Skills and communication, breaking down complex problems into small actionable goals, helps crack students to top firms, degree doesn’t help on longer run.
I graduated from a little-known college in Rajasthan in 2015 with an engineering degree. The college name was so obscure that it didn’t even appear in the drop-down list of colleges on job applications. But I never let that, or my degree, or my grades hold me back. The secret to success is to keep learning, always. I hope my story inspires you to keep learning and growing.
- Focus on transferable skills while in college:
During college, I focused on my academics, but I also made time for extracurricular activities. I played basketball and table tennis, participated in college fests, and volunteered for AIESEC.
These activities helped me become more confident and gain experience in a variety of skills.
For example, playing basketball taught me how to work with others and how to stay focused on the goal, while volunteering for AIESEC helped me develop leadership skills.
Overall, these activities helped me become a well-rounded individual and prepared me for the world of work. - Look out to courses that can upskill you :
I enrolled in a testing course right after college. While the course didn’t interest me, it did teach me about SDLC, testing, and development, which are real-world skills that are in demand. I try to limit my course expenses to no more than $240, but there’s so much to learn. Whether you learn online or in person, the best way to learn is by completing projects.
Life is a learning journey, and we need to upskill ourselves every year to stay relevant to the new technologies and frameworks. - How to achieve (HOT) (Higher Order Thinking) :
I love talking about HOT, or Higher Order Thinking, which is a way of thinking that allows people to ask more clarifying questions, speak their minds, and find structure in a problem. Most of us are trained to jump to solutions without giving the problem much thought, which is why most of us fail. HOT can be achieved with training and practice. It includes questions on guesstimates, market sizing, designing a new product, and behavioral questions.- Learn from YouTube:
I’ve learned a lot from YouTube videos. When I couldn’t find people who had cracked interviews at big firms, I turned to YouTube. I’ve upskilled myself on Python, SQL, guesstimates, and other series of questions by watching and practicing YouTube videos.
There are so many great videos out there. Some of my favorites are Exponent, Lenny’s Podcast, and PM School.
They talk about real-world problems and the experiences of people who are solving them. If you’re looking for a mentor, YouTube is a great place to find one.
- Learn from YouTube:
- Find a mentor, and always always chase him/her:
I’ve personally coached two people to become data analysts. One thing I told them is, “Be proactive and reach out to me. I may say “no” three times, but the fourth time I’ll revert back.” This also helps me test how dedicated or passionate they are. Most people just want to crack good interviews, but they chicken out on the preparation side. We don’t want to collaborate with dreamers. So if you’re really passionate, show it to your mentor and be the one being proactive. - Don’t run behind money, you’ll never be there:
I’ve learned a hard lesson in life: To be skillful to land a job, rather than chasing numbers. Paychecks are a fruit of hard work and skillfulness. If the goal is money, then you’ll be out from your ultimate goal. I’ve seen people being extremely dedicated to upskilling themselves and then being rewarded with money. Never chase a paycheck in your formative career years; it is futile. - Read books and subscribe to newsletters :
Reading books and newsletters has had a profound impact on my cognitive skills. It’s a great way to learn and understand from the mistakes that other people have made or to think about their advice. Career progression doesn’t happen with a college degree; there’s a whole ecosystem of learning that you have to develop and unlearn things that will set you up for success. Building that muscle and habit takes time, but then there lies exponential growth.
I’ve been rejected on interviews from Rakuten, Amazon, Atlassian, Tata Neu, Media.net, Swiggy, PayPal and Stripe, in the last 2 years, after upskilling myself to Product Management. But I’m glad that I at least had an opportunity to interview with these companies, despite my unknown college and average school percentage. Thus I say, be skillful, in some time, our college degrees won’t matter.
Awesome read.