was in the wrong job. I was an effective leader but a terrible developer. That conversation was the data point I needed to become fully aware that I would never be more than a mediocre developer. 

         This was a huge problem. I held a Master’s degree in CS from a fairly reputable school; people had high expectations; and while I knew I was awesome at many aspects of my job, writing code was not one of them. Unfortunately for me, that was the most important job function.
 

The next day, I cleaned up my resume and updated my linkedin and reached out to a few recruiters who had been in touch and asked them set up interviews for a Product Manager role. It was a space I was interested in exploring and I had a feeling I might enjoy it. Fast forward three years and three promotions and I’m as excited as a monkey on coke to get to work every morning.

 
 
June 2006,
Pune, India.

Most of my friends ended up in really good local or regional colleges for their undergrad. A few even made it to the IITs. And I was literally left at the bottom of the pile in a never heard of college by the highway. 

      Most people other than my close friends and immediate family had written me off at that point. Everyone agreed that I would amount to nothing and would probably work some menial job the rest of my life because why would someone hire a mediocre kid to do anything worthwhile.
 

I sat down and really reflected on my life choices. I had made some very poor decisions and incorrect prioritizations that had landed me in this spot. I had dug myself into a hole and I was the only one who could dig myself out. It was going to be a hard uphill climb; so I strapped on my boots and set off, one step at a time.
 

Fast forward four years and the very people who had written me off were now congratulating my parents for raising a child who they  hope will inspire their own.
   

How do you deal with problems in life?
 

Solve them.
 

What is a problem? In my head, it is nothing more than a situation or a scenario with a series of potential decisions that would lead to certain outcomes. 
      That’s it. Plain and simple. 

        Sure there are varying degrees of magnitude to what we would say is a problem. Sometimes the situations are heavily determined by external factors beyond our control; sometimes the impact of problems is catastrophic. I am not debating this at all. 
           I too have had to deal with problems around death and loss, poverty, education, career, love, friendships, and a few dozen other things. But when I look back on most of them, they were all in essence just that; a situation requiring a series of decisions.
 

I have a very simple method of dealing with problems in life, no matter how big or small they are. I will objectively and categorically leave emotions out of it. Data is king. Any problem can be solved if we put the right resources and time towards solving it. 
         At that point, the problem becomes a simple prioritization exercise. If a particular problem is important in your life, give it the time and resources it needs. Emotions are necessary, but they should not be clouding your judgement.
 

Are you stuck in a shit job?
 

Stop blaming your boss and the company. Improve your skillset, study hard, work on your resume, reach out to recruiters, practice your interview skills and make a change. A little less social media and tv shows and a little more education will help you through.
 

Are you having a hard time coping with the loss of a loved one?
 

Understand and fully internalize that life and death is a simple biological cycle. Celebrate their life. Make the memories happy ones. There is simply no point dwelling on something you cannot control of change; accept things and instead of “dealing” with them, celebrate them.
 

There are people who are lonely, depressed, pressed for cash, hate their marriages, detest their jobs, envy their peers, have no friends, etc. The list goes on. All of these are problems. All of these are solvable. Every single problem that you will ever face is solvable; in fact, there’s a good chance that thousands of people before you have been in those very shoes, and, have made it.
 

I’m not saying it is easy; it never is; but that’s no reason to not do it.
   

 “The only thing standing between you and your goal is the bullshit story you keep telling yourself as to why you can't achieve it.”
              - Jordan Belfort
 

( Of course this quote was coming; what else would you expect of me? :)  )


 

In case we haven’t met before, I’m Rohan Kamath.

 
Thank you for reading. I hope I could help you ponder today.

 

{ Blogger's Note : Rohan Kamath did his BE from University of Pune 2006-2010 and MS from Standford 2011-2013. He interned at Qualcomm(San Diego),then worked at Amazon.Currently working at Microsoft.}

There is one “life hack” derived from Science that is incredibly beneficial that no one seems to know about or apply

In Science, in general, experiments are always the way to reach new findings.

People come up with research ideas, set up experiments, do the experiments and then note the results.

Often they find nothing significant, so they sit back down and adjust their idea, theory and the experiment.

If this is how SCIENCE as a whole comes to grow, then how come we do not apply this in our daily lives?

Most people do not sit down and plan research in their life, they do not set up their own experiments and they sure as hell do not think about the results.
 

