Your dream career

- by Akash D. Parab – X B
Doctors, Engineers, CAs, ……we have so many of them around us. And we students are often told, ‘Study well so that you become an engineer or doctor’. We grow up to believe that all careers start and end in medical and engineering. So you have around you many ‘future’ doctors and engineers. However what if I say that some ‘new and different careers exist’? Disk Jockey (DJ), Radio Jockey (RJ), Stand Up Comedian, youtuber (earning money through one’s own youtube channel), blogger (writing and developing content on the internet), vlogger (traveling to different places and giving information of that place by creating video and uploading it on social media), digital media buyer (buying bulk advertising space for clients on social media platforms and websites for advertising purposes), landscape designer (designing landscape gardens for huge housing projects and companies), sommelier (wine taster), food writer, travel writer, sports nutritionist, app developer …. The list is endless.
I am sure many of us are not aware of these careers. We all have somehow not searched for career options beyond engineering, CA and medical. Many people stumble upon such ‘different career options’ when they fail to find job satisfaction in their regular engineering or medical or commerce related careers. When you are passionate about something and really love doing it from your heart, you end up taking your passion as your means of earning money.I am sure many of you have seen the movie ‘3 Idiots’. We saw in the movie that one of the character wants to be a wild life photographer but is toldby his parents to become an engineer and hence takes admission in an engineering college. Finally he finds that if he does not pursue what he likes (wild life photography), he may become an engineer but a bad one not the best one. He thought instead; why not follow my heart and be the world’s best wild life photographer? My father gave me a similar example. He is in advertising. He knows people who are good at writing ads (called copywriters) and who were science graduates or engineers or CAs or researchers but loved writing. Ultimately they switched careers to become successful copywriters. We find many such people around us. People who give up well paying jobs to take jobs with work they love doing. Those who suppress their passions remain in jobs they don’t like and face dissatisfaction and stress in their jobs. So you may often come across a well educated person struggling in his career and a comparatively less educated person doing well in his chosen field. I am not suggesting at all that we should not take degrees or not become engineers and doctors. But it is important to ask ourselves whether we would love be an engineer, a doctor or somebody totally different.
The point which I want to make here is that we need to find what we are good at and match it with a job profile or career. Unlike a few years back, today we come across many courses and degrees offered by training institutes all over India which can help us make the right career choice. So a student with flair for writing can be a blogger or content writer on the subject of his choice. If you love eating, be a food writer. If you love plants start a nursery or become a landscape designer. If you love tea, become a professional tea taster.
Whatever your liking, start searching a career that matches your passion or liking. Take the help of internet, read books, read newspapers, you will get a wealth of information. I know you may have questions. Will my liking help me earn well? What is the guarantee that I will be successful? Well, first let me tell you what I have heard my parents and elders tell. They believe A) nothing in life comes easy. Hard work, discipline and maintaining good relations with people around is very important. Even a stand up comedian needs to work hard and be disciplined in his practice to make people laugh. B) Concentrate on giving your best in whatever you do, fame and fortune will automatically follow and C) No education goes waste
Finally I would like to end by saying that your dream career or job should be one you would love doing every day and find great satisfaction in it. We may come across our dream career either early or late but we need to start searching for it. Each one of us has talent, likings and skills we are born with. We should try and find that hidden liking or talent. That I think is real education. Finding what we are good at and using it for the good of society and ourselves.