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What are the job prospects for environmental science and technology?

Environmental Science is a very broad area that encompasses several sub-areas such as Waste
Management, Climate Science, Disaster Management, Deforestation, Conservation, Pollution
monitoring etc

Depending on your area of interest, you can choose a relevant sub-area. You will be applying
concepts of Physics, Chemistry and Engineering to solve many of the environmental challenges.
Pollution monitoring involves designing and building sensors to monitor air and water quality.

Many professionals also apply GIS/Remote Sensing to analyze satellite images of our planet to
identify deforestation, soil erosion and impact of disasters such as floods and earthquakes.

Climate Science is another multi-disciplinary science that involves building mathematical and
statistical models to predict weather.

These are all fascinating areas for science students.

Check our interviews of professionals pursuing Environmental Science

Environment – Offbeat, unusual, unconventional & interesting career interviews

What are the 10 top disruptive tech skills with a huge pay premium?

Here are 10 disruptive tech skills for the future

1. Ability to see patterns in data

2. Algorithm design for a real world problem

3. Applying an interactive technology to explain a difficult concept

4. Identifying cyber threats proactively before they happen and fixing them

5. Ability to transform a theoretical lab based concept to a real world solution like Renewable
Energy

6. Very simple UX design for non-tech people who use technology

 7. Effective translational research for diseases like Cancer and Diabetes

8. Big Picture Thinking – What would be the next big tech trend

9. Technologies to address the Food sustainability problem through environmentally friendly

supply chain

10. IOT/Sensor/Wearable Technologies to monitor health

How do personality skills and interest relate to career choices?

This is a very good question. Let me explain with an example.

Lets say you love automobiles (interest). You read a lot of magazines about automobiles, you want
to know about new trends, technologies and how different models and cars are different from each
other. This is your interest driving you.

On the other hand, you are also an outgoing person who loves interacting with people, public
speaking and love to build relationships with people instead of working by yourself in an office.

Now you could choose to combine your interest in Automobiles and your extrovert personality to
work in Market Research in the field of Automobiles.

Market Research is an area that requires you to talk to people, read about automobiles, write
articles and speak to the media about your analysis.

As you can see, you can build a career based on the combination of interest and personality.

On the other hand, there is another student who is interested in Automobiles but is more of an
introvert less of an extrovert. He/She loves Physics, especially problems related to thermodynamics
or aerodynamics. Give this person a problem and she will try to find a solution to it through
conceptual knowledge and some collaboration.

How do I become a journalist at 22?

You are lucky that you live in an age where you just have to have the interest to be something and
everything is freely available – a Platform, Technology and a community to follow you.

There are so many controversial events happening around us in India and across the world. All you
need to do is start blogging about events things that you feel strongly about, whether it is farmer’s
agitation or Covid or the US elections.

This will be your playground for journalism ideas and also a part of your portfolio that will
differentiate you when you apply for college admission or jobs.

Are analysts at Wall Street economists or people from economics and finance background, or is it
possible that they can be from sciences and engineering backgrounds?

Analysts from Wall Street are from extremely diverse backgrounds. There are PhDs, Engineers,
MBAs, Statisticians, Pure Science professionals and many more from different areas of expertise.

But the common skill they share is quantitative ability coupled with analytical skills. Quantitative
ability is a common thread across PhDs, Engineers, Statisticians and MBAs. So as long as you love
number crunching and deriving key insights from those numbers, you would like a career in Wall
Street though it is a lot of hard work.
Many economists have also done their PhD in Applied Mathematics and work on Equity Research
(Buy/Sell Side). Here is an interview of one of them with a Science background

Applied Mathematician Interview

What is the role of AI, AR, and VR in the food industry?

The food industry is a tough industry to crack because it is equally driven by creativity and
technology. AI is generally not known for creativity. But who knows we might come up with AI
algorithms to boost creativity.

In the food industry AI can be used to create new recipes based on a combination of ingredients,
taste buds (smell, texture, bitterness etc) , nutrition. Since we have so many ingredients today, only
machines can actually explore different combinations. Thats where creativity will help to segregate a
good recipe from a bad one.

AR/VR could be used to virtually taste, sense and feel the texture of new recipes even without
producing them to test their applicability in the real world. You could test everything from
presentation, colours, flavour and taste through AR/VR hence saving lots of costs in actual
production.

This is, assuming AI cracks the creativity and taste puzzle that is a big requirement in the food
industry

Are decision scientists and data scientists similar jobs in an IT consulting firm?

Decision Scientists are more functional than Data Scientists.

Imagine an Automotive Company like Tata Motors hiring both roles. The data scientist will solely
work with data to come up with visualisation and trend reports that demonstrate a pattern. His/her
work might end there.

A decision scientist will interpret those patterns to translate them into business goals that help the
company expand their business.

In some companies both roles could be merged into one and a few others they exist separately

I eagerly want to pursue my career as a multilanguage expert. But I am doubtful of its scope. As
nowadays everyone are getting into this field. What can be the future opportunities for a language
expert?

Great question. Though everyone is trying to get into every field, very few understand the real world
requirements.

1. Linguistics – Local language machine learning provided by Alexa, Google Assistant, Apple SIRI
etc

2. Translator- Official expert hired by companies to translate books into different languages

3. Interpreter – Lots of foreign companies who operate in their local languages need culturally
sensitive language experts who can interpret their communications in other languages.

The biggest application of multi-lingual experts is in the areas of AI to help bridge the gap between
linguistics, semantics and syntax so a machine can automate many of the mundane things

Is coding required for data journalism?

Data Journalism is the concept of using data to tell stories. So what that means is, you use raw data
to back your stories. Yo do it by summarising the data, looking at patterns and find meaning in it.

But most of the time, the raw data is not in the correct format nor is it consistent and sometimes
data comes from many sources. In order to consolidate the data, clean it, format it and make it
consistent, coding will help.

Instead on relying on a technical team to do it, you can do it yourself by learning R or Python
because it makes your job fast and easy.

As you start playing around with the data you start seeing more trends and better stories.

So yes coding is helpful !

What are the basic requirements for becoming an animator?

Animation is nothing but immersive storytelling using the power of technology. So you either have to
be a highly creative visual storyteller or have fantastic grasp over the technology medium that make
a story real on screen.

This leads to 2 different roles

1. Creative Artist – People who are good at storyboarding, character sketching and overall
conceptual fleshing out of story. This is very very difficult

2. Technical Artist – People who take the visual story on paper and breathe life into it through
technology – 2D/3D, Rigging, Modeling, VFX etc. This requires a solid visualization and
computer science background.

Depending on your interest and skills you can decide the area that you are interested in. In either of
these areas you need to have a vast portfolio to demonstrate your work, especially creativity.

Here are several interviews of animation professional and their career story

Offbeat, unusual, unconventional & interesting career interviews/

Can we choose and become experts in two different careers, for example, data scientist along with
nutritionist?

Data Science is a skill while Nutrition is a domain. Data Science can be applied to any domain that
has data so you can make informed decisions.

So if you are interested in becoming a Data Scientist and Nutritionist, you can apply statistical
methodologies to nutritional data to uncover new patterns and predict future occurrences related to
lifestyle diseases, eating disorders and several other health threats.

There are many colleges offering this combination which is a very hot area.

To become an AI entrepreneur, should I start a company after a master’s in AI or first get a PhD in
AI?

To become an AI entrepreneur, you neither need a masters or PhD. You need a problem statement
that no one has solved, convince yourself why you have the distinctive capability to solve it.

The vision is not enough, building a good team and executing the idea is key. Lots of people have a
vision but cant execute.
A masters and PhD are great technical degrees, but entrepreneurship needs a very different kind of
mindset, being tenacious and resilient on your vision untill you accomplish it.

Dont do a masters or PHD for the sake of entrepreneurship. Do it only if you feel you will get the
required technical expertise to execute your vision.

Your vision should drive your technical expertise, not the other way !

What should I choose as my career? I am intereseted in 3D Animation but it has been only 2
months. But, I am really interested in it. I am currently in Class 11th. Also, what is the scope of
getting a job in that field. My dream is to go to Pixar

Animation is nothing but immersive storytelling using the power of technology. So you either have to
be a highly creative visual storyteller or have fantastic grasp over the technology medium that make
a story real on screen.

This leads to 2 different roles

1. Creative Artist – People who are good at storyboarding, character sketching and overall
conceptual fleshing out of story. This is very very difficult

2. Technical Artist – People who take the visual story on paper and breathe life into it through
technology – 3D, Rigging, Modeling, VFX etc. This requires a solid visualization and computer
science background.

Depending on your interest and skills you can decide the area that you are interested in. In either of
these areas you need to have a vast portfolio to demonstrate your work, especially creativity.

Looks like you are interested in the tech side. Pursue a degree in Computer Science, learning
animation skills on the side through courses and internships.

That way, you will have a solid foundation in programming and applied knowledge of animation.

How can I know if I am interested in pure science or engineering?

Its not that difficult.

Pure Science is exploration. You explore an area without knowing what the end results would be.
Infact you may figure out after an year that you cant make more headway and switch to another
area. Pure Science is more of discovery for the sake of building more knowledge in different areas of
science.

Take Astrophysics for example. There are many of them who have discovered new stars or
Exoplanets or even explained formation of Black Holes. These are areas of exploratory research
which dont have any pre-defined goals. Getting funding is a challenge because the real world
applications of your research are unknown.

On the other hand, Applied Research and Engineering have an end goal because they use the
knowledge gained from pure science to innovate the discovery into an invention. Many industries
are willing to sponsor these inventions through grants and if these inventions are successful they
end up as an engineered product.

So if you love the thrill of exploratory research which can take you anywhere go for it. There is lots of
uncertainty and less money. However if you are more comfortable with goals and want to work on
more practical applications that relate to real world pick Applied Research or Engineering.
Check out an interview of a Pure Science Researcher

https://theinterviewportal.com/?s=astrophysics

How can a 1st-year student prepare himself to land a job in Google, Amazon, Directi, Flipkart, etc.
or large tech companies in India?

Companies like Google, Amazon (not familiar with Flipkart) look for candidates who can think
logically. You might not be a great programmer but if you can understand their business well you can
still get in . The vice versa isnt typically true. Try to improve your thought process by breaking down
a problem into smaller chunks an address each chunk through critical analysis.

Remember these are B2C companies. They dont have the luxury of requirements like a B2B firm has.
Hence understand their business model well. You can prepare as follows

1. What do you like about their products why?

2. What do you think is missing and why is it needed?

3. Write a few blogs on their space with your thoughts and opinions

4. Try to understand what their next 6 months to one year will be. Do you share their vision for
the future? If not why

You need to be opinionated. There is no right or wrong. It is very subjective and the focus is more on
thought process. These companies want every individual to contribute in terms of making the
product better. If you can show the interviewer that you understand their business well and where
they should be in the future and why, they will be more than happy to hire you.

How do I apply for a job at a startup in India? Where can I find good information?

I think iam qualified to answer this question because i have worked only in startups during the past
10 years. It actually happened by accident . But then i got so used to startups that i didnt look
beyond them.

Remember, startups typically dont use traditional channels like HR to hire (happens in few cases).
They typically go by their network . However there is another way. Just search for top management’s
email (CEO/CTO) and write to them about your interest in the firm and how you complement their
vision. It works in most cases.

I can tell you that in all the startups where i secured a job, none of the firms were actively looking for
a person. They hired me because they felt i could add value.

Keep looking for new startups in your area through top venture blogs (Yourstory or Vccirle etc) and
read about their markets, vision etc and get educated.

If you have an idea in mind try to implement it as a mini-project so that you can show your thought
process and clarity of vision during an interview. It could be a website based project or interesting
blogs in the area of the firm that you are targeting.

Last but not the least , while it looks nice to be a part of a startup firm, be mentally prepared to slog
10–15 hours a day and hit the ball rolling the day you join. Many candidates do well in the interview
and join, but arent mentally prepared to handle the pressure and leave within a week. You need to
be a hands-on professional and should be able to get the job done however seemingly tough it is.
Can innovations be or can be created by artificial intelligence or only by humans?

Very good question !

Can AI create innovation?

To answer the question, lets define innovation. Innovation is the ability of the human brain to take
all the learnings cumulatively, connect completely unrelated dots, build new concepts on top of
existing knowledge which results in new knowledge.

Basically, innovation is the ability to create new knowledge from existing knowledge.

AI is currently at the stage where it is trying to replicate the human brain in trying to think and
adapt. The day is still far off when AI can innovate, that is, create new knowledge from existing
knowledge because that also requires humungous computational power and complexity to process
all the experiential data that humans process and create new concepts.

Remember, the human brain is incredibly efficient in computing with less resources. It will probably
take thousands of supercomputers to create innovation if all all it is possible !

If 90 percent of JEE aspirants are solving the same books, including the top rankers, then what
makes the difference?

The difference is simple but complex.

You can study 100, 1000 or million books and solve millions of problems. But the ones who make it
are the ones who can bring all their knowledge to work in those 3 hours during the exam. Its like
searching for the needle (right answer) in a haystack (all the knowledge you gained in 15 years)

Remember, there are many in this world who cram for exams , prepare for interviews, work hard to
make speeches. BUt very few make it. why?

But preparing and executing are 2 different things.

To be able to distill your knowledge and bring out only what you need for an exam in those 3 hours
is something very few can do.

The difference is simple, isnt it?

What do you mean by offbeat career?

Let me tell you my perspective !