Most people go through life just hoping something works they heard somewhere, trusting that it gives them the same results and then complain if it does not.
 

Let me give you an example:

Your theory may be that you will be more productive if you get up at 6 in the morning.

You decide to stand up at that time every day, yet you are always tired all day.

Because of this you actually get less done than you usually do. The results clearly show you that something does not work!

At this point you have to go back, re-adjust your theory, maybe even re-adjust the experiment to see why it does not work.
 

Maybe your new theory is “If I get 8 hours of sleep AND wake up by 6 a.m. then I will be more productive.”

Now you go out and test your theory for a couple weeks, at the end of which you look at how productive you were.

If you treat your life like a big experiment, there is no way you will not grow!

And it’s not that hard. Really!
 

All you need to do is think of something you wish to test, test it, and reflect on it!

 

 

Most of us wander through life hoping, praying and wishing that everything just falls into place… but that is not how life works.
 

Your life, in large, is a reflection of what you put in!

If you want to gain something more out of life you have to put in something more.

Test what works for you, analyze yourself and how you react to the world around you, set up experiments month after month, keeping what works and scrapping what does not.

It won’t take long before you find the ideal set of circumstances for yourself.
 

By doing this you will wake up energized, stay motivated throughout the day, love what you do, be more in passionate in your relationship, have more time for your family, all the while becoming more successful day by day. And that’s not all!
 

Take your life into your own hands and find out what works for you! Do a new experiment at least once a month and run with it for 30 days and within a year your life will have changed drastically.
 

-Lukas Schwekendiek

Discipline

A lack of discipline is you, scattered, dispersed, disorganized, prey to all the things that contribute to nothing ever getting done: procrastination, laziness, indecision and an absence of drive.

Why don't I feel motivated? Where can I find that hunger? How do I accomplish what I dream of doing? Why is everything so difficult?

I want that, but it's unattainable. That’s impossible.

Discipline is you, focused, set free from all those things inside of you that hold you back.

Action begets motivation. With discipline, a life of leaving everything for tomorrow, a life of frustrating, sporadic effort, becomes structured, stable, directed, inspired.

Discipline means you turn down instant gratification (pass the cookie) in favor of something more significant that you get later.

It's how you decide to follow through, and how you get to an objective - often one that once seemed it couldn't be done.

Discipline teaches you to persevere, to endure, to not give up, to resist temptation.

It teaches you about self control.

Discipline is a mark - and a way to develop - character.

It's with discipline that you follow through on what you say you are going to do. This is how you prove to yourself that you can do something - as such, discipline is also the key to develop confidence and self esteem.

If you ever wonder how to be successful, how it is that people bridge who they are now to who they want to be, the answer is discipline.

-Dushka Zapata

People will always say something, it's your job...............

There was a time when I had insecurities about myself. About my looks, behavior, gesture, family etc. When I was a kid I was hesitant about my family because they didn’t meet the standards of Indian soap opera. There was a huge difference between reality and pretentious people. But innocent kid’s mind was unable to differentiate the difference.

I would like to share one incident, when I was new to the corporate sector. I was attending the house warming ceremony of a very rich guy, who was a relative of my relative. I was hesitant, but my relative forced me to give him company.

When we reached there, to be honest, I was the odd man out. If someone would have mistaken me there for a waiter, I would have not minded because waiters had better attire than I. I was hell embarrassed and I had no guts to make eye contact with people around. I was hoping for an earthquake to escape from my embarrassment.

It was final nail in the coffin, when my relative forced me to talk to the owner of the house. Though he was a nice guy, I could miserably understand his humor.

He asked, “What do you do?”

“I am an engineer sir”, I replied.

And he sarcastically said, “Which platform do you work for?”

I knew it was the old joke about the beggar and software engineer. But I humbly replied, I work on Java.

To which he replied, “Those days are not far away when beggars will say the same.”

It was not funny, but people around him started laughing at his joke like sycophants, as their annual appraisal depends on him.

I really felt bad in front of so called modern and civilized people.

                No, if you think that this incident changed me and I started loving myself then let me burst your bubble, you are entirely wrong.

Let me tell you one more incident. When my girlfriend introduced her best friend to me. Her best friend was delighted to meet me. She greeted me with biryani even though we had handful of time.

