A fresher - once out of the shell...

Thought I shud share my views on an entirely different topic today...

A fresher - or a fachha (MBA jargon) is someone who is naive, unaware of the buri duniya, the 'taur-tarikey' of the people present in it - well thats how he/she gets da input in da final semester of the college - at least in Goa thats the story... plz enlighten me in the comments if ur story is somethin else...

This topic shud interest those who are emerging out of college this year, and will be doing so next year, and the year after tat.. and so on.. :D... Well lets categorise the students who emerge as so-called graduates from ne engineering college:

1: The bright stud - the hero of all - the guy who can solve any problem, who eats binary numbers for lunch, sleeps with ten problems in mind, but drinks only - well even his drink is 'contaminated' with theory stuff...
Its a rare chance that such a person will not shine in life - howeva anyone mite say that he is a bookish guy, no 'practical' knowledge etc etc. To the guys who are sayin this - well, how good are u? At least he has gained a lot by being that much...
Believe me, bookish knowledge helps too, as there is a certain point when massive bookish knowledge, and havin gone thru the same stuff repeatedly, the person acquires a certain practical sense... (even though he mite not be dat good)... and if he is sound in logical thinking - u dont need more... :)

2: The guy who neva reads a single book, who hardly refers any stuff, and still is a storehouse of 'practical' knowledge... whose problem solvin skills are faster than the guy above, and he amazes evryone by being an all-rounder in several things - though he may not shine that much in studies as our hero above does...
Such a guy will have varied interests in life - as he is multi-faceted, and can do well in anythin he takes up... he/she is so confident about him/herself that there is nothin to stop that, and in fact it is impossible that he doesnt rise in life as he has tried evry other stuff in college, school etc etc... If there isnt stuff like family responsibilities, other duties etc pullin him down...

Probably the above 2 can be generally derived from esteemed institutions like the IIT's, BITS, IIIT and so on. The possibility of such people being in ordinary engineering institutes is less, but of course there is a chance for that too - there were a number of such people in my college - and hence I am able to write in detail about them...

3: The average guy/gal - Now this is a big range... this is where all the engineering 'fachhas' get cluttered in terms of their positions - and are fighting neck to neck for marks/status/superiority and even things like well... 'I am da funkiest person in college', and 'I can study da entire syllabus even one nite before the paper'... Now where 'havent' we heard such stuff :)...
Now such guys/gals know what they want in life...are good, but lack certain stuff like resources, a good name in college, confidence, laziness etc etc. With these factors, they can remain sincere and dedicated to life... even out of college, but it takes them time to mature/realize the same...Until then its 'paaardi taaymmmm!!!' in college :)...

4: The labelled 'loser' - now this wud be a very bad word to use - i use it normally for people who smoke... its coz they dont have anythin else in life to do, hence they let go of a few puffs... Well, so these guys are those who got into engineering without a motive - probably coz they cud just make it with the percentages or coz their parents thought ki 'mera beta engineer banega'... ... of course its not they are good - they have varied interests too, and are sometimes really popular in the college... but this doesnt normally get them anywer in life later... probably these guys need to buck up a lot in life after engineering...


Lets come to the main point now - what I wish to impart by writin about such stuff. I wanted to primarily target the job one acquires after engineering - now well, i know the lines down will normally pertain to software and mostly IT-sided jobs - but this is wat the job-sector is bubbling about these days - IT is evrywhere... and engineers from all streams find solace in a developer's/tester's/call-center executive's/etc etc's job... :D... a very important point to mention here will be the recession in the IT industry, which had happened 5 years back in 2001 when i was supposed to join for my engineering - the job scenario sucked in IT, and people had driven me mad as I had chosen engineering in Computers...well what do these guys have to say now... four years with wires and circuits/noise-makin machines/desigining the ceiling of a building and now they sit with their heads buried in their desktop/laptop screens.... Does that ring a bell...? Well the job scenario is hot presently in IT... and I knew it wud always be, as the its somethin which will come out with more and more innovation - not to say electronics is bad... but the companies in India are lesser/ have more stringent requirements pertaining to percentages at graduation/have tougher entrance tests and so on...

Back to our main discussion... why stress on the fresher part? Well, when a fresher is out of college, he is unaware of wats happening in the industry, how are the different processes in the company he will be joining, and most important - what will HE be doin... Lets put some emphasis on this point... If I look back at the bygone year, I have gained expertise in the task i began with, have gained programming skills, have become logically better... but heh - see the words 'began with'... rite - for a long time, a fresher remains with the kind of job he begins with, unless he is some whimsical idiot and likes to switch companies every 3 months or so... A sensible person will of course at first think of gettin some experience, say of around 2-3 years and then make a move. But well, even in these 2-3 years, or say, even later, the person tends to normally stick to the area he began with... lets say he begins with core application programming in Java - product development for a company... now this person works for a year or more in Java, and keeps devouring skills...in fact begins a master Java programmer in 2-3 years... what happens later... lets say he isnt interested in further studies, and wants some different exposure in life - a new technology or so - mind u - this becomes real tough... the person finds he is unable to adjust fast... as he could do before - and if he has to seek help, he would normally go back to da love of his life - Java itself... :)... This scenario can arise even if he tries to switch companies, and in this case normally, he wud target a company working in a similar technology, of course with better prospects for him, or else he would feel his work-ex goes waste...

Now there isnt ANYTHIN wrong in this - its a choice he makes, but what do I want to point at with this example? The lesson to learn for freshers from this - there is something called a 'comfort zone' which develops when a person starts workin with one kind of technology or area - in fact even if he hates it in the beginning, gradually he/she gets adjusted to it, and then, moving out of it later becomes difficult for him/her... so moral of the story - CHOOSE UR JOB WISELY... I guess its the toughest for a fresher who is placed at campus as he/she is hardly aware of the job profile, despite innumerous presentations which the campus guys bring with them :)... But he/she has to get a hold of his life sooner or later... even in the company where he/she is placed... its important that he moves into his/her area of interest soon enough, hence stayin away from the comfort zone :)... I guess I dont need to explain any more...

I guess hence the position of a fresher, and the first job he chooses is of prime importance, and may even decide the next ten years of his/her life - hence the decision must be taken appropriately. With all due respect, this applies to all 4 categories I have described above... this doesnt apply to only one of them or so... so all 'fresher' readers - get a hold of ur life !! Its now... wont say neva, u mite get one or two chances, but not more than that in life...

Cheers!