In the 1970s and 1980s , our parents worked probably 9 to 4, they chatted with their colleagues,
visited relatives, took care of parents. Weekends were spent visiting people or going to beaches or
movies.

There was not much competition and life was leisurely. When they worked, they worked. No stress,
just living life. My dad did exactly that, he was a mechanical engineer and he used to work and never
used to get stressed. No work at home. The only way i knew he worked was when he was away 9 to
5.

Now we work from home, so we have comforts. But we work from 5 to 9. We are stressed, so we
need outbound programmes to de-stress. We have goals because though we work hard we cant
meet them .So we start disliking work because its no longer living a life. We have hundreds of
meetings every day , what we called strategy, scrum meetings. We love to meet our customer needs
24 by 7 even if our kids or parents needs arent met

So someone who finally got bored doing the above decided he wants to get back to the 1970–80s
life which our parents lived. Simple , relaxed life. So he or she started pursuing photography,
painting, music etc. That became to be known as “offbeat”

This is a a new term coined in the 2000s that relates to a concept 30 years old.BTW i even call
Engineering offbeat, if we had pursued mechanical or electrical or civil we would be still doing
offbeat stuff because its not IT!

Is maths required for data journalism?

Data Journalism is more related to Statistics than Maths. You need to look at trends in figures and
narrate a story.

The best analogy for this is when sports commentators talk about different player statistics to make
inferences about games. Similarly a data journalist uses factual data on different sectors to come up
with inferences or assumptions.

For example you might calculate the total renewable energy supply in the last 10 years and compare
it against total electricity demand in the same 10 years to show how the gap has increased or
narrowed.

As you can see, the maths requirement is not too high level. As long as you can see patterns, connect
the dots and narrate a story based on data, you can be a good data journalist without very strong
maths skills.

How do I build a career after graduation?

This is a million dollar question !

Some people are very lucky , those who realise what they love doing pretty early on. They have
encouraging parents who allow them to pursue their dreams.

But then there are the other bunch like me who wander aimlessly unable to figure out what they
like. We either like everything or like nothing. so what do you do when one is like that.

Start thinking about your broad interests. Do you like sports, do you love designing things, you might
like travelling or even love working on math problems

Draw a list of top few things you love doing and then try to filter down to the career options in that
area. If you are a good writer and love sports, think about sports journalism. If you like maths think
about pure math research

Next step is to figure out the basic degree needed for your interests . Since Sports/Journalism are
not too structured you need build portfolios to show your capability. Start building it by blogging. For
pure research you need to be very good in academics and score good marks

This is one approach

What should a first year (mechanical) engineering student (of a low profile state level college of
Gujarat, India) do in four years to get himself/herself prepared to be called a successful
engineering student after four years?
 

First lets understand what is the biggest problem facing engineering graduates today. Every
corporate talks about graduates being unemployable.

Lets define unemployability.

1. Inability to transform theoretical knowledge into real world applications

2. Lack of big picture thinking? Why am i doing this and how does is meet my company goals?

3. Inability to summarize complex technical jargon into simple language that a layman can
understand

Now how do we address the above challenges?

In your first year you will be taking core courses , not much mechanical. But first try to understand
why you are studying each course. Do research on the internet and read blogs from experts. If you
are studying Computational Fluid Dynamics try to understand where it helps. Then you will
understand the bigger picture of why it is needed for a mechanical engineer. Do this rigorously for
each course that you learn.

Next, you will attend lots of labs where you will do practical work. Dont underestimate these labs.
The lab is one place where you see equipment , try to use them and understand the readings and
what they mean. Again, research the internet and grasp why these equipments are needed and how
they complete a job. The biggest mistake i did was to underestimate the lab. They are your interface
with the real world.If equipment is old gather a team and request your admin to get new equipment.
Be a leader !

Start applying for internships from 3rd year. Shortlist 50–100 mechanical companies in your area of
interest (like automotive or aerospace etc) and send emails to division heads expressing your
interest, with your linkedin profile. A few of them will most likely revert. Dont underestimate the
power of personal emails, they work much more effectively than waiting for an internship to turn up
at your door, which will never happen.

Shortlist a few blogs in your area of interest and read them every week so you are updated on latest
trends. For eg if you are interested in Eco vehicles select top blogs in that area and read them. Infact
when you send emails to firms for internship, you can show off your knowledge in their area by
mentioning some of their work (since you have read latest updates in that area). That will be a
clincher.

Learn soft skills. First write your own blogs expressing your opinion on latest technologies. That will
clarify your thought process. Try to become a thought leader in areas that you want to work in. This
will draw attention from industry leaders. In order to do that you need to have good fundamentals.

Learn to work in teams, with your batchmates. Try to do a few real projects in the lab, collaborate in
a team. Try to present the results and summarize it in a simple way so that even your dad or mom
can understand what you did. Develop your soft skills

This will make you stand apart from the crowd !

Why should human beings depend on artificial intelligence so much?

Lets look at a few cases where AI can do better assuming the machine has all the relevant data.

Fraud Detection

This is a real scenario in every industry. Lets take Credit Cards. Detecting a fraud, in a real time, is
very critical to minimise financial damage. It requires going through millions of credit card
transactions to probably uncover 10 frauds. The scale of the problem is so huge that a human cannot
solve the problem in a time bound manner, so we can take corrective action. Moreover, fraud
detection requires looking at each transaction from multiple angles (demographics, location, time,
amount, frequency and many more variables). As the number of variables to analyse grows in
number, the capacity of humans to analyze millions of transactions across thousands of variables
diminishes.

This is where AI is faster and more accurate

Healthcare Imaging –

Lots of cancerous tumors and other diseases are identified by expert doctors through Biomedical
Imaging. But the ability to spot a tumor depends on the expertise of the doctor and his/her
experience. In such situations, and as the cases grow in number, it is a better option to train a
machine to understand the nuances of disease detection(by learning) and replace doctors. As more
data is fed to the machine it also starts detecting outlier cases that only few doctors can detect. But
the advantage here is that the machine is faster, cheaper and removes the human component.

There are more examples where AI can be a game changer and the common factor is scale. Doing
things at scale and in a short time is where AI is better.

How do you use lock down to a career change into tech?

The last 4-5 months have been incredibly difficult for the world. Covid has wreaked havoc on
everyone across all ages and demographics. Many have lost their lives, their loved ones and their
jobs. And the scary part is, its not over yet ! But we also have the opportunity to learn from this
experience by looking at things constructively.

I have received several emails from professionals about job opportunities. But i have to admit that i
myself had to let go several of my employees due to the situation. However, i would like to share
with all of you what i have learnt throughout my career. It might help someone.

In times such as this, we are always looking out for references to connect us to a new job or a new
role. We spend our time waiting for that one opportunity that could solve all our problems. But we
have to understand that everyone else who has lost their job is also doing the same. Instead, why
don’t we see the Covid imposed lockdown as an opportunity to do something we always wanted to
do which we couldn’t do earlier due to lack of time.

Remember, companies today are looking for employees who can think differently, make reasonably
independent decisions without requiring micro-management.

Most of us have a laptop and internet connection at home. Take this opportunity to think about
something you always wanted to do or how you could create something which could be of value in
the scenario today. It could be a website or a blog or any initiative which allows you to execute your
vision. For example you could create a website that technically analyzes all the different types of
masks available and how they are different from one another and in which sites they are available.
Use your creativity to define how you would like to add value to your target market. To start with,
the idea behind this initiative need not be monetary, however it could lead on to something bigger
which might trigger the entrepreneur in you. More importantly, this initiative will allow you to
explore your ideas, implement them and build something from scratch on your own, which will give
you tremendous confidence. Last but not the least, you now have a body of work that you can
showcase to potential employers. Remember, showcasing your work is much more powerful than
someone giving you a recommendation. Even if the work you did is unrelated to the role you are
applying for, employers will note the fact that you took an opportunity and implemented an idea,
however simple it was. It also leads the interview in a positive direction, talking about your thought
process and approach. And finally, you could end up in a totally new career.

Never wait for an opportunity. Instead, create one for yourself by thinking of how you can use your
skills and interest to add value to the world. Your efforts will never go unrecognized. These are the
lessons i have learnt. I never used any of my past references for my next job because i didnt really
get along with any of my managers. What really helped me was my own initiatives.

Corona is not just attacking our health but our mindsets as well. If it is Corona today it could be
something else tomorrow. So lets be prepared for a future that is uncertain, risky and extremely
dynamic.

Can artificial intelligence be used for new inventions?

There would be 2 answers to this question –

Ideally – Yes

Practically – No

If you try to define AI, it is nothing but the concept of replicating the human brain, which has about 1
Billion neurons. And these neurons in our brain perform computationally intensive tasks like
thinking, innovating etc to come up with new things.

If you want a machine to replicate what a human brain can do, you would need to create a super
monster machine with 1 billion neurons at the very least, to do something equivalent to what a
human can do. And not to mention the complexity of the brain that needs to be replicated in
processing. Moreover, the human brain is highly dynamic, which can formulate newer algorithms on
the fly, in response to new and unknown scenarios (maybe what we call instinct)

Even if such a machine were to be built in theory (excluding costing and practical considerations), it
would still have to deal with the limitations in our knowledge about how the brain acts when it
innovates and its ability to process dynamic algorithms. Unless we know that, we cant build the
algorithm in the machine even if it has the processing power.

So ideally a machine can be built with power, but unless we unlock the algorithms of our brain we
cant practically use AI for inventions

I want to work for the poor, for animals, for the environment. I’m preparing to go for an MBA in
marketing next as I feel marketing is the best way to kick-start a company. Is it the right decision?

I dont think you should do an MBA for your intended career. An MBA is good for a traditional career
path in a business enterprise for profit.

You are looking for a social career. There are many universities in India that offer professional
degrees for such careers with great internship opportunities. Infact all these programs require
atleast a year of practical experience before you graduate. They are called Liberal Arts degrees and
give you a complete and cross-disciplinary picture of the world.

Ashoka University and Aziz Premji University are very well known for your career path. Infact YIF
program (Young India Fellowship Program) is great for you because the program selects top 30
candidates and puts them into an intensive practical training program in the social sector where you
learn to handle problems that a typical country like India faces.

Why do you need a professional degree for social sector? Good intentions alone are not enough to
help poor. The degree teaches you several aspects and tools to execute your strategy. One key
aspect of social sector is getting grants. So when you get a professional degree you can also tap into
your network to get the reach you need to make an impact.

However let me tell you that getting admission is not easy because these universities do not offer
admission in the traditional way. They dont put too much emphasis on scores but more on your
vision and passion for this sector which has to come out in an interview. The tuition fees is also high
because the faculty is from top schools around the world (University of Pennsylvania, Science Po etc)

What happens when biology becomes technology?

Biology is natural. Technology is artificial.

So when Biology becomes technology, artificial processes are built to imitate nature.

How does our body fight diseases, how to replace an amputated leg with Prosthetics, how to replace
blood with artificial blood, how to artificially create Haemoglobin for patients, how to replace
petrol/diesel with Biofuel, how to clean waste water with Bio-remediation strategies.

As you can see, the possibilities are limitless when you try to apply technology to imitate biology.
Take a biological problem and see how you can replicate it using technology.

What is the difference between artificial intelligence and human robots?

Artificial Intelligence is the larger umbrella concept under which Robots are designed and built, for
specific purposes.

AI is a concept of mimicking human capabilities in machines.

But Robots can have different applications for personal, industrial or healthcare. All these
applications require AI, but in a different way.

For example a Humanoid would be a personal assistant for a disabled person and needs to
understand daily contextual language and jargons that a PA needs to understand.

An Industrial Robot, on the other hand, will be domain driven, like in SCM (Supply Chain
Management or Manufacturing and will need to understand the work scenarios in those domains
the way humans do.

Healthcare Robots will need to act as assistants to Doctors and Nurses, understanding medical
language and semantics.

Though each of these robots operate differently , they all work under the concept of AI, which is
behaving like humans.

Is Analytics and MI same?

 

No. Analytics is the concept of looking at past data and discovering trends. Like, you look at the sales
trends for the last 5 years and discover that sales is always high in the last quarter of the year. This
helps you make decisions.

ML is where you train an algorithm on data to identify trends automatically. So you train the
algorithm to run on lots and lots of historical data so the model can identify trends. Once trained the
model can make decent predictions on the future based on the past data on which it was trained.

So in ML, the model will automatically tell you to ramp up production in the last quarter to meet
additional demand based on past data.

 Can doctors be scientists?

A Doctor and a Scientist are like 2 sides of the same coin. A scientist comes up with inventions to
cure new diseases while a doctor understands the real world.

So, each complements the other. Many doctors who have gained significant experience in a Clinical
Environment decide to go for a PhD to apply their real world knowledge in Drug Discovery, Vaccine
Development and even Pure Research. This helps because now they not only do research but also
understand the practical implications of that research.

And the other advantage is that, they can also do Clinical Research where they work in a hospital
setting and able to test the efficacy of new drugs on a target group and hence expedite the drug
development lifecycle.

Here is an interview of a Doctor turned Scientist

Neuroscientist Interview

Why isn’t computer science considered an engineering field? What does it take for a discipline to
become an engineering field?

Computer Science is a Pure science field which establishes the fundamentals . By itself Computer
Science is very broad to be applied in a specific area. It is like Maths and Physics. Though maths and
physics are the foundations for engineering they are pure science subjects which are abstract and
theoretical.