And when I left, she said,

“I have no idea why she(My girlfriend) fell in love with that guy, he has no personality, no family background like yours.”

He is a nice guy, good for dating. But certainly he is not marriage material.

No. Stop thinking. She didn’t say these things to my girlfriend. She conveyed this message to the parents of my girlfriend.
 

Yeah!!!

No matter what you do, you will be judged. Even if you are Obama or Putin, you will be judged.

Their own life is hell, but they have clear idea of how you should lead your life. And our mind, it is easily influenced by others.

And that’s where you start leading a miserable life, you end up living someone else’s life.

There's nothing wrong with taking advice and learning from others, but make sure it aligns with your desires and passions. — Paulo Coelho

This is your life, what you have, others might not have and the same goes for them.

I realized I cannot change my personality, I cannot change my family background, I cannot change what I have. But one thing I can change, i.e. “ME.”

I can change myself, and that’s what I have done. I started appreciating what I have.

And it brought lots of positivity around me. After all, it's your life, it's one life. Either you can end up living your entire life with your insecurities or you can choose to ignore people’s opinion.

“Kuch to log kahenge, logo ka kaam hai kahna” (People will always say something, it's your job to ignore them)

-Rana Ashish 

1. Mechanical, Civil and Electrical guys consider themselves to be better than the CS/IT ones (insider information - wink wink) and consider themselves clearing the GATE examination and landing up in a PSU. Only to realize a few years later that the CS/IT has a job in a corporate environment, while you are operating a machine at a manufacturing unit, dealing with the labors OR maintaining the machines. Few choose AutoCAD/PLC/SCADA and later become Sales Executives. (Again, not generalizing though).
2. Everyone around you has landed at the college because they could not get a good rank in engineering entrance exams.
3. You’ll find everyone talking about how the future of engineering in India is degrading and how all of us are not going to even get a job of more than 10–15k (which you don’t believe till final year).
4. Those photos you see on the brochures and hoardings of your college/campus, none of them got a joining after their so-called campus placement (at least in my college it was so).
5. Mechanical, Civil and Electrical guys don’t only consider their course structure to be tougher than others, but also convince each-other why don’t CS/IT girls deserve them. Brotherhood is at par than the other branches because there are no girls in between. No girl, no fight.
6. You don’t focus on extra-curricular activities much and hence don’t participate or help in organizing them. You lose out more and more chances of your Mingle life. And also later realize how those missed PDP classes, not doing public speaking and ‘other than the study stuff’ are now killing your chances of getting a well-paying job.
7. You see everyone dreaming for GATE, but no one clearing it. You’re depressed. You see everyone does talks for not settling at a job less than 30k as fresher and eventually see the same people even settling for 5–8k. You’re depressed more.
8. The couple you thought would be marrying in the future, are separated after college because suddenly the girl found that her father wants a well-settled preferably government employee. And the boy was busy feeding and caring for her baby throughout the college tenure, now baby has grown up and wants a Sona who can provide her a better life. Because eventually, you didn’t
9. Since you have already wasted 4 years of engineering, you would now convince your parents about how the situation of private sectors are too bad in India, and you want to prepare for SSC/UPSC and need more time and money.
10. You land up in Mukherjee Nagar, you see half your college there already. You sit for hours in parks, long discussions and relive the hostel life in another form. The list and the vicious circle of life go on and on. (Though nobody fails at life and eventually find a way of living, sooner or later)                                                                                                                                      -Divya Kirti                                                                                                                                                                                      {Bloggers Note : No need to get depressed. Just search for  opportunities and career options. Maybe MBA Maybe CGL Maybe Banking Maybe RBI Grade A or Grade B Maybe MTech or Maybe professor after Phd or  working in a product based based company . If there's no opportunity then create one by acquiring necessary skills(soft and hard).   There are many many opportunities after B.Tech, Search them, work strategically hard for them. And if you wana join engineering then choose branch after considering all pros and cons of a branch .Read all the 4 year syllabus of  all the branch. See the placement in your college and if there is no placement and still wana join then prepare from 4 semester for your future.  }  

Worked for 4–5 years in Services companies as Engineer and MBA. Please find my 2 cent

