Initial research always proves helpful
This post is from an aspiring professional revealed during user interviews. The name and images have been changed due to privacy issues.
Right from the start I was very enthusiastic about from career and wanted to achieve something big. I wanted to go out of the box step into something which wasn’t a prevalent profession in my city. Coming from a small town, doing something different from usual wasn’t an easy task, and I was forced into going for a profession that is much more recognized. Eventually, I had to settle for Computer Science for my Bachelor’s degree. I was annoyed about it at first, but after a wise thought and researching about its positives, I settled for it peacefully.
The start should be good
Unlike others who join a University much relaxed and push career options towards the end, I was onto it right from the beginning. From day 1 itself, I started to explore the subject deeply, including job market trends, evolving technologies and future scope of fields within this particular domain. I spent hours every week, tried reaching out to industry people, used the internet as a source of information etc. From the University point of view, my main aim was to clear my exams with decent grades. I had learned from seniors, a University degree is useful to gain knowledge but to succeed professionally, it has to be definitely more than what University teaches you.
One step ahead
I didn’t wait for my education to finish, instead started setting my professional goals beforehand. From first year itself, I joined external classes in addition to University to learn programming languages which would benefit me in future and also to fill in the gap from the University. I kept on signing up for different courses every year, learning new stuff and also internships to get industry exposure. I also started to set the future goals post completion of my degree and even started to work on them. I mean, I began to connect with people and started to ask questions. Not always known guys but anyone who could be of any sort of help. As of my future goal, I had decided to move to the US for my Masters in Computer Science field itself.
Reading all this don’t think of me as a bore. It wasn’t just about education I had my fun in life as well, which also included extra-curricular activities.
Next journey
As already planned, I finished my Bachelors and went for my Masters in the field as decided. Masters obviously was a challenge in itself and included a lot of assignments, more practical than theoretical. It also bought a lot of stress, but my earlier smartness to learn an extra set of programming languages proved too much helpful. I felt blessed for my decisions regarding an early start I had made. I saw my batchmates struggling with the career decisions and had I not overcome them earlier, I would have been sailing in the same boat as them.
All my hard work, including early career decisions, dedication had paid off well. I got a place in IBM as an intern during my studies itself which then turned into full-time employment as a Data Scientist.
What will I do differently?
If I am taken 5 years back from now, I would still follow my current stream of career. However, one thing I would do differently is get involved in more research at the very beginning then what I had done. I believe research, along with your choices aligning with your interest, are the main ingredients to success.