Just like mechanical engineering derives a lot from Physics in the area of mechanics, Robotics is also
an area of engineering that derives a lot from Computer Science in the areas of Artificial Intelligence.
Without physics you cant have mechanical engineering. Without computer science we cant have
Robotics.

When a theoretical concept (AI) can be applied in the real world (Robot) it becomes an engineered
technology (product) which is what we call Robotics.
Until then it remains abstract. Engineering has connection to the real world while Computer Science
is a concept.

Can you get a job in PR and advertising after doing a bachelor’s in journalism?

Yes ofcourse!

Look at the commonalities between the 3 careers – PR, Advertising and Journalism. All the three
require creative storytelling ability. Of these Advertising is the most challenging because of time and
money constraints.

Having said that, PR is very closely related to Journalism. In PR you are a Corporate Journalist
working for the company. Job is the same but a different role.

But in terms of variety, traditional Journalism is better but probably pays lesser. Among the 3,
Advertising takes the cake in terms of variety and creativity but its a very difficult career to get into

I have done my graduation in Metallurgy and Materials Science and I am interested to pursue my
career in the automobile industry. Which post graduate courses should I apply for?

Good question!

You have done your Bachelors in a very important and exciting field with lots of opportunities in the
future.

To connect the dots, that is, to land a career where you can apply your foundations in Metallurgy in
Automobiles, the biggest opportunity is in the area of Electricle Vehicle Batteries.

As you are aware the biggest challenges the world faces in implementation of Electrical Vehicles are

1. Battery Range (100–200km per Charge)

2. Battery Size

3. Battery Charging Time

The answer to these questions lie in Metallurgical Applied Research in the field of Automobiles.
Current LI batteries are inefficient and expensive, so a Metallurgical engineer needs to innovate a
new hybrid material that can create disruptive technology that helps the world switch from current
fuels to electricity.

Remember that Metallurgy also has the answet to Renewable Energy. Because the world need a
vehicle battery material that can run on renewable power. If we still rely on traditional sources of
energy (Fossil Fuel) we are creating immense burden on current infrastructure that is already
crumbing.

So there you have your vision. Work on a wonder superconducting material that can take renewable
source as input, store the power and run vehicles.

Its a tough problem, but if you are engineer you need challenges !

What are some great examples of Machine Learning in journalism?

If you think about the biggest challenge in reporting and journalism, it is what news to track.

Even though a newspaper might have great writers, if they arent able to report on the most trending
and popular news the paper will not sell.
This is where machine learning comes in. Once you train a machine to spot most trending and
popular news the algorithm invariably does a better job than humans because of scale. So now the
burden of tracking the right news shifts to the machine and journalists can focus on the content.

Since writing is a creative jobs machines cant do it. But they can spot the most trending news based
on historical data and emerging trends.

The other big area is to verify the authenticity of the news . This is a problem that machine learning
can solve better than humans because it checks at several parameters like news source, time of day,
content type and several other things to determine authenticity and it can detect fraudulent news
quickly, saving a lot of time.

What does a sports engineer do? What careers can be pursued by a sports engineer?

Sports Engineering falls under a specific branch of engineering.

There are three areas where Sports Engineers have played a huge role in the progress and
development of sports

1. Bringing in cutting edge technology like Hawk Eye Camera systems in Tennis and also in
Cricket to determine LBW appeals. In LBW the system tries to predict the trajectory of the
ball if the batsmen wasnt in the way. If the trajectory led to the stumps the technology calls
out. The Hawk Eye camera in tennis looks at balls that fall on the line from multiple angles (6
or more) and zooms in to show if its out or in.

2. Sports Equipment like Racquets, Helmets, Balls all are highly engineered to meet sports
goals and performance metrics. If you have noticed Tennis and Badminton Racquets have
become lighter and stronger. These are all outcomes of materials engineering

3. Sportsmen use several sensors to gauge their performance . These are the smart gadgets
that are available today to measure heartbeat, blood oxygen and several other metrics to
compete at the highest level in case of endurance sports like tennis and marathons. These
are areas of Biomechanical engineering in Sports.

Here are several interviews of Sports Engineers and what they do

Offbeat, unusual, unconventional & interesting career interviews

What does a PhD in computer science do for your career in software? Is it ultimately worth it?

It depends on whether you do a PhD in Pure Science or Applied Science.

If you manage to get a PhD in Pure Science, which is incredibly difficult, it might still not get you a
foot into the industry unless someone sees the link between your PhD and the possibility of applying
in the real world, say Memory Storage. You could end up a Post-Doc.

If your PhD is in Applied Sciences (Robotics or Information Security or Deep Learning) then it is
relatively easier to get into the industry because you will be applying your research skills to help
commercialize a technology based on your research output. This is also a bit more interesting
because you get an opportunity to apply your PhD to address real world challenges that you rarely
encounter in a lab.

So if you planning a PhD for a non-academic career in software pick a problem in the real world that
the industry wants to address and that should provide you a path. Google, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon
and several other product companies hire PhDs who can address critical challenges in
Software/Memory Optimization, Cloud Security, Deep Learning , Industrial Robotics and several
other areas.

Is it worth it? Depends on what your motivation is? If you want to enjoy the challenge of solving
something that has never been solved before and dont mind working in an uncertain environment
with minimum guidance, PhD is for you. If you prefer a predictable job which involves working on
things that are more familiar, Phd isnt for you.

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How can I pursue my career in IPR?

The Dept of Science and Technology , India conducts a yearly fellowship programme for women in
the area of IPR which involves IPR training and internships at selected companies . At the end of the
programme most of them are absorbed by firms based on eligibility and performance. Here are the
details about the programme

KIRAN IPR Patent Fellowship Programme

My daughter wants to be a environmental scientist, what is a better option to pursue

environmental science or environmental engineering?

Environmental Science allows you to explore environmental challenges through a 3 year degree (like
BSc), understand the different areas and choose a path. For eg, she may start taking interest in
Environmental Policy related decisions and pursue a career in Policy. Or she might decide to pursue
further specialization in Green Infrastructure or Glaciology related to science. This gives more
flexibility

Environmental Engineering is a 4 year degree that focuses more on the technical aspects of
Environmental Conservation related to air pollution, water contamination and many other areas
where you will be applying concepts in Physics, Chemistry, Biology and maths to address
Environmental challenges.

Environmental Science is probably more flexible as it allows you to see challenges from not just
technical perspective but also management, business and political. You can choose your area a bit
later.

If she is interested in a more balanced perspective Environmental Science is good. If she wants to
look at it from a technology view point engineering is better.

But there are many who have studied environmental engineering and ended up in policy.

Here are several interviews of professionals who studied various specializations including Civil
engineering and ended up as Environmental Scientist

Environmental Science – Offbeat, unusual, unconventional & interesting career interviews

Is there any field in engineering where we can study both the hardware and software of
computers?

Robotics is a field where you can study hardware and software. Robotics is a combination of 4
disciplines :
 1. Mechanical (for movement)

2. Electrical (for power)

3. Electronics (for control logic)

4. Computer Science ( software/algorithm for cognitive applications)

So as you can see the Electronic aspect of Robotics is the hardware and Computer Science is the
software. Hardware is related to the sensors and other devices that control the Robot’s behavior.
Even the Mechanical aspect deals with hardware related to the movement itself. If you want to
make the Robot intelligent you can use concepts of Artificial Intelligence and Deep Learning to train
the Robot. Robotics will give you a complete picture of all these areas

Check several interviews of professionals who pursued Robotics

Mechatronics/Robotics – Offbeat, unusual, unconventional & interesting career interviews

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What is the future scope and career opportunities in the field of archaeology?

Archaeology in India is changing in a big way with the use of technology. Thermal Mapping, LIDAR
and Magnetometers are being used to map ancient underground cities. Teh latest discovery of a
Sangam era city in Keezhadi, Tamilnadu is grabbing the headlines everyday. Archaeology is not just
about identifying historic artefacts but also about accurately estimating the age of these artifacts
using carbon dating.

Another fascinating area in Archaeology is marine archaeology which pertains to shipwrecks. Since
most of the trade in ancient and medieval years happened over sea, there is a huge potential for
marine archaeology.

But one needs to be aware that the payscales for archaeologists are much lesser than what
archaeologists are offered in developed countries. Though this would change with time you should
have the passion for history and travel .

Here are a few career interviews of Indian archaeologists

Offbeat, unusual, unconventional & interesting career interviews

Is this the right time to study or pursue a career in automotive engineering, looking at the current
slowdown in the sector in India (and somewhat in the world)?

Current slowdown in the sector doesnt mean engineers will be unemployed. Its a slowdown in
demand from consumers, not demand from employers. Good engineers will always get work
because the automobile sector will always grow except for the slowdown period.

The future for automobile engineering is fascinating because of the immense opportunities in
mechatronics, electric/hybrid vehicles, biofuels and renewable energy. Just imagine the potential of
a truly hybrid vehicle that can switch across biofuel, wind energy, solar energy or electric energy in a
stored battery just the way our current wireless can switch across multiple wi-fi sources seamlessly.
These are the core areas where markets (demand) are growing and supply (engineers) is less.
Current and future regulations will be targeted towards a phased reduction in usage of petrol and
diesel.

So the next generation of vehicles needs automotive engineers specialized in alternate energy . The
other area is in mechatronics which is based on the idea of “smart vehicles” which can use vehicle
on-board data to optimize mileage, predict failures or breakdowns and invoke safety features in
advance.

So this sector is poised for tremendous growth. As long as you have the skills , there is a huge
demand

Here are several career interviews of automobile engineers.

Automobile – Offbeat, unusual, unconventional & interesting career interviews

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What are some interesting careers in India most people unaware of?

Let me list out a lot of very interesting careers other than engineering and medicine. I have added
links to interviews from professionals in each of the areas below and how they achieved their goals.

1. Design- You can get into industrial design (Cars, Bikes, Consumer electronics etc), Graphic
Design (Magazines, Logos etc), Transport design or fashion design – Offbeat, unusual,
unique, unconventional & interesting career interviews !

2. Architecture/Urban Planner – There is s huge need for city architects , building architects
and conservation architects who have a big picture view – Offbeat, unusual, unique,
unconventional & interesting career interviews !

3. Journalist/Tech Writers – You can combine your love for subjects (Arts.Sports,Science etc)
with writing and become a journalist.

4. Statistician – Another multi-Disciplinary subject which applies numbers (Maths/Statistics) to

research diseases (Biology), Sports (Cricket/Football/Tennis etc), entertainment (Box-office
nos), Insurance Pricing (Actuary), Data Scientist – Offbeat, unusual, unique, unconventional
& interesting career interviews !

5. Food and Beverages – You can specialise in Food and Beverage using a degree in
Microbiology/Biochemistry especially Beer making, Wine making or Cheese making
– Offbeat, unusual, unique, unconventional & interesting career interviews !

6. Disease Research – Microbiology degree will help you specialise in disease research for
cancer, aids etc – Offbeat, unusual, unique, unconventional & interesting career interviews !
 7. Agriculture and Farming – Work on cutting edge research that helps industry build
technologies to bring additional food to the evergrowing population – Offbeat, unusual,
unique, unconventional & interesting career interviews !

8. Aviation/Space – Be an AstroPhysicist or AstroBiologist researching outer space particles and

life – Offbeat, unusual, unique, unconventional & interesting career interviews !

9. Arts – Work as an Art Curator, Conservator or Restorer if you have a liking for Art – Offbeat,
unusual, unique, unconventional & interesting career interviews !

10. Entertainment – Animation, Illustration or comic drawing if you want to combine your talent
for drawing with movies – Offbeat, unusual, unique, unconventional & interesting career
interviews !

11. computers – If you love hacking, you can become an ethical hacker – Offbeat, unusual,
unique, unconventional & interesting career interviews !

12. Environment – You can also become a Geologist or Marine Biologist or Climatologist to get
involved in conservation of the planet – Offbeat, unusual, unique, unconventional &
interesting career interviews !

13. Pure Sciences – If you interested in maths or physics or chemistry or biology you can pursue
pure science research – Offbeat, unusual, unique, unconventional & interesting career
interviews !

14. Hospitality – Hotel management or chef or molecular gastronomist is another area

– Offbeat, unusual, unique, unconventional & interesting career interviews !

15. Finance/Economics – If you love numbers and human psychology you can specialize in
economics – Developmental, Behavioral or Consumer. Other areas in Finance are
Investment Banking , Fund Management etc – Economics – Offbeat, unusual,
unconventional & interesting career interviews

What are some of the basic skills I should learn before I graduate from a bachelor’s?

Once you graduate you are going to enter a world where you will compete against lakhs of aspirants
like you. Wherever you apply you will have to distinguish yourself from the rest. If you dont the
employers can never notice you . This is the reality of jobs in India.

So there are 3 basic skills you need – 1) Read, 2) Do and 3) Learn.

“Read” does not mean reading for your exams. Whatever your area of choice , read blogs, articles,
magazines and current news about that area and build your armoury of knowledge. That will be your
weapon.
Reading is not enough unless you apply what you read. Corporate world does not value knowledge
unless it is applied to address a problem. So start looking for real projects (through professors) or
internships (through internet, social networks etc) to apply your knowledge and gain experience and
unleash your weapon of knowledge.

Remember, college is a period of learning, inside and outside the campus. This is the time when
everyone will be tolerant of your mistakes because you are a student and not a professional. Make
mistakes and learn from them. This will be your training ground. Take part in seminars, conferences
and other public events to learn as much as possible in your area.

