The 3 mantras for building a strong career

(This article was written for the Agnel Polytechnic annual students magazine)

How can I build a strong career ? , is a question on every students mind. Although there can not be some straight forward answers to this question, it neverthless requires some conscious planning and a disciplined life, coupled with a hunger to learn which will eventually determine the success of an individual.

If you would ask me to give 3 Mantras which a student should start working on, I would start with and give first priority to health. The way people live and the things people eat today can have a detrimental effect on our health lives. This would definitely warrant an important consideration if we have to build a strong career. In earlier days the little games children used to play, had a lot of physical and mental exercises built into them. Today the children, especially in an urban environment, spend a lot of hours watching TV and playing computer/video games. This means our bodies do not get the neccesary physical exercise to develop. Similarly our eating and drinking habits have changed a lot. We prefer to eat food which is artificially prepared and flavoured and is available off the shelf and ready to eat rather than eating natural foods like salads, vegetables and fruits. Another aspect of our health life we tend to neglect is the health of our mind. The fast life we lead added to the changes in the social habits can result in some individuals falling prey to problems like anxiety and depression. In this ever demanding engineering career it is important that one is able to remain fit both mentally and physically. Having good eating habits, doing regular physical and mind exercises like meditation and yoga is my first mantra towards building a strong career.

As we move to an age where we start depending more and more on the Internet - for getting information, communicating and other mundane things like booking tickets, shopping etc.., it is important that we develop our Internet skills to be ahead in our career. I am surprised to see today a lot of students do not even have their own email ids. Although the number is reducing, still a lot many students do not try to make use of the Internet to find information. It is important for us to know that there are a lot of things we can do using the Internet which will keep us competitively ahead of others. In another years time the Goa Government should have its broad band connectivity in place. With the Internet users throughout the world increasing exponentially, in a few years from now we will probably be using the Internet to the extent we cannot imagine today. Students can start developing useful Internet skills like, sending emails, searching for information, knowing different web tools like groups, wikis, blogs etc.. Students can start using the Internet to prepare a resume, or a presentation and apply for jobs. Developing this important skill of using the Internet will be my second Mantra for building a strong career.

The third Mantra for the success of ones career is to think global. Technology today has made the industry a global one. Companies today have their product genesis in America, the design done in India, manufactured in China and sold throughout the world. The company executives today travel a lot and work in one place today and another place tomorrow. An individual at the beginning of his career today has to have a mind frame in which he is prepared to relocate himself anywhere in India/abroad. Companies today want to recruit only those students who are willing to relocate themselves anywhere in India/abroad. Working in a big city environment and in different cities gives us an ideal environment to develop our career. One can interact with people who come to these cities from different backgrounds and different places. It gives an opportunity to learn and see things which otherwise would not have been possible. So being prepared to relocate anywhere in India/world, will be my third Mantra towards building a strong career.

To conclude I would say that planing your career is important. A conscious effort has to be made, especially by those in the final semester to meet the demands of the industry. More than anything else health – both mental and physical has to be taken care. Internet is going to change our lives in the near future in ways that we have not yet understood properly; knowing Internet skills will give us an edge over others. Finally we have to be prepared and be in a mind frame to relocate anywhere in India/abroad.

Marilac Chagas Silva- Head, Training and Placement – Agnel Polytechnic, Verna Goa