Five ways to succeed in career

G.P Sai Pranith, Ph.D Scholar, IIT – Delhi. Ramesh and Baradwaj, two final year students of CSE were discussing their plans in the following manner: Ramesh: “Maybe, I will join some software company” Baradwaj: “I will become a network engineer in CISCO. I did CISCO certification in Routing and Switching last year along with our degree.” Now, one can easily imagine who is sure of success. 1. Being Specific: We find now a days many students, especially in Engineering courses, having no specific goals. Even when they set their targets, they are not specific and definite. The target should be set in a manner that it will continuously motivate you to work towards it. Another great advantage of having well-defined target is it will automatically make you stay away from useless and unproductive activities. The target should be specific and humane in approach. Having a bit of concern towards fellow human beings and country makes one very much devoted towards ones target. As a researcher, I want to see that no farmer dies due to drying crops, so I have decided to work on designing low-cost solar pumps. 2. Taking full responsibility:“The price of greatness is responsibility” – Winston Churchill We find people brooding over their past and blaming some body or the other for it. This happens because they fail to own responsibility of their past and unplanned deeds. Most of our fears are regarding our future and once we set a specific target and take full responsibility of our life, automatically we feel a great creative energy within us. Brooding over the past and fearing the future are both futile activities. Instead, we can use all our energies in building our future using the present moment by taking complete responsibility of our activities. 3. Working Intelligently:What does this mean? …..Using all our energies on getting the work done and being present with the work, instead of bothering about the results that only come later. Regarding working out the targets, realizing not only what to do but also how to do, is important. We find a number of engineering students reading All-in-ones and local author guides to clear their exams and score good marks. Though they give us temporary benefit, in the long run, we will be affected if we do not possess the subject conceptual knowledge. It is always better to ‘understand’ the subjects by reading standard textbooks prescribed in syllabus and if time permits reference books. The best thing to do is to browse the net at least for half an hour every day in latest and advanced things happening the respective branch of engineering, around the globe. Especially in final semester, due to less number of subjects, compared to other semesters, this habit will ensure overall development of a student. Engineering students can have the excellent assistance from the video lectures of IIT and IISc professors, uploaded by NPTEL (National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning) on YouTube website free. These courses are in simple language and are offered for almost all the engineering subjects and they cover the major part of the syllabus in 30-40 lectures. Another boon, ‘Wikipedia’ is a supermarket of knowledge. By reading standard textbooks, watching such lectures and a regular web browsing, one can attain the confidence and mastery required to create or invent new things in their fields. 4. Working for the target:Management researcher, Luther Gulick has coined an acronym POSDCORB for managing organizations. POSDCORB stands for Planning, Organizing, Staffing, Directing, CO-ordinating,Reporting and Budgeting. For students, this POSDCORB can be modified to: P – Planning our target. O – Organizing the steps required to achieve the target S -- Selecting the proper institute that will help to achieve target D – Directing all the efforts to finish activities, necessary to achieve the objective CO – Coordinate daily activities efficiently and effectively, R – Recording daily progress, ( at least before going to bed) B – Budgeting our expenses which may include staying separately (especially in pre-final and final years of the course), attend coaching for useful extra certificate courses, (For Ex: for Civil Engg students.. AUTOCAD, ARCHICAD, PRIMAVERA, STADDPRO, For CSE students: CISCO, MS, ORACLE courses etc.) and cost of applications etc so that we can avoid financial glitches in the last moment and start working for the target. 5. Self-Confidence:  “ You are the creator of YOUR OWN destiny” … Swami Vivekananda.“ All power is within YOU. You can do anything and everything” … Swami Vivekananda “Self-confidence is the first requisite to great undertakings.” -Samuel Johnson This is an important ingredient in the recipe of success. We believe that Sachin Tendulkar or Bill Gates appear confident because they have achieved great success. However, the thing is vice-versa. As they were self-confident, they could achieve success of Himalayan magnitudes. We can see the self-confidence of Bill Gates, who was a dropout of prestigious Harvard University to start his venture, MICROSOFT. The list of examples is endless. If you are confident and have sustained self-confidence, one day your juniors will quote your name from that list. Finally, “it is not important who we are today. It is important who we will be!” That is clearly in our hand…as ‘You’ are the creator of ‘YOUR OWN’ destiny.