By the time you graduate and if you have sincerely worked towards building these skills it will show
in your profile and help you distinguish yourself from the crowd.

What will be the job option in the future? Which will be the most powerful skill now that can help
you in the future?

The “Hot Jobs” trend will come and go. Nothing will remain static. As they say, the only constant is
change. Be prepared for it

To be successful you need to develop what are called “Transferable Skills”, skills which overlap
across multiple jobs. Transferable skills are “Communication”, “Big Picture Thinking”, “Attention to
Detail”, “Analytical Skills”, “Emotional Intelligence”, “Situational Awareness”, “Research”, “logical
Thinking”. These are a few examples.

These are the skills that are more difficult to acquire relative to domain specific skills.

Transferable skills allow a person to be much more adaptable to new careers due to shared
commonalities . For example, if you have great “Communication” skills you can switch from
marketing to sales or journalism. If you are good at researching things, you can be successful at
many careers such as market research or consulting or public policy.

Build your transferable skills and focus on adaptability while keeping an eye on trending domains
such as Biotechnology, Robotics, Sustainability, Renewable Energy, Genetics etc

What is bioinformatics?

Just imagine for a moment, what defines each of us, every species on this earth? What is our unique
code?

Its our genetic code – DNA.

If we were to try to write down our genetic code, it would probably be billions of pages and take
more than 50 years.

If we wanted to create a database of the genetic code of every species of the universe, the first step
is to extract the DNA from every species and store it in a huge repository. We cant even imagine how
big it would be.

Thats only half the problem solved. Now we want to be able to process all that data and try to
understand how each species is different, their traits, why some have more immunity? So many
questions can be answered.
But processing this data requires the most powerful supercomputers in the world. SO now we have a
combination of computers running algorithms on biological data (DNA) to uncover all the different
traits in different species, also called genetic diversity.

This is one application of Bioinformatics – the application of computer science to address biological
problems.

The day will come when you can get your sequence decoded in minutes (using bioinformatics) and
be given a personalised medicine that will adapt to your DNA and protect you from illness.

bioinformatics – Offbeat, unusual, unconventional & interesting career interviews

How important is machine learning for bioinformatics?

Very important. Machine learning is very critical when the scale and complexity of the challenge is
huge.

There are 3 areas in Bioinformatics where machine learning plays an important role

1. Universal Vaccines – Diseases such as TB have multiple strains (150 or more) which attack
millions of people every year. Though vaccines have been created for individual TB strains,
there is no universal vaccine. A universal vaccine uses the power of machine learning to
understand unique signatures of TB strains and protect individuals from past strains and new
strains through pattern recognition. Infact these universal vaccines are going to address
diseases such as cancer as well which attack in many forms.

2. Disease Prognosis- Machine learning is being used to automatically analyze blood sample,
tissue samples and medical images to identify diseases such as cancer, alzheimer’s based on
training. The computer model is trained based on lakhs of samples of healthy and diseased
patients to accurately predict the disease based on new samples.

3. Personalized Medicine – In the future machine learning models will take in our genetic code
and suggest medicines that will address our health issues. The model will take into account
the unique characteristics of our genetic makeup and design the most effective medicine for
us. This model is also built by training based on samples.

Which elective should I choose between interaction design and electronic commerce as a
computer science bachelor’s student?

Interaction design is a generic concept that deals with designing online interfaces for websites
keeping in mind different types of audiences. Interaction design applies to gaming, e-commerce,
education, healthcare and several verticals that need to engage their target audiences through
compelling design. The goal is to build interfaces based on a deep understanding of how different
customers are likely to interact on the platform.

Interaction design also applies to laptops, mobile phones, ipads, smart products like Smart Watches,
Smart Vehicles and other sensors to design communication interfaces.

Companies like Apple, Samsung hire interaction designers to design Hardware and Software.

Its a fascinating field because it touches so many aspects of a business starting from market research
(who are the users?), consumer behavior (how do they use the system?), psychology (why do they
do what they do?) and economics (how do you manage their behavior?).
Electronic Commerce is specifically related to transacting and business on the web. It is a vital part of
interaction design.

Interaction design will give you more opportunities to apply your skills across different verticals
including E-commerce. Every interface will need good interaction design to interact with their end
customers and communicate their content.

Is sales a good career after engineering?

Remember that your career is a product of two attributes – Interest + Skills.

An ideal career is one where you can use your skills to do a job that interests you. Since you have
done engineering i assume you have acquired technical skills and since your interest lies in sales, you
can utilize your technical skills in a sales and marketing role.

Here is an interview of a mechanical engineer who transitioned into sales from an R&D role and
doing really well

Golf Equipment Sales Manager Interview

Sales Engineer Interview

What are the career options after BA in English?

With a BA in English you can go for the following careers

English Major careers

1. Journalism

2. Publishing

3. Creative Writer (Social Media Marketing)

4. Advertising/Copywriter

5. Art Critic /Writer (If interested in arts)

6. Film critic

7. Food Blogger

8. Sports Writer

9. Digital Marketing

10. Theater

Please check our portal to look at several interviews from professionals who pursued careers above

Offbeat, unusual, unconventional & interesting career interviews

What is the scope of cyber security jobs in India?

Any infrastructure related jobs in IT have tremendous potential. Especially since most companies are
now hosted on the cloud. In India, the potential is very high.
However this a field where you learn skills by practising it rather than studying. Please check a few
interviews of professional who have made a career in cybersecurity

Ethical Hacker Interview

CyberSecurity Specialist Interview

Offbeat, unusual, unconventional & interesting career interviews

What is the best answer of why you want to join non technical field when you are doing
engineering?

Engineering by itself is meaningless if it cant serve the needs of a business. You can build the
greatest product in the world.

However if you cant communicate its strengths (Marketing) or retain the people who built it (HR) or
ensure smooth running of the production line (Operations) or have a great team of people to
provide support it (Customer Service) or get enough funding to expand operations (Finance) , your
product will remain nothing but a dream.

Engineering shows you the technology to build things. However to launch it in a market is a
completely different animal. A career in engineering doesnt mean you always have to build things. It
also means the ability to leverage your skills in the above areas to successfully launch a product.

In an interview you need to communicate that you will still fit into a non-technical field in an
engineering firm that needs those skills.

You need to show that you are a well rounded individual who can seamlessly move across the
functions in an organization

What are the best career options after the MSc statistics?

Statistics has applications in so many domains. Any industry which requires modelling to predict the
future based on historical data will require applied statisticians

1. Healthcare – BioStatistics

2. Sports -Scores Statistics

3. Oil and Gas – GeoStatistics

4. Finance – Actuarial Statistics

5. Public Policy – Research based statistics

6. Environment – Weather Modelling

7. Technology – Data Scientist

8. Media based statistics

Please see interviews from various statisticians here

How good is HR as a career in India?

HR as a career in India is not as advanced and strategic as HR in the developed world

With the exception of a few firms, HR in most firms is just a titular head. They dont play a key role in
strategic hiring or grooming talent. Again, as i said this is based on my experience in firms that i
worked. There are exceptions ofcourse.

However HR in US is extremely advanced. Firms like Walmart have HR professionals using Data
analytics to make strategic decisions on succession planning, Goal Management, Performance
Appraisal and Variable compensation.

HR infact drives the culture of the company to make sure the right people are hired, retained and
compensated, all based on data analytics

This will take a while to come to India

What are the future prospects and scopes after completing BS-MS from IISERs?

IISER is a very well known research institution especially for pure sciences. For a while IISERs were
under the shadow of IITs. But now, due to the well known alumni network they have a unique
position of their own

But when you talk about future prospects from these kind of institutions , its a bit difficult. These are
exploratory institutions where, as you learn , you discover your interests and change your course.
What you learn is the fundamentals of maths and science and then you discover what you want to
do next

Please read through detailed career interviews of IISER alumni and where they landed up

Astrophysicist Interview

Indian Airforce Meteorologist Interview

Neuroscience Researcher Interview

Honda CAE/NVH Engineer Interview

Mathematics Predictive Modeler Interview

Mathematics Predictive Modeler Interview

What are the Job opportunities for forensic odontology in India?

There are very few career opportunities in India . However if you are ok with travelling abroad there
are a lot of options

Please check one of our interviews for a career path

Forensic Odontologist Interview

Forensic Scientist Interview

What is the scope of metallurgical engineering in India?

There are several different approaches to answering this question.

You can either get into research where you push the boundaries on what is possible and what is not.

Or you can do engineering and apply the research output to address an industrial problem like
Aircraft design.
In both cases the scope is enormous. What we all need to realise is, pretty much every product that
we use in our day to day life whether its a phone or a vehicle or a laptop or a spectacle relies on the
power of metallurgy.

Some of the questions Metallurgical researchers and Engineers ask is, how can i discover a
superconducting alloy or the lightest metal or the most rust proof material for Aircrafts.

Remember that luxurious world would cease to exist without inventions and applications of
Metallurgy.

Here are a few interesting interviews of Metallurgy professionals regarding their career paths

Offbeat, unusual, unconventional & interesting career interviews

What are the career options for radiation oncology in the present day?

There are 3 different areas you can pursue

1. As a specialist physician or surgeon focusing on Oncology working with cancer patients on

chemotherapy/radiotherapy

2. Biomedical Research – Researching the effects of radiation/chemo on human body and

working on developments to mitigate the risks

3. Medical Physicist – working with radiation equipment as a technologist in the oncology dept

Can a student who has taken PCB and not maths have a career option in physics?

Let me ask you a question. If you do not study English after school , that is, in college, will that stop
you from writing? No, because you have built a foundation in school on English. Similarly PCB, PCM
is just a way for the boards to segregate you because its easy for them.

That does not mean that if you didn’t opt for maths or physics you can never pursue a career in that
subject. I know hundreds of people who didn’t pursue maths after 10th but ended up as
Computational Scientists who build math models.

Education till 12th teaches you the most important thing – The ability to learn when needed. It will
probably take you 2–3 months to pick up the maths needed for physics.

So don’t worry about PCB or PCM, they don’t mean much in the outside world !

How can AI realize the promise of adaptive education?

AI based education is based on the concept of truly personalized education the way we teach our
kids. At first we start explaining certain concepts to them and then give them problems based on
those concepts. If they score well on the concepts we go to the next level, a little more advanced. On
the other hand, if the child answers the problem incorrectly we explain the concepts again and
probably in a simpler way till the child gets the problem right.

This iterative loop repeats itself for all concepts until the child learns. This is what we humans do and
is called Adaptive Education and works really well.

Now if you want to scale this for all kids who have very different grasping capabilities you need a
very smart system that can act as a personal coach to each child, understanding their cognitive level
and adapting itself to each child until the child learns, all in an automated fashion. That is AI base
Adaptive Education.
Though this is still far away we are getting closer

What is the best career advice for the new generation in 2020?

History has repeatedly shown us that there is no shortcut to building a career. For the last 20 years
service companies like Infosys, TCS, Wipro hired in droves but you can now see the result of that
hiring in the form of layoffs.

There is no substitute for good old careers like those in core engineering, research, agriculture,
design, economics, environment etc. As long as the going is good, IT will support people. But when
the economy tanks and there is no financial activity, IT is the first career to take a beating because it

is a secondary career dependent on core careers. You cant survive with software   Nor can you
survive on money. You need food to survive.

Remember, technology works on the assumption that basic careers that fuel the economy are
healthy. If that assumption is not met, like is the case today (in Covid times), you will see what you
see today, massive unemployment. But the unemployment is much lesser in non-IT carers.

So, my advice is, do thorough research. Dont take the easy way out by joining an IT company just
because they are paying you more than a company in core agriculture. Do your homework and try to
understand the value of your work to society and that will tell you how reliable your job will be if the
economy were to go down.

For example, if you get a job as an automotive engineer in Bajaj and even if you are laid off, your
chances of getting a job sooner or later is much higher than if you got laid off from an IT company.

Is AI a substitute for hard work?

ok Lets see if it really is a substitute. Let me take an example here.

Lets says you are a very lazy guy! You dont like to work. But i guess we all have to earn to survive. So
you take up a job in the agricultural sector where you have to segregate Coffee seeds based on the
quality of the outer cover. Now that is a very tedious task since you have to go through almost 5000
seeds a day and if you fail to segregate the bad seeds you dont get paid.So not only do you have to
work hard but also make sure the work is high quality.

So you think of an easier way. Why not build an AI tool that can segregate the seeds for you while
you relax . So you not only get your work done accurately but also segregate 7000 seeds and get
paid more.

So you start working on an AI system. In order to train the system to segregate seeds based on
quality, the system needs atleast a million seeds with properly labelled data on which seeds are
good and bad, split probably 70% and 30%.

You don’t mind those efforts because you know when the AI system starts functioning you can enjoy
your life and get paid while the machine does all the work. So you begin getting the training data for
the machine. At the rate of 5000 seeds per day, it will take you 200 days to get the data. So instead
you decide to work overtime to segregate 7000 seeds a day, to get the training data available in 150
days. After 150 days of hard work you put the system to test only to realise that the accuracy is only
65% because your training data left out a few unique seeds that looked bad but were actually good.
Due to this, your management penalised your work, which was actually done by AI. But you could
have done a better job.
So now you spend the next 2 months working on more training data for the AI machine which was
not included earlier. You work harder, segregating more seeds than what you normally do. You test
the machine again after 2 months and notice an increase in accuracy to 80%.

