Building A Career In Computer Science & Allied Fields From Tier 3 Institute: Planning
Hello, there! Hope you are keeping safe during this pandemic.
If you are reading this article for any given reason, there’s a high chance you are looking to build a career in Computer Science or any of its allied fields, and that’s what we shall explore in this article.
I have essentially divided everything into a series of 3 parts for better understanding of different aspects concerning the topic and where exactly are you in life right now. I hope whatever I discuss here helps people in the age group of 17 to 23 to start careers and maybe switch at a very early stage.
A little disclaimer, this by no means is a foolproof guide to careers. Every human being is different and so are their skills, experiences and life choices. I only hope that this serves as a good starting point and provides you with some clarity in the conversations you are having with yourself.
So, let’s get started.
What exactly is a professional career?
Let’s say you like clicking photographs. One of your friends invited you to cover their younger sibling’s birthday. You accepted the offer, covered the event, and your friend paid you something for the gig.
This is an example of professional skill, as you created value in someone else’s life by the means of your labour.
Is it a professional career? Not yet. Do it repeatedly for 8-10 hours a day for at least five days a week and make it the largest source of your income and voila! Now you can call yourself a professional photographer!
So, what do you need to build a professional career in any industry?
- Something you are good with; a professional skill.
- A place you can sell this skill to a buyer; a market / an industry.
- A career path at which will you will grow.
This is roughly what we are going to analyse in this part of the series, the options in hand for someone graduating from a Tier 3 engineering institute in India.
How to choose a career option?
Time to get back to JEE days!
To answer this question, you can always revisit your counselling days after JEE and relate to how you chose a stream over something else. It could be because you liked the curriculum in one over others or the opportunities of growth or straight-up better chance of getting a high paying job from the campus.
Now is time you go through similar questions once again but with a little more specialised education.
- What is it that you can do for 8 hours a day, for five days a week without looking over at the clock?
- How capable are you of moving fast and diving into new fields and skills as the project progresses?
- Do you like stability over long periods, or would you like to take risks for probably higher rewards?
- What matters to you more? Your compensation / remuneration or satisfaction?
- How patient are you with your goals in life?
- Do you like interaction and guidance while working or do you work alone?
- Do you want to be Steve Jobs / Elon Musk or Warren Buffet?
- Do you have another underlying hobby which you want to pursue as a career in future?
- Do you want to stay close to your parents or family or it isn’t exactly a concern?
- Do you have some lifelong dreams you want to fulfil and you want to fund them? Mine is watching an El Clasico at the Camp Nou. :3
Etc. Etc. Etc.
By no means, is this a complete list of questions and I am afraid anyone might be able to provide you with one. You always have to have these kinds of conversations with yourself and take a leap of faith to get started with something.
What are the options available?
You can be anyone, quite literally.
I know you might act surprised but there are much lesser options that you can’t pursue, compared to the ones you still can. You could still become a doctor if you immigrate to a few countries and appear for their medical examinations where biology isn’t a compulsory requirement in your bachelors! You can still get into defence or play any sport easily if you are good enough at the national level. You can get into law or economics or journalism, just by appearing for their masters’ admission exams. There are hundreds and thousands of stories of people turning tables for themselves only by grit and hard-work and well some amount of luck.
We will only explore the most popular options though or the ones people are most likely to discuss around you.
Kindly go through this entire table to know more about direct options.
(I have tried to provide my personal opinion on various career choices and by no means am I trying to undermine any industry. If you still think that my judgement isn’t fair kindly get back to me and I shall rephrase my point.)
A few things to mention
- You can always get into startups and management roles, at any point in your career in any industry, whatsoever. There is no right time to get onto this track. What might work for you will never work for anyone else.
- PSUs? There aren’t many PSUs in India offering jobs for CS grads at the moment. But if you do want to get into one, go through the available list of jobs and prepare and apply.
- Govt. Research (ISRO, DRDO etc.)? Most of these labs advertise their openings and application procedures every year (around ~40). If you do want to get into Space or Defence research in India you can’t do it without being affiliated to any of these organisations.
- UPSC / SSC? You know the first step for this, don’t you? On a serious note, these are not related to CS directly, so I didn’t feel like including them. But if you are passionate about being one, sure, go for it!
- Higher Studies? Will explore in the next part.
I hope this helps you in clearing your queries regarding all that is possible while staying in Computer Science and makes you create a better and informed decision. That’s why I have called this part, Planning.
Hopefully, you read the next parts in the series as well on Preparing and Achieving.
Feel free to get back to me in case you have any other specific doubts.