Exploratory Universatory

Yesterday we had our class photo. The year is coming to an end and I would not be seeing most of the students representing over 60 countries again in my life. The striking thing about this event was that it was the most chaotic class photo event ever in my academic session which includes 12 years in senior school, 2 in high school, med school, and two universities. And this was the Ivy league.

I am not sure how I would appear in the photo – balancing myself at an angle of 45 degrees, hanging over several students, standing on the side wall.

Does this semi-unprofessional?? approach to class photograph reflective of the intensity of belonging for the institution?? Will find out 25 years from now.

Sometime back I asked for career advice from a guy who had come as a guest lecturer at one of my classes at MIT. He is an MD MBA and has spent 10 years at Wall Street. Here are the excerpts from his reply:

Your note is very kind. As you know, there is really no “right” answer to this dilemma, but there is usually a “best” answer given the “data.”

A career as a … can be wonderful, but so can other careers. Few options, however, are perfect and most jobs have a downside, a view that you might support if you read the news on a daily basis.

The sad truth is that, yes, we probably need more … like yourself. But unless it is what you truly want to do, it is probably insufficient for most people to justify a lifelong career choice as a …. Just make sure that whatever you do, its because you believe it is right and sufficiently rewarding. You will probably agree that non-financial rewards can be more durable than financial ones.

Of course, only in retrospect can one know that a career path was proper. The people giving you both solicited and unsolicited advice may not have a full understanding of the world of options available to you. You will make the best decision you can and alter it as necessary. I tend to believe that families and friends are much better at picking spouses for children than they are at picking careers. Interestingly, people tend to blindly ignore them on the former and blindly listen to them with regard to the latter.  

Focus on what you enjoy, and what your are skilled at. If a career does not optimize these two metrics, it is likely to be less rewarding. By the way, on this aspect of career decisions, friends and family may have some appropriate insight.

Think about any role models you may have and what it is about them that you may wish to emulate. Think about what motivates you. Make lists.

Finally, I would wonder what regrets your advisors have about their own career choices or work environments. Most people have them. I would also wonder how their career choices have affected their professional and personal relationships (wife and children being most important with regard to the latter). The answers to these questions may also help you gauge how much credibility their recommendations should have for you, and it may also tell you a bit about why they are making such recommendations and where roadblocks could be hiding for you.

I am looking forward to Bro coming to Boston. Am not sure how much he would like the place, but I would definitely have a welcome change. I rather have him in California which is any day better than Fenway.

I have terrible amnesia for people’s names, their birthdays or their phone numbers (I think the part of my brain storing phone numbers is absolutely missing, and is severely disabled for other things). People have vouched for memory training books – one day I’ll master them, one day.

Till then please remind me about your birthdays a day in advance. Thank you.

Two years back if someone had told me that I would have email id as lastname at mit.edu and firstname_lastname at harvard.edu, I would have dismissed the joke. Now I am nearing graduation and am sad to let go of these ids. Think I have to grow over the trivial gratifications.