As you have continued doing this, it has taken almost 3 years for you to get a point where the AI has
been performing as well as you have. And in these 3 years you have worked twice harder to
generate training data for AI.

So it has taken you almost 5 years and much more work than you actually do to make an AI system
that is at best as accurate as you are. But it is at this point where the efficiency of the AI system
starts to surpass human capabilities and starts showing accurate results on probably even 1 million
seeds a day, much more than what a human can do.

AI, or no AI, it still is hard work, especially if you want to build an AI system with more than 98%
accuracy which can also handle the edge scenarios that humans can handle !

How do brands use artificial intelligence in marketing?

If you really think about Marketing, what is the biggest challenge?

The question is, how do i identify the target segment that needs our product and pitch our value to
them. Many marketers squander lots of money pitching products to segments that will never buy
from them. Reason, it is very difficult to achieve Personalised or Individualised Marketing. That is,
instead of focusing on segments, focus on a group of people who will definitely buy from you based
on your message

Now, with data being generated everywhere on buying habits of customers, their preferences,
lifestyle, income etc, there is immense potential to profile customers. So, if you have an AI algorithm
that analyzes this massive data and adaptively learns, it can predict with very good confidence, over
time, as to who will be a potential customer, thus reducing marketing costs by focusing on individual
customers instead of segments.

As more and more data is consumed by AI, including the customers who bought or did not buy the
product, AI become better with richer data and helps marketers target customers with precision

Can I become a mathematician and a doctor at the same time?

Yes ofcourse,. Many doctors are now realizing the power of clinical research, that Is, working as a
doctor and researcher in a clinical setting (Hospital), thus closing the gap between research and its
impact on patients.
You can do your PhD as a doctor on Computational Biology (Bioinformatics) which focuses on many
computer intensive areas such as Genetics, genomics and Next Gen Sequencing which require you to
work on mathematical models.

You can also be involved in Clinical Trials of new drugs where you test the efficacy of new drugs on
volunteers and use statistics and mathematical models to uncover positive and negative effects of
drugs.
There is no stopping a doctor from pursuing research, because it only strengthens your foundations
in pushing the boundaries of healthcare innovation.

Are machine learning jobs still in demand in 2020?

Yes, Machine Learning will be a sought after area in 2020 and later. But we need to understand the
hype factor as well. Just because there is a huge demand for ML there are startups springing up
everywhere claiming to apply ML .

So let me give you a few examples of sectors where ML will play a major role

Manufacturing – With decreasing lead times and aggressive GTM (Go to Market) strategies, firms are
applying ML to identify probable failures in advance and fix them instead of suffering downtime. This
is Predictive Analytics

Healthcare – The healthcare sector is using advanced ML and Deep Learning techniques to identify
tumors based on medical imaging. This is going to be a gamechanger to accurately identify the
signature profiles of Covid, Cancer etc to get to an early diagnosis.

Retail – Big retailers like Amazon are using object and image recognition techniques to prevent
malicious content from being uploaded by retailers. These are done through ML techniques based
on identifying abnormal patterns and images. As more and more people buy on the web ML
becomes a powerful tool to make the buying experience safer.

Financial/Credit Card Fraud – Banks and Finance companies use ML to identify abnormal patterns
based on transactions and account behaviour to flag fraud.

As you can see these are all legitimate and impactful applications of ML in addressing problems at
scale that humans cannot address. There are many such use cases in other sectors that need ML. But
we need to be cautious in not overselling the concept of ML for frivolous applications

Which universities in India offer a bachelor’s in science in computers specialized in artificial

intelligence?

You will not find a Bachelors degree with a specialisation in AI because a Bachelors degree is meant
to be a broad and foundational qualification, to be able to explore what you like and dont like. So it
would be a good idea to do a Bachelors in either Computer Science or Mathematics if you want to
eventually get into AI.

You can then follow it up with a specialisation in AI at the Masters level where the focus is purely on
AI.

Is AI an existential threat to humanity?

To explain how AI is different from machines that exist today, Let me illustrate a few examples.

Machines are efficient, accurate and consistent. Though humans are inferior to machines in terms of
efficiency, accuracy and consistency, we more than make up for it with our cognitive (thinking)
capabilities.

What is AI?

Let us say a question is posed to a Human and a Machine, “Can you provide a rough location of the
country Israel?”.

Now lets look at the answers by a human and a machine.

Machine – The machine uses geographical data to get the coordinates of Israel in terms of Latitude
and Longitude and gives the precise result in a few seconds.
Human – The human brain, on the other hand, does not have access to coordinates unlike a
machine. And let us assume that the human has pretty much no idea as to where Israel is. But having
seen news on the war between Israel and Palestine and understanding that Palestine is an Arab
state, the human understands that Israel must share a border with Palestine, an Arab state and
hence must be situated in Middle -East.

So while the machine is very fast and accurate, the human uses cognitive logic to make connections
and discover the location. This is what AI needs to be able to do to replicate the human brain. A
machine that works like the brain and that can make non-linear connections to uncover new
insights.

Let us take one more example.

As kids, we all learn the english alphabets as the first step in our long and tedious educational
journey. We are taught letters “a,b,c….z” untill we learn to recognize them anywhere and
everywhere.

Now, if a machine were shown the same alphabets, lets say, “a”, would it recognize “a” everytime?
Not really ! As long as the “a” is written in exactly the same way the machine was originally taught,
the machine would recognize it. However if the shape of “a” is a little more curved or straight the
machine would fail to recognize it.

Humans, on the other hand, learn to recognize any alphabet in any shape as long as it fairly
resembles the alphabet. The human doesnt need an exact match in shape. This kind of learning
comes from experiential learning in which the brain adapts itself to recognize things similar to what
it has seen earlier, which machines cannot do.

This is where AI needs to be if it were to be successful in replicating the human brain, not an easy
task by any stretch

Now to the next question, how will AI impact the future?

It will take AI a very long time to replicate what the human brain does. And whether AI will
accomplish that itself is a big question.

But over the next few years, a lot of mundane, routine and monotonous, non-cognitive jobs will be
taken over by AI. Manufacturing jobs, service level jobs, dangerous jobs and labor intensive jobs will
be slowly taken over.

On the other hand, high level jobs that require creative thinking, negotiation, leadership, artistic
talent, innovation, problem solving, analytical skills, critical thinking skills, interpersonal skills will
always require humans.

Now coming to the last question, how will my career be affected by AI?
Let us look at a few careers that will not affected by AI in the near future. Salesperson, pilot or a
Designer. If you look at each of these careers they have a unique characteristic related to humans,
cognitive thinking which is negotiation for a salesman, situational awareness for a Pilot and creative
thinking for a designer. These are all highly cognitive skills and connot be replaced by AI.

So for students, pick each potential career you like and try to evaluate if there are any
unique/cognitive characteristics of that career that give you an advantage over a machine. Always
pick a career that places a very high importance on an individual’s capabilities and that will ensure
you are safe.
How can big data be leveraged with AI technology?

Let me give you a simple example.

Let us assume you want to build an AI based machine that can replace a physician with 20 years
experience. That is, an AI machine that can make a diagnosis and prescribe a treatment in the same
way that a physician with 20 years experience can do.

Now lets assume the physician to be replaced has 20 years experience and the physician saw 50
patients everyday for 20 years. So, the physician saw 50*365*20 patients, which 365000 patients in
total. This is what we call the physician’s experience. For every patient the physician looks at a lot of
contextual data about the patient (history, age, illness, gender etc) as well as accesses medical
content to refer as needed to make a diagnosis that he/she isnt sure of. This is what we call “20
Years of Experience” which is very difficult to replicate. And then there is the academic knowledge of
the Physician from his education.

Now if we want to build a machine to replace the physician, we need to feed the machine at least
the data of 365000 patients that the physician saw or the minimum number of cases that cover a
wide range of diagnosis scenarios and combinations, as well as the details of diagnosis for each
patient including the contextual details of each patient and any external content used for reference.
That is, we need to feed the machine 20 years worth of data (what we call “Big Data”, which includes
all the data used by the physician in each case, including structured, unstructured and semi-
structured data to make a diagnosis) and train the machine, based on past data and results, to make
the right prediction with a reasonable confidence. This is called Experiential Learning based on Big
Data. This data for 20 years could run into TerraBytes and once the machine has learned, it can make
reasonable predictions similar to a physician with 20 years experience.

This is the concept that AI works on. The more the data or the cases it is exposed to, the better the
model is. So in theory, you could feed the model with cases handled by several physicians and create
a richer model. But the key difference with AI is, you are not telling the machine to categorise. You
are training it to behave like a human and think like a human, which is purely unsupervised learning,
and go beyond, by identifying patterns never uncovered before. When a machine gets access to data
equivalent to the entire experience of a senior physician, which is what we call “Big data”, the
assumption is that the machine makes lesser mistakes and is able to detect new patterns that
probably even a well experienced physician might miss. Since the processing power of a machine is
much more complex and scalable, several non-linear relationships might be uncovered by the
machine, like a relationship between Covid and BP !

Now if you extend the same concept to every sector you can see how AI can leverage Big Data to
make decisions .

Career advice: How do I find the right career for me?

The question is always ” How do i know what career to pursue?” . I myself faced this dilemma as a
student. I realised how difficult it is for a 9th or 10th std student to make a decision. So here are
some pointers in descending order of priority.

Longevity – A career lasts for almost 40 years from the time a student graduates from college at 21
to retirement age around 60, almost 39 years. A successful career is like a marathon run. If your goal
is only to reach the end you are missing the point. Marathoners enjoy their run because they cherish
the journey and in the process reach the destination. So start trying to identify what kind of activities
you like to do. These activities are not hobbies but what we call latent or hidden interests that stay
with you from childhood to your later years. The more you like an activity the more inclined you are
to stick to it for a longer time like a career. Remember that successful careers last long because of
interest.

Skill – While longevity is important we all need to understand that the world is competitive. Any
career requires a degree of skill to compete. Skills are of two types – 1) Innate or natural and 2)
Acquired. For example a naturally gifted debater has potential to become a good lawyer due to
innate skills of debating. However the student would also need a professional degree in Law where
they are taught about cases, arguments, drafting and mooting in courts. These are acquired skills. So
students need to evaluate the areas in which they are naturally gifted and hone their skills through
education (Acquired Skills) . Remember , a Diamond is a stone that needs treatment before it shines.
Identify your natural skills like writing, sketching, storytelling etc because a career based on those
skills will give you the edge in this competitive world

Benefit to Society – A student might be very good in solving mathematics problems. However if
solving those problems have no impact in the practical world those skills cannot be put to use and
are worthless. However if the student can use their skill to solve problems that the world faces
(Pollution, Climate, Insurance, Health etc) the world values those skills and there is a market for
those skills. Always try to evaluate to see what value you can bring to the world by putting your skills
to use. The more impact you make with your skills the more marketable you are.
Vision – When you have taken into account your interests (longevity), skills and benefit to society
you gradually start building a vision or bigger picture of what you want to do and breaking it down
into a short-term and long-term plan. A vision, simply put, is a direction in which a student wants to
take his career. As we all know today’s world is extremely fluid and we all want to be flexible to
change course slightly though the direction that we want to go in remains pretty much unchanged.
This direction or vision is defined by the above 3 attributes.

Money – And finally the most important attribute that we all need to survive in this world – money.
A lot of students make the mistake of asking “What career should i pick to make a lot of money?” .
Thats the wrong question. Instead, adopt the above approach and you will see that money follows.
Money is the byproduct of a good vision which again a byproduct of the first three attributes.

To give you an example, lets say you have a lot of interest in food and cooking (interest) and you are
good in Chemistry (Skill). You can study Food Science and become a Food Technologist. Your Vision is
to create new food that is healthy and tasty (Benefit to Society). You can see how all these attributes
come together to form a Vision .

Look at any successful career and try to map it into the above attributes and you will see a pattern.
Once you start thinking through this framework it will be very easy to select a career and follow that
path.

Should I pursue a career in data science or quantum computing?

It depends on whether you like theoretical or practical work.

Quantum computing is abstract but has profound implications on the future of computing. What
researchers are doing in quantum computing today is going to make a big impact on addressing big
problems in Next Generation Sequencing, Robotics and Deep Learning, any technology that needs
almost infinite resources to solve real problems that require extreme computation.

Data Science, on the other hand, lets you see results. You will work on uncovering trends in the data.
You will create and tell stories around trends and help predict a model for the future based on the
historical trends. Its a lot more fun because the results of your analysis can be seen and you can
iteratively work on the feedback. Data science applies to every vertical that collects data, so you can
work across several verticals because you are a data expert, you understand the universal data
language.

The industry needs more Data Scientists, but research needs more quantum scientists because
advances in quantum computing will provide a better infrastructure for data science and other
computationally intensive problems.

Figure out what you want

How do you know that political science is right for you?

A career in Political Science requires a great level of interest and some very specific skills.

If you like reading the newspapers and knowing about world events then you have the interest. That
is the easy part.

The tough part is the skill. Political Science, unlike other careers, requires quite a bit of Critical
Thinking skills. When you look at political developments around the world, lots of trade deals are
struck, military agreements are signed and diplomatic treaties are discussed. A political scientist
needs to be able to put them in perspective by trying the understand how these developments
affect different countries and the people. And this is not a simple issue.

