In this age, humans are born with labels. I need not say it out loud considering I come from India where there are so many differentiating factors. However, how we lead our lives and make decisions, defines what we end up doing in the long run. But, it’s easier said than done, and often we need help from our close ones or outsiders to build ourselves.
I wasn’t born an IITian but one thing which was bestowed upon me was education. I wasn’t the best in my school, I struggled in a bigger and more recognized school after transitioning from a smaller and less-recognized one. Like many others of my age then, I also tried my hands at JEE and excelled. So, this means I am good at problem-solving skills, and have the intellect to look at difficult problems and find solutions. But, then who doesn’t? Other than intellect there are other aspects that need to be looked at while building a career: How nice are you to others?; How much are you able to connect with their professional problems and at times personal too?, How much determination, grit, and perseverance do you have?, etc. Even if you don’t have a brand but have most of these other abilities, it is likely that you will be able to provide yourself with a decent life.
Someone I know studied at a local Rajasthan college but did his best in the college in whatever capacity he could. This helped him crack an interview at a big construction company in India where he stayed for as long as possible. As he spent more time in the company, he engaged with more people, built a social network, and identified his interest in trading. So, after learning its nitty-gritty he left his job to pursue full-time trading.
Someone else whom I know graduated from a local Rajasthan college and ended up with a low-salary job in his core domain. He was determined to stay in his core domain and changed company every few years, again climbing ladders. Later, he got a big break in a construction company where he spent a chunk of his time managing big projects with determination, perseverance, and prior experience. Currently, he is in another major company earning big bucks and living a life he only dreamt of! Both these people are in a similar age group as me, taking almost 15 years to build themselves.
How has my career progressed?
After my graduation, I joined a big biopharma through campus placement. I was involved in a project that required aptitude, soft skills, engineering, etc. and so I gave it all. You can say that our group was the first to implement such a system in biopharma across India, and so it was fun working on the project. I had an option to apply for higher education in my first year itself leaving behind the project, but seeing how things were progression I decided to stay a year long and applied for higher education in my second year. So, why higher education? I was young, energetic, wanted international exposure, and was ambitious. But apart from all this, primarily because of my interest in research, I sought a PhD. I also had another option to join a startup in Delhi staying back in India, but the urge to see the US was much more!
However, I must admit that I wasn’t prepared for a PhD, after all, how much can you prepare?
I did just fine, not marvelous, in my PhD and returned to India after its completion. Sometimes I do regret not applying for any industrial position in the US, and missed earning those big bucks, but it is going fine at current! After my return, I joined a vaccine manufacturing firm here and later worked as a cell culture head in another big API exporter. But, again, I couldn’t see what I had in my hands and started looking for an opportunity far away. This resulted in me changing my career and applying for a postdoc back to the US. You can see because I had the background, I utilized it in shifting career instead of building on it. But as they say, you can only connect the dots backward, hence this blog at current.
Take-home message
1. Stay long in a company and learn to find work for yourself. Not everyone has options, so one has to explore/exploit what is in hand. Staying in one company provides opportunities to meet various people and learn their domains allowing us to make better career decisions. Also, helps build a network!
2. Remember almost all the domains in companies are interconnected. So, if you excel in your space people are bound to notice you and invite you for further engagement. This may open up directions to pursue cross-functional projects.
3. I have personally worked as an industrial and academic researcher, and both careers are vastly different. I would suggest not going for a career switch unless you can carve a niche for yourself and find opportunities to work on this interface. If you transcend national boundaries, the survival parameters are only going to increase and be more complex.
4. As you age, you have to fix a direction to work on. Unless and otherwise, you are a CXO and so versatile that any other company would like to have you (A known example who worked as a CXO in completely unrelated companies).
5. If you have a PhD/Postdoc and not getting a job, look for startups and start small. This also means working on cutting-edge technologies in your PhD or Postdoc, making yourself sellable.
6. At current, even in India, many freelance opportunities are opening up. If nothing works in your favor, go for freelancing. Remember, a PhD or a Postdoc not only teaches laboratory skills but also others including analytical, writing, editing, etc.