1. Shift to Product company if you really wish to actual build product. The majority of projects are support projects. Not much learning
2. Custom Product Development vs Enterprise Products developed for products have completely different standards. The learning I got in SAP vs my previous company was way different and steep.
3. Try to identify if your role is susceptible to automation or outsourcing and are you in growing role
1. Support projects are being automated by bots (RPA/ Chatbots)
2. Server Management, Network Management etc roles are no longer needed as companies Moving away from On-Premise implementation to Cloud
3. Technology becomes obsolete like Mainframe, PASCAL etc but this you may not be able to predict
4. Try to be in a role which is relevant and niche, cause you can’t demand more in salary unless you are doing different than what everyone else is doing. Today roles like Full Stack Developers, Machine Learning Engineers, Data Scientist, etc are not easy to master skills and are in dearth. Startups are ready to hire people if you are good and pay really good
5. Hikes will be minimal, culture might be in some cases be toxic in some teams. Check with your senior or Glassdoor how much you can expect to earn in 3 years, 5 years, 10 years in the same company. Go for glassdoor to see the minimum and maximum
6. The reason the salaries are low also has to do that their business model is low-cost delivery model compared to let’s say management consulting or Product companies where the focus on selling maximum license or charging really good per consultant. In both cases, the company really pays well as your value depends on how much you deliver.
7. Ever questioned why the maximum MBA / Mtech/ UPSC / SSC applicants are from Infy, TCS, Wipro, and other IT Services. I have seen so many people in libraries preparing for CAT/ GATE rather than improving coding skills. Not everyone is happy with their job/team/salary. Everyone is right to happiness and if it is money, you may be at the wrong place. Job Security may be altogether a different matter if that is what you are upto.
8. You already have witnessed the CROWD- Crowd to use sports and recreation facilities, a crowd in Canteen, Crowd in the promotion. Remember, you are just one in 2lakh or 3 lakh. So what is the probability of you reaching the top by the end of your career? Think about it.
9. Where will you switch, same IT companies like Infy- TCS , Wipro, your skills will not be good unless you practice actual coding competitions. you will realize where the world has moved and where you are.
10. The only thing good about these companies which I truly believe, their shares have given real good returns. I would any day be their shareholder rather than employees.

   
My final advice, do whatever you want to make something of your career. Be it an MBA, be it Product company switch, be it UPSC/Bank exam.
 
 Do it fast. Single-minded focus and decision and stick to it. I gave 4 times CAT ended up back in the IT Services industry but was able to get out.
 
   It took me almost 4 CAT attempts, 8 years (2011 - my first job at Infy, 2019- my first Product company - SAP). Don’t make the same mistake. Take a call, Stick to it, Work your butt off for that and be patient.

-Udit Chandna,IIM Calcutta

(Bachelors from Maharaja Agrasen Institute of Technology) 

Saying No....

"No” is a boundary.

It means I respect myself. That I love myself. That I stand up for myself. That I am willing to not do what someone is asking me to do to make room for what I want to do.

“No” means that I gradually learn how to listen to myself instead of being worried that another person is going to love me or approve of me less if I don’t do what they want me to.

I understand that’s important to you, but I don’t want to do it and that’s important to me.

As I learn to say no, my self worth becomes stronger. I learn how to communicate more clearly. I become less afraid of the impact this word will have on another person and on our relationship. I worry less about what others will think of me. I realize that I have someone who’s got my back and who I can always, always count on: me.

-Dushka Zapata

Everything thats wrong with Indian Youths.........

Not much apart from the fact that



    1.Most are uneducated or poorly educated.
    
    
         2.Have few skills that will enable them to compete in and / or make a living in the knowledge economy.
    

       3. They have rarely been in environments which enable and encourage critical thinking.

    

       4. Because of a combination of all 3 points above, they are easy targets for being agents of spreading hate, in the anonymity of cheap internet. And finally,


       5. They are cynical, hapless about a good future for themselves and their families and hence perpetually angry and / or searching for a magic bullet or Messiah to solve their problems.


I obviously know that this does not apply to all Indian youth but it applies to a significant proportion.





It breaks my heart to write this. I hate how cynical all of this is. It is not as if my generation had all of this and we have lost it. Just that instead of a demographic dividend emerging from the youth of this country, we are facing a demographic disaster.

            -Makarand Sahasrabuddhe

{Blogger's Note: Dont be hopeless but take action to change your situation 



 }

Dont..............