For example, lets say a Uranium trade deal is signed between India and Australia where Australia
agrees to supply unlimited Uranium to India. A political analyst needs to be able to evaluate how this
deal will positively and negatively affect India and what would the effect of that deal on countries
like Pakistan or China and how are they likely to react.

As you can see, your analysis will require fantastic writing and communication skills along with
critical reasoning. In order to do a proper thought provoking analysis you need to know that current
state of affairs in different countries and how world developments affect their functioning.

You need to put things in “context” and do your analysis and your thinking has to be very strategic.
Its like trying to slice and dice the language of a deal and try to infer the pros and cons. These skills
are very very rare but very useful in several careers like law, policy etc. Its also called “Situational
Awareness”, the ability to connect seemingly unrelated things into a cohesively convincing
framework.

This is related to the role of a political analyst.

A political analyst could be employed by media companies or government or NGOs to analyze

different political scenarios in context.

A political scientist, on the other hand, works with the government and diplomats to craft political,
international and diplomatic agreements to meet well defined objectives of growth or trade or social
development. There are many such objectives.

Taking the Australian example above, Australia would also employ a Political Scientist to advise them
on various diplomatic strategies to engage with India or other countries. The scientist would analyze
the impact of supplying Uranium to India and the benefits that Australia could get from India in
exchange for the Uranium deal. These kind of agreements need thorogh analysis
Though the roles of the political analyst and political scientist differ, they share the same skills, which
is critical reasoning and analysis.

The best way to know if you will like this career is to read the papers and follow news regularly and
see if there are certain areas that you like and then try to write a blog on those areas based on
current developments. This will give you an idea of your interest and skills.

Here are some interviews of Political Science professionals about their career path

Political Science – Offbeat, unusual, unconventional & interesting career interviews

How do I choose a career path/education path when I don’t really have a passion for anything?

Yes it is not easy. Infact, many of the students who did go on to pursue careers of their interest were
fortunate enough to meet mentors . Some others followed their parent’s footsteps.

For those who have no clue, let me suggest a few ways. If you cannot select something that you like,
try to exclude things that you dislike strongly. For example, if you hate sitting in a desk all day or
attending meetings, dont go for IT (software).

If you dont have too much patience and are not too people friendly dont opt for becoming a doctor.

SO try to exclude careers that you dont like based on interest and skills.

If you love travelling and love nature, think of becoming a Conservationist or Wildlife Biologist. If you
are an outgoing person , you can get into Sales or Publicist careers

To have a successful career one needs to focus on the following :

Longevity – A career lasts for almost 40 years from the time a student graduates from college at 21
to retirement age around 60, almost 39 years. A successful career is like a marathon run. If your goal
is only to reach the end you are missing the point. Marathoners enjoy their run because they cherish
the journey and in the process reach the destination. So start trying to identify what kind of activities
you like to do. These activities are not hobbies but what we call latent or hidden interests that stay
with you from childhood to your later years. The more you like an activity the more inclined you are
to stick to it for a longer time like a career. Remember that successful careers last long because of
interest.

Skill – While longevity is important we all need to understand that the world is competitive. Any
career requires a degree of skill to compete. Skills are of two types – 1) Innate or natural and 2)
Acquired. For example a naturally gifted debater has potential to become a good lawyer due to
innate skills of debating. However the student would also need a professional degree in Law where
they are taught about cases, arguments, drafting and mooting in courts. These are acquired skills. So
students need to evaluate the areas in which they are naturally gifted and hone their skills through
education (Acquired Skills) . Remember , a Diamond is a stone that needs treatment before it shines.
Identify your natural skills like writing, sketching, storytelling etc because a career based on those
skills will give you the edge in this competitive world

Benefit to Society – A student might be very good in solving mathematics problems. However if
solving those problems have no impact in the practical world those skills cannot be put to use and
are worthless. However if the student can use their skill to solve problems that the world faces
(Pollution, Climate, Insurance, Health etc) the world values those skills and there is a market for
those skills. Always try to evaluate to see what value you can bring to the world by putting your skills
to use. The more impact you make with your skills the more marketable you are.
Vision – When you have taken into account your interests (longevity), skills and benefit to society
you gradually start building a vision or bigger picture of what you want to do and breaking it down
into a short-term and long-term plan. A vision, simply put, is a direction in which a student wants to
take his career. As we all know today’s world is extremely fluid and we all want to be flexible to
change course slightly though the direction that we want to go in remains pretty much unchanged.
This direction or vision is defined by the above 3 attributes.

Money – And finally the most important attribute that we all need to survive in this world – money.
A lot of students make the mistake of asking “What career should i pick to make a lot of money?” .
Thats the wrong question. Instead, adopt the above approach and you will see that money follows.
Money is the byproduct of a good vision which again a byproduct of the first three attributes.

To give you an example, lets say you have a lot of interest in food and cooking (interest) and you are
good in Chemistry (Skill). You can study Food Science and become a Food Technologist. Your Vision is
to create new food that is healthy and tasty (Benefit to Society). You can see how all these attributes
come together to form a Vision .

Look at any successful career and try to map it into the above attributes and you will see a pattern.
Once you start thinking through this framework it will be very easy to select a career and follow that
path.

You can check thousands of interviews of students who pursued offbeat careers

What should I do with my future? I’m currently studying in class 12th and have opted biology as
my stream. Now I’m entirely lost and confused. What career path should I choose?

In India it can be very difficult for a 12th student to shut down all the noise around you. Everyone
will point you towards one career, become a doctor. Biology means doctor and doctor means
Biology.

In most western countries people make decisions around their career at 21 or higher, but in India its
much earlier. So its normal to be confused about Biology at 17.

Let me try to clarify the different options

There are basically three or four areas in Biology based on your interest

Clinical – Doctor, Surgeon, Physio, Speciality, Public Health

Research – Drug Research, Genetics, Bioinformatics, AstroBiology
Conservation & Wildlife Biology,
Biotechnology & Biomedical Sciences/Engineering

Each of the above areas has its pros and cons. It depends on your interests and where you believe
you fit in.

Clinical careers are the most in demand but less interesting relative to research careers.

Research careers are very demanding but interesting because you will be working on something the
world has never seen. And if you crack the puzzle , it inspires you to solve a bigger problem.

Conservation & Wildlife Biologists track animal behaviour and their environments. They are also
called Ecologists. This career is critical to conservation of endangered species.
Biotechnology/Biomedical is a tremendously exciting career which uses the workings of nature
(biology) to engineer new products such as Bio-fuels, Gene edited plants, Artificial organs and
several other products that replicate nature.

Here is a list of all careers in Biology

Biology – Offbeat, unusual, unconventional & interesting career interviews

Take your time. Biology is such a fascinating subject, its a pity that we have narrowed it down to just
being a doctor. Read the interviews above and you can get inspired by many such students like you
who didnt get intimidated by people around them and carved their own path.

Is a degree in engineering worth it knowing that most of them will end up working for IT in India?

Fantastic question you asked ! Infact a million dollar question! why? why? why?

Why does a Trainee Fighter pilot end up driving a Two Wheeler?

Why do they think driving a Two Wheeler is better than flying a Fighter Aircraft?

Its not easy flying a Fighter. Its certainly risky, it requires tremendous skills and it also requires a
sharp mind. Very few, one in a million fly a fighter.

On the other hand, driving a two wheeler is less risky, its easy and its not bad even if you are one in
two people. Infact probably driving a two wheeler pays more than being a fighter pilot.

Never mind that you trained to fly, but even driving a two wheeler is driving right? So what, iam still
driving, that is, on the ground.

That defines our mindset. We dont mind driving an Ola if it pays more. However we forget how
important engineering is to our economy, to our job satisfaction and to the entire world we live in.

We forget that IT is only a secondary occupation that just supports other primary occupations. IT can
never make things, it will always be a software and virtual !

To make it worse our education system has glamourised IT by making software the No 1 choice in
Engineering choices. Top students are handed over Computer science and the next level selects
Electronics or Mechanical. So whats the message conveyed here? Computers is better than
Mechanical. Is that what we want our students to learn? That one stream is better than the other?
This year my niece wanted to take chemical engineering in ICT and she got the seat easily because
the competition is for IT. What about metallurgy? Oh, its the last degree chosen because its of no
use in real life right? Metallurgy and not useful? Are you kidding me? Thats the respect we give to
engineering. But we still want to travel in safe Aircrafts (marvels of Metallurgy), fastest cars (marvels
of Mechanical engineering), live in structurally strong houses (Civil eng) and use the latest and most
powerful computers (Electrical engineering) but let someone else study them because it is tough.

But remember this, IT can survive with mediocre people because its just software. But streams like
Metallurgy, Mechanical, Electronics need talented engineers because they build things used by real
people. These streams cannot afford to have mediocre people building things.
To be frank we are a generation that takes the easy way out knowing there will be a few rare people
who will take the tough and challenging route, Core Engineering ! The day we realise how satisfying
the tough route is, we will get more students flying in the sky and really enjoying what they do.

How can an engineering student get core branches in India considering most of companies are
software based?

Thats a very good question and iam happy you asked. Everyone who does engineering takes the easy
way out, go for IT !

Its not easy getting a core engineering job. Employers look for experience and freshers dont have
experience unless they get a job.

Start thinking about this from the middle of your second year in engineering. This is the time to
explore sub-specialization in your chosen field. Lets say you choose mechanical. Try to read a lot
about areas with mech – 1) Automobile or 2) Environmental or 3) Biomechanical or 4) Robotics.

Try to secure an internship in each of these areas on a rotational basis. Its not easy getting an
internship. If you want to get into automobiles, get into vehicle building competitions like SAEBAJA
where you will build an actual vehicle. You get loads of experience.

If it is the other areas, get to Linkedin and shortlist companies working in your areas of choice and
contact via Email. Introduce yourself, explain your interest, give an overview of your vision and state
that you want to learn and would like an internships. If you send 100 emails you are sure to get
atleast 5–10 responses and one internship opportunity. Lots of IITs and IISC offer felloships for
candidates.

After doing 2–3 internships, by end of 4th year you should be reasonable sure of what you want to
do. With your internship it is easier to get a core job or apply for Masters.

With several internships under your belt, even if few core companies come to campus you have the
best chance because you have real experience and it is rated much higher by employers than marks
assuming your scores are decent. You can even apply outside.

Hope that helps

How can a Computer Science student help in Environmental Engineering?

Computer Science is a multi-Disciplinary field. What that means is, it uses data to address challenges
in other fields.

Weather Modeling – Scientists build simulated models to predict and forecast weather based on
Maths and Physics using Computer Algorithms.

Climate Modeling Professional Interview

Remote Sensing – Many Researchers are using Remote Sensing tools to help farmers with rain
patterns and soil moisture analysis. These computer models tell farmers when to add water to soil
based on computer data thus saving water.

Agricultural Remote Sensing Expert Interview

Air Quality Monitoring – Several Scientists are working on building low cost and robust Air Quality
monitoring tools which use power of computers to quantitatively estimate the extent of pollution
based on chemical composition of Air.
Air Quality & Pollution Research Professional Interview

Oil Spills – As we are all aware one of the biggest threats to Marine life is the Oil Spills due to
offshore oil extraction. Many gas companies employ Geo-Statisticians to predict the path of oil spills
once they occur to take quick corrective action

Oil Spill Researcher Interview

Oceanographer Interview

What are job options after doing be from biotechnology?

The name itself has the partial answer. Technology replicating Biology. We all know that Biology is all
natural phenomena involving nature. So if we have to build something artificial that can replicate
nature thats Biotechnology.

Manufacturing Biofuels, inventing new vaccines or manufacturing new drugs to cure Cancer,
Diabetes etc are all marvels of Biotechnology.

This field has tremendous potential because researchers have barely scratched the surface of what is
possible. With Global Warming being a grim reality we need Biotechnologists to eliminate fossil fuel
and find new ways of manufacturing biofuels.

Biotechnology even involves replicating how our human body functions. Some researchers are even
working on extracting Haemoglobin from plant extracts. This could solve several disorders lika
Anaemia.

Here are several interviews of students who pursued a career in Biotechnology

Biotechnology career interviews

What are the chances of an average student getting in ETH Zurich?

Ok i will tell you my story.

I consider myself an average or slightly above average student as far as marks are concerned. I didnt
do very well in my Engineering final year. But down the line i got a really strong motivation to do an
MBA because i liked the big picture. I wrote GMAT in 2000 (long back ) and got a decent score of
670. Though i applied to several top schools (Sloan, Chicago, Wharton, Stern etc) i got waitlisted only
at NYU Stern.

They gave me a a deadline to convince them why i should be admitted. Having lost all hopes, i
decided to give this one last try. I sat down for a few days and really thought about why i needed this
degree , how it would help me and what my vision was. I wrote my mind honestly on 2 pages of
paper and faxed it !

I had no hopes of getting it until i got an admission letter a week letter informing me that i got into
Stern!

Moral of the story . You can be average in terms of marks. But you have to have an exceptional
vision in terms of what you want to do with the degree. Thats what US and European Universities
look for, a solid personal statement. It tells them what you already know and what you want to learn
to get to where you want to go !
Many of us lack in that area because we are all groping in the dark. Remember , from the
perspective of the University, they want students who go on to achieve something and bring name
to the University. You need a vision for that!

Go ahead and write to yourself honestly and you can convince ETH Zurich!

After an MSc in computer science, can we do a job as a data scientist?

Being a Data Scientist doesnt require any specific qualification . There are MBAs, scientists and
bachelors degree holders who have become data scientists because they had strong logical thinking
and had a very solid background in statistics and programming backed by real experience.

