Rajyakiya Engineering College, Bijnour, July 2019
Mamta Swaroop
Director (R&D, Operations)
Sapphire Application Integrators Pvt. Ltd.
mswaroop@hotmail.com
Start at the right note
Schools make us eligible for admission to engineering courses.
Engineering Institutions hand pick the meritorious ones from the crowd.
Amidst all this it’s our responsibility to follow our passion honestly.
There is always something that makes someone feel good, that someone enjoys doing most. What is that makes you feel so? Identify that!
Just because your parents want or just because IT is offering a great salary package, you should not choose Software Engineering as a career.
Foundation matters
An industry that is ever-young.
An industry that is always flooded with new technologies.
An industry that doesn’t allow you to slow down.
Technologies emerge and become obsolete, by the time you get a hold on it.
In such a volatile ecosystem, a strong foundation of concepts helps us to sail through. So, leverage each moment of your academic years to get your concepts right.
Inculcate the right attitude
Learning ends after clearing the entrance examination.
Installations/Upgrades are not my job.
I don’t like coding & I can thrive in the industry without getting my hands dirty.
IT Skills are required only to clear the Interviews.
I learnt JAVA and I will not work on a PYTHON project.
Mind that mindset!
Each upgrade that you do teaches you something new.
Each troubleshooting enriches you.
Each boring analysis adds to your experience spectrum.
Logic remains the same no matter which language you code in.
Each hurdle is a door to an opportunity. Learn through it.
Small fish big pond Vs Big fish small pond
You join a big Software House –
you go through multiple induction programs
you learn about processes & policies
sometimes you are assigned a project quickly sometimes not
You join a Start-Up –
small team size & a very new technology
you don’t get time to breathe
even your CTO codes
No matter where your destiny takes you but once you are there your karma counts and destiny takes the back seat. Initial years are not to be spent on bench, that’s sheer wastage of the energy that you carry with yourself as a fresh engineer.
Initial years are your building years!!
Awareness should be the passing criteria
Awareness is the key ingredient in the process of becoming an expert.
Awareness about the industry.
Awareness about the demand in various sectors.
Awareness about the demand Vs supply ratio.
Awareness about the IT buzz words.
A student might take years to get established as an expert but to be aware is the very first step in that direction.
It’s a continuous process.
Reach out & Network
Ask when you don’t know.
Ask when you know it partially.
Ask to know more.
Reach out to those who can share their experiences with you.
Networking helps at every stage.
Emotional Quotient will play a bigger role than IQ in your professional journey.
For successful completion of your project, your Laptop is not the only resource you need. Procurement, Resource Pool, Admin, IT, HR… you need all of them. Connect with your team to keep them motivated. When the timelines are short, escalations might not help but conveying the urgency in a face-to-face informal interaction near a coffee vending machine might do the magic. Stay connected!
Don’t let the Innovator shy away
You think different, sometimes weird.
You think creative.
You shy away.
You may be the next Messiah for a team of the size of your class or may be more! Who knows?
Give more time to courses that interest you. Experiment. Find like-minded people. Explore, explore and explore beyond course, beyond chapters, beyond books. Government policies are there to support you. Technical forums are willing to help you. Right time to convert your ideas into lucrative projects.
Software is boundless. Indulge.
It’s about Applications.
Only a few were comfortable reading Route Maps. The same map as a mobile app on our phones, has become one of the most desired tools today.
Uber, OYO Rooms, Amazon… IT changed the ways businesses were done in the past.
Facebook, WhatsApp… IT changed the ways we socialised in the past.
Udemy, Khan Academy, BYJU… IT changed the ways we studied in the past.
Automate!
Keep watching
Advent of CDMA / GSMA triggered the growth of Smart Phones.
Smart Phones penetration in the middle class, triggered the Mobile App market.
Connected devices & Apps generated enormous Data.
Oceans of data triggered automation of statistical analysis, which we know as Data Analysis.
That further created Machine Learning possibilities.
Based on ML, Artificial Intelligence modules were implemented in the Machines.
It’s all related. It’s all about keeping an eye on the Industry, the happenings and the opportunities arising out of those happenings.
Keep your eyes wide open.
Best of Luck!