You must have chosen engineering branch as you either  had an impression that all engineers lead a very happy & prosperous life or you were genuinely interested in the subject. Unfortunately , all engineers do not lead a happy & prosperous life . To be more precise, many engineers lead a very insecure life. Why ???

1. They do not choose the right field . A right field is the one , which is progressive enough & has abundant jobs available in the geographical area of your interest. E.g. If India has only two optical fibre  manufacturing plants , then an engineer , even though is an expert in the manufacturing process of optical fibre, carries a risk of unstable career if he/ she loses the  job for any reason . On the contrary ,an engineer who is an expert in Automation can enjoy abundance of jobs in any geographical area , as the expertise is needed across all industry verticals such as  Glass, paper , petrochemicals , steel, cement to name a few…

2. They do not choose a right job profile . A knowledge based job profile such as Design, maintenance , Project Engg. enriches you more & more as you work & makes you more valuable as you grow older. More valuable means more in demand & so more prosperity & security.

On the contrary, process oriented jobs such as production , Quality , materials management do not add to the Engg. knowledge  as compared to the knowledge based profiles . So, there is a possibility of being replaced by young ones , who will be available at a lesser cost .

           Primary objective of any career should be

          “ Being immuned to the ups & downs in the industry ‘.

The average  career span is 40 years of life . There are two challenges  to  have a secured & prosperous career:

1. Create an ability to add value for 40 years , which will ensure demand for you.
2. The ability should be useful to more no. of employers, which will ensure that even though you lose a job for any reason, there should  be abundant jobs available for the same ability.

To create an ability to add value , the first step is to chose your first  job which will add knowledge & skills . The criteria of choosing the first job should not be a good salary , rather it should be  acquiring knowledge & skills .

A knowledge based job is the one which will ensure higher salary  & stability in future .So, we may summarise as :To ensure a secured & prosperous career,

1. Choose a field which is progressive & has a wide no. of jobs available in your chosen geographical area
2. Choose a job profile in line with your talent .
3. Choose the first job not on the basis of starting salary but on the “knowledge gain” basis .

To know more about criteria of good jobs , please read my next article “  What is the criteria of a good job ?”

By Nilesh Salgaonkar , Founder Director , TAACT

www.taact.co.in