The only thing needed is real world experience. Join as an intern in a company and work for 6
months with data science teams and understand the big picture. Learn R programming on the side
since that is the primary tool.

What is a good undergraduate course (after 12th) in India for someone who is interested to learn
about the brain?

Typically an undergraduate course is never specialised. It gives you a broad foundation for a reason
so you can always change in your masters.

So if you want to pursue specialization in Brain (Neuro) get a basic degree in Biotechnology or
Biochemistry or Chemistry or Biology and then do an integrated PhD in Neuroscience at NBRC
(National Brain Research Center). You can also try ta TIFR or NCBS

If you want to focus on Brain Rhythms (EEG), you can also do a B.E in Electrical and Electronics and
then go for neurotechnology or neuroscience to explore the electrical impulses of the brain.

Which engineering branch requirement is more in today’s modern world?

Environmental Engineering is the branch which is most needed today and for the future because we
have so many environmental challenges. Lets look at this field

Weather Modeling – Scientists build simulated models to predict and forecast weather based on
Maths and Physics using Computer Algorithms.

Climate Modeling Professional Interview

Remote Sensing – Many Researchers are using Remote Sensing tools to help farmers with rain
patterns and soil moisture analysis. These computer models tell farmers when to add water to soil
based on computer data thus saving water.

Agricultural Remote Sensing Expert Interview

Air Quality Monitoring – Several Scientists are working on building low cost and robust Air Quality
monitoring tools which use power of computers to quantitatively estimate the extent of pollution
based on chemical composition of Air.

Air Quality & Pollution Research Professional Interview

Oil Spills – As we are all aware one of the biggest threats to Marine life is the Oil Spills due to
offshore oil extraction. Many gas companies employ Geo-Statisticians to predict the path of oil spills
once they occur to take quick corrective action

Oil Spill Researcher Interview

Oceanographer Interview

How do I switch my job profile from a business analyst to machine learning engineer without a
master’s degree?

If you have been a business analyst, you should be able to pick up data science as a career because
most companies now capture data and you can request an internal transfer to data science after
learning basic concepts.

Machine learning is an extension of data science where you build models to predict the future based
on supervised or unsupervised learning. You can also use Kaggle to download data and use R
programming to create some simple statistical models to play around with data science.

What is the difference between artificial intelligence and software engineering?

AI comes under the larger Software Engineering umbrella, because AI is another example of software
engineering which is like an Artificial Brain.

AI uses the principles of software engineering, which is algorithmic design to make scalable models
based on computer programming principles

What are some of the good but lesser known professions?

1. Defense Analyst – Land Warfare Analyst Interview

2. Ethical Hacker – Ethical Hacker Interview

3. Digital Agronomist – Digital Agronomist Interview

4. Patent Analyst – Patent Analyst Interview

5. Sports Scientist – Sports Scientist Interview

6. Energy Infra Lawyer – Energy Infrastructure Lawyer Interview

7. Audiologist – Audiologist Interview

8. Astrophysicist – Astrophysicist Interview

9. Automotive & Visualization Designer Interview

10. If you want more, check here – Offbeat, unusual, unconventional & interesting career
interviews

What skills do scientists need to master in 2020?

I think the most important skills scientist need for the future is the ability to visualize how their
research in the lab can apply to the real world. It is also called “Big Picture Thinking” .

Our world needs more real world inventions that can solve the big challenges of environment, fossil
fuels, pollution etc . While we have several conceptual solutions in the lab the ability to practically
apply it at scale and in a cost-effective way is the real solution

So, “Big Picture Thinking”, that is, visualizing a practical solution is the key skill

What are the opportunities for commerce student in data science?

Data Science is nothing but statistics applied on real data to make decisions. And when those
decisions relate to business or consumer behavior/psychology , it becomes commerce and
economics.

More and more companies are hiring data scientists with commerce background because they are
more economics focused and using data, can help arrive at key decisions. Companies like Amazon
and Google hire lots of data scientists with economics background to make sense of humungous
amounts of data to uncover new business opportunities, customer trends and incentivize buying

What are the career options after a Bachelor’s of Social Work (BSW or B.A. (SW)?

Most Social work jobs require a Masters degree especially if you are looking to grow in the social
sector. The biggest scope today for social jobs is in corporations who hire CSR professionals
(Corporate Social Responsibility) to work with NGOs and divert corporate funds to these NGOs to
achieve corporate social objectives.

Corporates hire masters degree holders and the demand is growing. Also if you have a masters
degree you have a good scope to take up jobs in global organizations like UN, UNICEF etc

Here is an interview of a CSR professional

Corporate Social Responsibility Professional Interview

I am passionately curious for science but I love Law, which career should I choose after 12th?

You should take up a career in Patents and IP. Most Pharma and Manufacturing companies doing
research need the services of a patent professional to help protect the IP and help commercialize
the research. For that they need patent professionals who have a solid science background and
exposure to patent law to understand how the technology can be protected from infringement and
also the complex details of underlying technology.

Here are some links to interviews of patent analysts

Patent Analyst Interview

Which one should I choose for higher studies, an MBA in finance or MBA in digital marketing?
Whose scope is wider, which one gets higher paid, and which one is demanding?

Ofcourse an MBA in Finance has a much wider scope but requires a solid foundation to get good
jobs. A Finance MBA can open many doors in corporates in Treasury, Risk Management, Financial
Analysis, Equity Research etc. But it requires very good Analytical/Quant Skills backed by solid
internships in relevant areas to understand where your interests lie.
Digital Marketing, on the other hand, doesnt really require an MBA because its a much narrower
field and there are many opportunities to learn it on your own or through a short-term course.
Though it has a lot of potential, there is a lot of competition as well and you need to have very
strong practical knowledge in the area related to web analytics, online ads, Adsense/Adwords, SEO,
SEM, PPC etc.

In the long run a finance degree will take you ahead as long as you have strong foundations. But if
you were to ask me which is tougher to pursue, it would be Finance because jobs are rare and
choosy.Finance will be higher paid because there is more demand for finance jobs though skill
supply is less!

Hope this helps

Why do most Indians go abroad for research while we have some premium institutions in the
world?

If you compare the ratio of premium institutions in India to the number of research professionals
relative to the same ratio in US or Europe, India will have a pretty low ratio.

Because the number of premium Institutions (IISc, IISER, TIFR, NCBS etc) are very low in number
relative to the ones abroad.

So given India’s population the number of good institutes is not enough to admit qualified
professionals, resulting in cutthroat competition , the way it is for any opportunity in India.

So lots of good researchers go abroad , not because they arent as good, but because thee are more
opportunities and a better way of selection that is more meritocratic.

What is exactly done in data journalism?

 To explain to you let met me take an example of our prime minister Narendra Modi.

For the last one year there have been lots of debates on his global travel schedule and also its
impact on FDI (Foreign Direct Investments). Some say he travels a lot which costs the exchequer and
some say it benefits the country. As you can see there is a lot of subjectivity in the news reported .
So how can we make the analysis much more data driven and factual.

Enter the Data Journalist

Lets say the journalist decided to investigate this. First by extracting all the travel data of the PM
from last one year and clean the data so that they can tabulate it and determine exactly how long
the PM travelled in a year. Now they can conclude clearly, based on factual flight data, that PM
travelled say 80% of the whole year.

Now the next question. How can we determine if the travel benefitted the country. Data helps again.
Lets say we try to determine if any major deal was signed between India and a country that PM
travelled to in the last 6 months. That duration helps correlate the deal with PM travel.

Now looking at data we can say that PM travel did not have effect on deals signed.

So data journalism removes subjectivity from news and makes it more factual and accurate as long
as we treat the data properly. Data Journalism requires good skills in number crunching,
interpretation and statistics.
Please review the career path of several data journalists in link below

Data Journalist Interviews

What type of scientists are accepted at CERN?

CERN is very well known for Particle Physics. Its a pure science track focused on discovery of new
frontiers in space and its origins.

So if you are interested in pure science you should aim for a PhD track in good schools since many of
them have tie up with CERN where you can do internships and then switch to a long term track.

Here are a few interviews from Cern scientists where they talk about their career path

Particle Physicist Interview

What does one do after a degree in liberal arts in India?

The entire world of careers is divided into – Engineering, Medical, Commerce or Arts. And of course,
the third option is seldom considered a career ! And even if it is considered a serious career the
assumption is that one must be very good at drawing or painting or designing ! If it is Arts, it must be
about creativity!!! However, nothing can be further from the truth.

Liberal Arts – The Diamond in the Dust

Which engineering branch and its subject content match more with the metallurgy and materials
science?

First thing one needs to understand is, material science is a larger umbrella under which metallurgy
and materials engineering comes.

That is,materials science is a study about materials across all disciplines including physics, chemistry
and biology. Metallurgy relates to metals and alloys and their applications in various industries.

Engineering and specifically metallurgical and materials engineering focuses on designing and
manufacturing materials for industries like aeronautics, space, automobile etc.

So if you are interested in applications of materials science in engineering go for materials

engineering or metallurgical engineering.

Here are several interviews of professionals in above careers

Metallurgy – Offbeat, unusual, unconventional & interesting career interviews

Materials – Offbeat, unusual, unconventional & interesting career interviews

How can I choose my career after class 12? I am a student of science.

To answer this question you need to think of different roles of science which benefit the society and
which role you fit in

1. Research – The starting point of science life cycle which results in a discovery(pure science)
or invention(applied science). This is very technical and requires very good academic skills in
maths/physics/chemistry/biology
 2. Engineering – Building products based on applied research and restricted to specific areas
(mechanical/electrical/computers etc) and is the most common today. Again this is a
technical role

3. Science Communication- You can be a science journalist communicating the wonders of

science in simple layman terms to the common man. This is techno-functional role which
enables to look at science at a high level

4. Science Policy – You want to use your knowledge to catalyze a positive impact on the world.
You want to drive change using science through policy. This requires to work with govt and
show them the big picture. For eg; how can a nation adopt nuclear energy and completely
replace fossil fuels.

5. Patent Law – You want to protect scientific inventions and bring the results of science into
fruition by drafting IP and Patent documents for researchers

Please see below several interviews from professionals in above careers

Offbeat, unusual, unconventional & interesting career interviews

What career option would be the best in today’s world after doing PCM in 11th and 12th?

After doing PCM you have basically 2 options

1. Engineering – The standard path everyone chooses.

2. Sciences – Enroll for a BSc (Physics or Chemistry or Maths) and then go for pure sciences or
applied science research

Both the options could converge at a later stage if you choose to. Otherwise you can continue in
research

Please check links below for interviews from professionals.

Physics (Research) – Physics career interviews

1. AstroPhysics

2. Photonics

3. Material Physics

4. Plasma Physics

5. GeoPhysics

Chemistry (Research) – Chemistry career interviews

1. Pharma/Drugs

2. Food & Beverage

3. Cosmetics

4. Environmental Chemistry
Maths (Research) – Mathematics career interviews

1.

a. Actuary

b. Financial Mathematics

c. Animation

d. Applied Mathematics

e. GeoPhysics

f. Data Science

g. Climatologist

I’m planning to study masters in renewable energy, what are the career options after completing
it?

As you might be knowing Renewable Energy has tremendous potential whether it is solar, wind or
any other source. There are 3 major areas where you can fit in

I have added links to interviews from professionals in each role so you can understand what each
role involves.

1. At a micro level you can attain a Master’s in Energy Engineering abroad and take
employment in the industry. You will be working on the most recent renewable projects for
Solar, Wind etc Sustainability Professional Interview, Renewable Engineer Interview

2. If you want to be involved in something more impactful you can pursue macro-level courses
at policy level (Enviromental Policy, Master os Sustainable Development Practice). In this
role, you will work on formulating policy and also finding ways to incentivize people to adopt
renewable energy. You will travel a lot. Energy & Sustainability Expert
Interview , Environmental Policy Expert Interview

3. If you like to be involved in the creative side of renewables you can also take up a
communications design kind of a role not only working on renewable energy but also raising
awareness of global challenges through creative ads and other media sources. Sustainability
Professional Interview

What are the career options after B.com?

Here are the career options for BCom

See interviews or above careers here

Careers excluding engineering and medical

1) Actuary (Maths, stats,economics)

2) Financial Engineering (Maths, computers)

3) Animation (Maths,Computers)

4) Ethical Hacker (computers)

5) Cryptographer / security (Maths, computers)

6) Equity research (maths, finance)

7) Economics( behavioral, developmental, tech economics)

8) Sports statistics (maths, statistics)

9) Environment (sustainability models)

10) Political/defense/Policy analyst (English, economics)

11) Journalism (English)

12) Law (english, economics)

13) design (arts, drawing, sketching, maths)

14) arts (foreign languages, archaeogical history, museology, curator, critic, writer, restorer)

15) cybercrime security (computers)

16) advertising (english, communication, creative skills)

17) corporate finance

18) investment Banking

19) Hedge funds

20) Investment Analyst

21) Hospitality (Hotel management, Bar tending, Chef, Mixology)

22) BigData Analytics (computers)

26) Statistician (maths, statistics)

23) Natural Language Processing (computers)

26) Statistician (maths, statistics)

24) Deep Learning (computers)

26) Statistician (maths, statistics)

25) Image/Voice recognition (computers)

26) Statistician (maths, statistics)

27 Psychologist (Sports/Clinical/Behavioral/Oc

cupational)

28 Sociology (English, Economics)

Can I do engineering if I have the 12th passed in PCB? If yes, can you tell me the scopes and
benefits?

