This may bore you in the beginning, but do read it till end…
It was that time of my life, when I had to make a choice(Well, I make choices everyday, but this was an important one…). Yes, as the title says, I had to choose my stream.
First, a bit of my background.
I’ve loved computers since I was 8. Tremendous capability of it has always fascinated me. I spend a lot of time on computer everyday.
I read somewhere about online passive income, and decided to make a website. I signed up for flipkart affiliate and made a review website. It was pathetic. I got my friends to review anything they wanted. I soon shut it off and realized that I need to focus on a particular niche and quality content. I soon started another website(which again cannot be named here). It started to gain popularity. I got a lot of visits, and convinced my friends to review in exchange of a copy of the book. Publishers and authors soon started sending us books for review. I was always delighted to ‘manage’ the site. Making sure reviews were posted on time, interacting with authors and reviewers, responding to emails, figuring how to maximize profits, and much more- it was real fun. Then I made 2 mobile apps. I personally did not like the first one, but thats a separate story.
People around me considered me to be some sort of computer expert, which obviously I’m NOT. And they’ve completely misunderstood the term-‘computer’… I agree I know a bit of programming, but I cannot program the whole day. I can’t even program at a stretch of 2 hours. I am not so much passionate about programming , as much as I am for making sure that things work perfectly.
And yes, I forgot to mention, I am a huge critic. I have this unnecessary(according to others) habit of complaining about things. But I always do constructive criticism. Never have I criticized for the heck of it.
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I don’t feel that marks deserve so much importance as they get. My focus has never been marks but always learning. I agree that they are an indicator of how well versed you are with your subjects, but still… And talking about marks, I usually get A1 overall in all subjects except maths(sometimes A2 or sometimes A1), and I always hate to take maths exam.
Now coming to the choice that I talked about in the beginning.
People around me thought that I will pursue sciences. But I did not want to. Most of them thought that I would become a software engineer. I agree, that I wanted to go into computer sciences 2-3 years ago. Yes, coming back to the point. I did not want to.
There has been(especially in India), a flawed mindset towards how we see streams. They say, sciences are for those who are good in academics(who they expect to become ‘doctors and engineers’). I am not sure about where this thinking comes from, but still this is how many people think.
I announced that I wanted to take up commerce.
Almost no one expected that I will do this.
My parents were shocked. Friends were surprised.
Few were surprised of one reason.. They thought that I was good in making things. But the truth was, I made things just for heck of it, so that I can do what I loved to- promote them, tell people about them. Friends did not believe this. They thought that I was joking. One of my friend even said “You are wasting your talent”. I don’t blame them for this belief. Actually, they had always seen me doing things on computers and never had I expressed my interest for management and businesses. Interestingly, few of my friends appreciated my decision.
I respect my well wishers, and the people listed above.
And then there were other people who thought that commerce stream does not have future prospects(*facepalm).
They said, you can go for anything after you take sciences. You can do MBA after engineering. Your mind will ‘sharpen’ if you give sitting for science(that may be correct). A ‘basic’ degree is necessary. I MEAN WHAT!!!, are there no degrees for commerce students?!?! I don’t want to study useless things just because society wants me to….
I wish I could change this mentality of these type of people. I mean whats the point of doing engineering if you have to go into business/management/accountancy! Wasting time and energy on studying something which is completely irrelevant for me is stupidity according to me. A simple thing, who will be a better marketing manager- Someone who knows thermodynamics, or whats inside your body, or how does carbon react OR someone who knows how businesses function, how economies function, what problems do businesses face, and how to solve them, how to read market trend. Simple question. (And still few people will prefer the former, because they say that former can ‘sharpen’ your mind). Let me put, in front of you some statistics of Harvard Business School’s selected MBA students- 45% were from commerce background, 19% from social sciences and 36% from STEM(Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths). It is sheer stupidity to do subjects that you don’t love, and waste hours on studies in an era where everyone wants to be an engineer or a doctor!
I recently saw someone’s seminar on youtube, probably he was Sandeep Maheshwari. He emphasized on the importance of smart work, rather than hard work.
It took me about a month to convince those at my home. I told them about future prospects, compared salaries for them, and educated them about courses, and much more.I was not shocked to realise that they were not aware about the prospects. At last, they were almost convinced and wanted me to go for career counseling. I was unwilling, but went for it on the condition, that I will not change my decision irrespective of what the counsellor says. They agreed. The counsellor said pursue PCB or commerce. I was delighted. I actually gained respect for career counsellors. The counsellor told me everything about me- I can’t sit for long(how true!), I prefer to study by reading rather than writing(again true!). Parents are now satisfied, actually they were earlier also. They just felt that I was more good at programming. Parents actually wanted me to follow my heart, they just were worried about the fact that I may not be so good in business as I am in programming. Parents were always supportive. Friends are fine with everything. But few people around are not, I am talking about those people, whose traits I’ve described in previous paragraphs.. . .
I admit, I do not follow anyone, I do what is right for me. Had my parents, friends, teachers, other people not seconded with my decision, I would still have taken commerce. I am very stubborn. People can rarely change me, after all, I take decisions after due thinking!
Commerce is my final decision, and will stick to my decision.
I respect all three streams, be it Arts, Science, or commerce. But Arts never fitted my personality, despite being a good stream. Science is excellent. For it provides opportunity to discover something, or help humanity, or helps to know how things work, benefit the society in numerous ways, and play major part in implementing innovation and much more. But its not my piece of cake. Commerce stream helps us understand businesses, economies, trade etc… You can go into management, and can even head those from science streams. Or vice versa in some cases. Just wanted you guys to realize that no stream is bad and each of them are interdependent on each other. So, “Do what you love, and love what you do.”
After all, streams do not guarantee success, dreams do…
Update, 20 April 2016, Its been about a week since my Class 11 began and I’m happy to tell that due to the wonderful subjects which I love from core( from Business studies to Economics), I’m enjoying school a lot better than before! I’m also happy about the fact that I am able to manage my time better, and do all sorts of things- from writing stuff, to programming a bit, to reviewing books and managing my site, to meditation, to playing and entertaining myself, last but not the least- studying thoroughly(After all, studying what you enjoy is not difficult!) … And yes, I shifted my site to wordpress 🙂 Also
Take Care 🙂
Kaveenam
kaveenam 