1. Don't say ‘yes’ when your hearts repeats a ‘no’ with every beat.
2. Don't listen to your parents, society, intellectuals, and anyone else, and leave your passion.
3. Never betray a person who looks upon you for their life; a true lover must never be left alone to live a painful death, that's the biggest sin one can commit in life.
4. Never stereotype people on the basis of hollow concepts, notions and theories; religion does not define the purity of heart, looks don't define beauty.
5. Never ask people their salary, age, caste, when they will marry, when they will have kids; unless you don't have a high self-esteem.
6. Don't be a part of crowd, crowd makes you blind, dumb and irrational. Be a decision maker, be strong, be unique.
7. Don't disrespect people because they are younger, at lower position, have less wealth, or don't have a bright degree. Respect doesn't see status, you don't give respect; you don't get respect.
8. Never expect a sure success, consider your trying as the biggest success, you will go places in life, and live without regrets.
9. Don't suppress your tears, let them flow. Don't run away from your fears, face them. Don't suppress your anger, channelise your deeds. Don't ignore your thoughts, shape them.
10. Never ever lose hope, hope can prove all the laws, rules, principles, theories, experiences and judgements wrong, and create a new right.

-Anubhav Jain

What can I learn from you?

Undying, unwavering self-love and self-dependency and how to develop and sustain it.

I get several texts a day on Instagram or Quora comments, asking me how to get over depression or failures or be confident, etc.

I reword and repackage my thoughts but the crux of my message remains the same.

Fix a goal.

Maybe it is money you pursue.

Or you pursue education.

Maybe you pursue fame.

Whatever it is, take that dream, paint a picture out of it and put it in a figurative frame.

Look at that frame each day.

Burn that dream so deep into your soul that it merges with your reality.

Pursue it and ignore/remove anything that comes in the way, including your own self-doubt.

Now you know what you want.

Give your all to it.

If you fail, get up and pursue it again.

This dream is also your reality. There is no escaping it.

Don’t make excuses.

Don’t hear others criticizing you, even if it is family.

There is no time for self-doubt or to seek other’s approval.

No one is coming to help you. This is all your moment to shine.

You are Arjuna and your mind, soul and attention are fixated on that fish’s eye.

Once you achieve success, observe the people around you.

Once your goal is achieved, you will find people reacting in the following 4 ways:

1. The ones that surround you to admire you.
2. The ones that are unaffected by your success but love you the same.
3. The ones that ignore you so as to put you in your place.
4. The ones that follow your every move to criticize you.

Take the fourth category and uproot it from your life.

Encourage the first category as some of them might be diamonds in the rough and just need some mentoring to shine.

Never misbehave with the second category. Respect and value them.

Associate yourself with the fifth category, the one that is aspirational for you and has the right combination of success and talent to criticize you and make you better.

This is how you will sustain your success.

When you are successful, the rules of society don’t apply to you.

You make the rules.

You carve the path for people to follow.

But you can’t make it if you can’t fight the demons within and the demons outside.   

-Srishti Stempert, PhD student Oncology

I cant Study.............

The trick is to find the subject interesting—no, fascinating. It is remarkable that doing so is often possible.

Studying can be horribly boring, and when it is, doing so is tiring and ineffective. Here’s my trick. For most such things, there was someone who found it fascinating. Why? If you can figure that out, then you too might find it fascinating. And if you find it fascinating, then study becomes a joy. In fact, you will discover that you don’t have to memorize anything. You’ll remember it because the mind remembers fascinating things.

Taking a boring class? Ask yourself, why is this class required? Often the answer is because somebody thought the material was not only important but interesting. Perhaps your teacher doesn’t think that, and that’s why the class is boring. But who created the course? Why did they put it in? What did that person love about the material?

I learned this lesson in college. I had a difficult course in Western Civilization, and we were reading the challenging essays of some of the great philosophers. I was struggling to memorize their key points, their ideas, their arguments. Then, one afternoon, a friend of mine (Richard Shavitz) said to me, “Do you agree with what Kant said in that essay? I don’t. I think it is illogical. It’s all wrong. Here’s what I think …”

I was stunned. He wasn’t trying to study the essay; he was trying to figure out if he agreed. That evening I tried the same approach. It turned my study into fun. And I learned the material. And on the exams, I had things to say. My professor liked it when I disagreed with the philosophers! The course was really about thinking, not about memorizing. It made all the difference, and my final grade jumped up from B to A-.

-Richard Muller