Remember the old Panchatantra story about a mouse who is turned into a girl by a sage. When she comes of marriageable age, the sage decides to select a proper suitor for her. He tries every suitor the Sun, the Clouds, the Wind and even the Mountain, but in the end the girl is happy with a humble mouse like her.
A very simple story, but the moral is clear, whether it’s a career or a spouse, make the choice on what you feel comfortable with . The girl in the story made a sensible choice, but too often most of us end up with the Sun or the Mountain and years down the line we find out that hey this is not my cup of chai . Too late by then and some of us do switch careers in mid stream and find that we have to again start from scratch.
But how do we choose the career which is right for us. Not an easy thing to do. I faced it myself. After finishing my graduation I either wanted to do an MBA or attempt Civil Services or go into computers or branch out as a Telecom Engineer .I was not at all clear about what I was to do, and had to suffer the daily taunts by my Mom and Dad about not being serious about my career at all. And after a series of trial and error methods, I finally settled into IT and 7 years down the line have no regrets about my career. So based on my experience I can offer some suggestions for people starting to make a career.
There is no such thing as a hot job or hot career
Too often most of us tend to get misled by ads and media about so called hot jobs or careers. No job or career is hot or cold. Remember IT/BPO might be the in thing or whatever you call it, but we also need people to build roads, bridges, homes, to keep the account books, to teach others, to fly planes, to defend the nation. There is space for every one in this world and your career won’t go out of fashion. Engineers, doctors, lawyers, accountants, scientists, teachers, architects, educators will always be needed till the end of the world. The only thing that could change is the scope of the work. A doctor today might work with more advanced technology, but in the end, he has to treat the patients. I remember during the IT boom in 1999-2000 every one wanted to be an IT professional and many quit well paying jobs to be a part of it. When the dotcom boom collapsed like a pack of cards, many were left stranded and dry. Some went back to their original professions and are doing fine, while others have managed to make the best of it and are surviving in their new career. Funda is simple, don’t choose your career on how Hot it is, choose it on the basis of how stable it is.
Don’t be a Square Peg in a RoundHole .
I work as an IT professional and while it seems very glam and high paying, there is another side to it. The work hours are erratic, pressure is very high( there are times I was on duty 24/7) and some times you end up getting work which you would hate doing. There are also times when you would have to twiddle your thumbs for a long time. So if you have to be a successful IT professional you need to be patient and able to handle the pressure. I have seen many people come into IT field, lured by the high salaries and glam lifestyle. But they are just not able to take the pressure nor do they have the patience or maturity to handle even very simple problems which crop up. And that’s what they turn out to be square pegs in round holes. Such people can neither contribute to organization nor can they contribute to their own career growth. When I started my career, Marketing was a very hot option, but I could never go into that field, as my temperament didn’t suit it. I am very laidback but love to solve problems. I was certainly not the go getter type. And IT fitted my nature perfectly well. I heard some people say, hey no big deal, we can learn these on the job. That’s the worst form of kidding yourself, values like temperament, attitude, handling pressure need to developed over a period of time and they cant spring up overnight. So when you choose the career, analyze whether it fits in with your nature or not. If your extroverted, aggressive, go getter type, yes you would be a sure success in marketing, but even if you are not, don’t worry, there are so many careers like accounting, office management, research analyst where your silence in fact would be appreciated. If you can work long hours and handle pressure, have a logical ability yes you can go for a career in IT, if you want to have a normal life, go for a career like teaching where pressure is not too high.
Analyze the career properly
Well nothing wrong if you choose to go into a career because it offers a lot of money. It’s human tendency to go where the grass is greener. But again just don’t take a blind jump and end up repenting later. Do a proper analysis of the career path you choose. Check to see what are the required attributes to do well in this career field, and if you don’t posses them try to acquire them. Every career needs two sets of skills- technical or subject related skills and most important soft skills. Many of us tend to focus on the former and neglect the latter. But it’s the soft skills that count in the final analysis. And these cant be taught, but have to developed. And these soft skills depend a lot on the career you choose. Also take a look at the career progression path, see where you would end up after 5 years. If you are the ambitious type and the career path offers a lot of money, but no considerable growth it would make no sense to jump in just for money. On the other hand if you are happy getting your pay check, and not too bothered about where you will end up later, you could go for the career. Discuss with people who are already in this career, and see what are the pros and cons. Mind you there is nothing like a perfect career, much less a perfect job, you will have to see how well you could fit in there. Don’t go blindly into a career just because it’s the in thing or whatever, and end up repenting later.
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