Yes you can opt for a very interesting careers such as BioMedical engineering and medical physics.
This stream is the application of physics to solve biological problems.
BioMedical engineering has a huge potential in the future in teh following areas

1. Artificial organs and regenerative techniques using tissue engineering and other cutting edge
technologies

2. Medical diagnostic devices and equipment for disease scanning like MRI, CT-Scans. You will
work on developing new scanning devices using physics concepts

Please look at several interviews of BioMedical engineers to see their career paths

Biomedical career interviews

What are the career options after taking arts in 12th?

Arts has several options. Let me list them below

1. Animation

2. Illustration

3. Art Curator

4. Art Critic

5. Art Photographer

6. Art Columnist

7. Design (Product, Industrial, Consumer)

8. Historian

9. Archaeologist

10. Anthropologist

However unlike Engineering, since Art is very abstract, you need to have a portfolio of work or some
kind of internship. There are much fewer opportunities but growth potential is huge.

You can check out the career path of art professionals at

Arts career interviews !

How can I choose my career path in medical?

There is a very common misconception that the only path available in medical is becoming a doctor.
Here are several other options. I have also added links to interviews from professionals in each field
about their careers

1. Biomedical Professional. Area related to artificial organs, tissue regeneration and

prosthetics. Designing and building devices that mimic human organs. Biomedical Careers

2. Medical Physics. We have several equipments around us in a hospital. Whether it is a

sonogram or X-ray machine or an ECG these are all marvels of medical physics. Medical
Physics

3. Disease research. A doctor can only save one life at a time. However biotechnologists,
microbiologists and biochemists can save millions of lives by diagnosing disease causing
 organisms and developing cure for these diseases much before it reaches a doctor. Disease
Research

4. Geneticist – Interested in Next generation Sequencing or unlocking the genetic code? Work
on developing personalised cures for every individual by understanding their gene
structure . A great combination of biology and computers. Its also called
BioInformatics. Genetics

5. BioStatistics- Clinical trials require processing huge amounts of historical data to identify
how a drug affects a large population across age, culture, geography and gender.
Biostatistics involves a combination of biology, maths and statistics to study trends and
patterns that help in clinical trials. Biostatistics

6. Doctor – A front end professional who is very talented but gets a lot of credit because of
better visibility

Being a fresher and a pass out in 2018 batch, will I get a job if I do any data science certification
course?

Data Science is extremely application oriented. It requires a good bit of domain knowledge coupled
with data analysis and statistical skills. While the technical aspects can be learnt (statistics) the
application part requires considerable experience working in the industry.

Remember, Data Science is not just about number crunching. There are many professionals as well
as technologies that will slice and dice data and calculate computational models based on data, but
the industry needs people who can interpret the data and make recommendations.

So as a fresher you can take a lot of courses. But unless you work as an intern in a company that uses
data science you wont learn the art of performing data analysis, interpreting the results and making
intelligent recommendations.

The science can be learnt, the Art has to be experienced !

What are the various fields other than medical and engineering after 12th?

Let me list out a lot of very interesting careers other than engineering and medicine. I have added
links to interviews from professionals in each of the areas below and how they achieved their goals.

1. Design- You can get into industrial design (Cars, Bikes, Consumer electronics etc), Graphic
Design (Magazines, Logos etc), Transport design or fashion design – Design

2. Architecture/Urban Planner – There is s huge need for city architects , building architects
and conservation architects who have a big picture view – Architecture/Urban Planner

3. Journalist/Tech Writers – You can combine your love for subjects (Arts.Sports,Science etc)
with writing and become a journalist.- Journalist

4. Statistician – Another multi-Disciplinary subject which applies numbers (Maths/Statistics) to

research diseases (Biology), Sports (Cricket/Football/Tennis etc), entertainment (Box-office
nos), Insurance Pricing (Actuary), Data Scientist – Statistician

5. Food and Beverages – You can specialise in Food and Beverage using a degree in
Microbiology/Biochemistry especially Beer making, Wine making or Cheese making – Food
and Beverages
 6. Disease Research – Microbiology degree will help you specialise in disease research for
cancer, aids etc – Disease Research

7. Agriculture and Farming – Work on cutting edge research that helps industry build
technologies to bring additional food to the evergrowing population – Agriculture and
Farming

8. Aviation/Space – Be an AstroPhysicist or AstroBiologist researching outer space particles and

life – Aviation/Space

9. Arts – Work as an Art Curator, Conservator or Restorer if you have a liking for Art – Arts

10. Entertainment – Animation, Illustration or comic drawing if you want to combine your talent
for drawing with movies – Animation

11. computers – If you love hacking, you can become an ethical hacker – Hacker

12. Environment – You can also become a Geologist or Marine Biologist or Climatologist to get
involved in conservation of the planet – Environment

13. Pure Sciences – If you interested in maths or physics or chemistry or biology you can pursue
pure science research – Maths

14. Hospitality – Hotel management or chef or molecular gastronomist is another area

– Hospitality

15. Economics – If you love numbers and human psychology you can specialize in economics –
Developmental, Behavioral or Consumer. Other areas in Finance are Investment Banking ,
Fund Management etc – Economics

What are various career options after doing M.Sc in mathematics?

With a Maths degree you can look at the following careers

1. Data Science/Statistics – The science of using data to predict trends and patterns. This
applies to any industry with data and heavily relies on statistical/math modeling.

2. Financial Mathematics – Also called quantitative finance, this is a great combination of

mathematics and finance. You would use complex maths modeling to predict the
performance of stocks and derivatives which are used by institutional traders.

3. Astronomy- This is more research oriented. Maths plays a key role on analyzing our galaxy
and studying other planets.

4. Biostatistics – Drug companies rely on biological data to statistically validate clinical trials.
This requires application of mathematics on healthcare data

Please look at the interviews below from professionals who pursued a degree in mathematics to
learn more –  Maths

Which type of career should I choose if I am fond of travelling and that should be something
prestigious?

“Prestigious” is a very subjective word. But let me define what i think is prestigious.
If the work you do is going to make a significant impact on solving challenges the world faces and
passes on an immediate benefit to humans, animals and the world around us, i would consider such
a job prestigious . Infact i would think it is Awe-Inspiring.

Geologists, Wildlife Biologists, Remote Sensing experts, Food sustainability professionals,

Climatologists, Oceanographers and any other environmental sustainability professions fall under
this category.

They also travel a lot not just for conferences but also to analyze samples in exotic/remote places
like arctic, conduct collaborative experiments and make observations to make the world a better
place.

You can review below several interviews from environmental professionals to understand their
career path: Environmental Careers

What is the market value of a B.Tech, M.Tech, and Ph.D. qualified person?

Lets think about market value for a moment. It is a price attached to the person who creates
something of value that the market consumes. Note that it is not a price attached to the degree of
the person.

So , a B.Tech, M.Tech or a Ph.D wouldnt matter unless they created something of market value.This
applies to professionals who work on salaried jobs as well.

To put it in perspective , Larry Page (Stanford PhD) has a market value in billions today because of
Google which is a perfect example of a great commercial product.

However there are many PhDs who probably graduated with Page who never came out with
anything that the market valued commercially.

Hence, being a highly qualified Phd or engineer is one thing and having a market value is another
thing. Business acumen and technical expertise are rarely present in one person . People like Larry
Page are very rare.

What this tells you is you can be an insanely smart person ending up with a PhD but if your research
cannot address a real market need your market value will be zero even if your PhD is from MIT or
Stanford.

What are the career options after a BA in Geography?

Think of one of the most usable products in recent history . Ofcourse maps have existed since
centuries.

However google maps revolutionised the way we travel and look for new places.

Geography is our interface with nature. Geography binds us. We have seen so many natural
disasters like floods, climate changes, earthquakes etc. Farmers have sustained losses due to less
agricultural produce.

What is the answer to these problems?

Remote Sensing

With India launching its satellites in space, lots and lots of big data is being captured regarding every
single location in this entire world and the characteristics of each location.
The GIS (Geographical Information System) can collect, store and aggregate the data and enable
geography professionals to understand the results and provide meaningful information regarding
floods, earthquakes and natural disasters.

Not only that, remote sensing can also help analyse the content of soil for moisture and suggest
specific actions to improve crop productivity.

Remote sensing can also help trace ground water in specific areas and solve water problems

The next biggest disruption is going to be to use of location data (climate, soil, terrain, altitude etc)
to solve and predict geographical issues like floods, earthquakes etc

Please read through careers of geography professionals through their interviews Geography Careers

What are the career options after 12th standard?

As a student think of your interests and skills. A combination of these 2 attributes will lead to a
fulfilling career.

Lets say you love sports (interest) and are very good at Maths (skills) you can become a Sports
Analytics Professional, someone who analyses statistical data related to sports players, win/losses
and also makes predictions for the future

If you love nature and are great in biology, you can become a wildlife biologist, professionals who
work on animal conservation.

Similarly if you are passionate about the environment and are at good at physics, you can become a
climatologist or geophysicist, those who work on environmental issues like global warming, pollution
etc

If you enjoy reading and writing you can go for journalism. There are several other options to pursue

Please go through several interviews from professionals who built their career based on their
interests and skills –   Offbeat, unusual, unconventional & interesting career interviews

I really want to be mentally tough. How can I achieve this?

Mental Toughness comes from taking risks. Taking risks comes from a need to do something that is
going to give you a massive benefit to the extent you ignore the threats that come with it. At the end
of the day it is going ahead and doing things knowing the consequences and preparing for them

Most people do not take risks, why? mental toughness. When you start thinking of the bad
outcomes before taking risks, you decide not to take the risk.

For example, no one quits a job before they have a new one in hand. Why? Fear of unemployment.
But is that such a big risk? Its actually not. But when you start thinking of your EMI, what society
would say, your ability to get another job , you decide the risk isnt worth it. However, if you think
about the positives, a long vacation, time with family or spending time on your hobbies you feel the
risk is worth it.

Hence start with smaller risks, try to ignore negative outcomes, face the outcomes with smarter
tactics (like acquiring new skills while unemployed) and you will realize you have built the toughness
needed. Slowly start taking bigger but calculated risks and you will build your toughness.
Is it worth doing an M.Tech in Statistics (Data Science)? I have already done MCA and working in
C++. Is it a good idea to leave this job and go for an M.Tech in Data Science?

It depends on where you want to end up.

A C++ job is more related to core platform development and a technical stack. You will never come
near business unless you go through a management hierarchy.

A data science job is heavily business focused. You could work on any and every domain because
every domain captures data.

A data science job is also incredibly interesting due to the range of possibilities working with Big Data
and uncovering new trends and patterns like a detective.

Not to undermine C++ but if you are looking to really add value to the bottom line of a business with
your skills, Data science is the way !

Is it always practical to make our career in the field of our interest? Can’t we do good in other
professions through our hard work?

It is not always practical to make out a career in a field of interest. Infact its extremely rare !
Whether its sports or entertainment (where most of our interests lie) very few people manage to
make a career !

However this doesnt mean that you throw away your interests and pick a career and work hard on it
day and night ! Even if you cant make a career out of interests pursue it as a hobby. Make enough
time for it , give it equal priority relative to your career if not more.

People tend to get frustrated when they start dedicating their entire lives to their careers and
regretting later that they didnt pursue their interests.

You never know when you might get a chance to switch and convert your hobby into a career.
Photography is a great example.

Is data science a good career path for someone who is creatively inclined?

Creativity might not be a major skill requirement for Data Science. Data Science requires logical
skills.

Creativity is great when you have a very open ended career like art which is open to interpretation.

However Data Science typically starts with a clear cut business problem that needs to be structured
and logically solved. Since it involves maths and statistics the skills might not fall into the ambit of
creativity.

Which field would you recommend a class 12 science student who wants to pursue a career in
research?

There are several areas . I have also added links to interviews of career professionals in that area

1. Astrophysics – Research pertaining to our universe, solar system and beyond. Requires
sound knowledge in Maths/Physics – Astrophysics careers

2. Medical Physics/Biomedical – Research pertaining to medical devices and artificial organs

(Prosthetics) to address human disability challenges. Requires sound knowledge of
Physics/Biology- Medical Physics careers
 3. Microbiology – Microbial research to address challenges pertaining to disease such as AIDS,
Cancer and other water/air borne illnesses. Requires sound foundation in
Biology- Microbiology careers

4. BioChemistry – Research pertaining to the fundamental components of the human body –

Proteins and molecules and how they adapt and fight against pathogens. Use this knowledge
to deliver personalised medicines . Requires sound knowledge of
Chemistry/Biology- Biochemistry careers

5. Artificial Intelligence/Machine learning – Research pertaining to Robotics/Neural Networks

and training of machines based on data to mimic human behaviour. Good understanding of
maths and statistics- Machine Learning careers

Is the BSc in microbiology a good option for a career? I completed my 12 science with 72%. I am so
confused as to what I should choose.

Yes absolutely ! Microbiology is the study of microbial biology, the good and bad microbes. Good
microbes that make Beer, Alcohol and Cheese to taste great and the bad microbes that cause
diseases . Microbiology also has applications in environment (Air, water, soil etc) as well.

So by pursuing a degree in microbiology you have several options to specialize. But you might have
to pursue a master’s at the very least, to get a good career opportunity.

Please review a list of interviews from microbiology professionals so you can understand their career
paths –  Microbiology careers

What is the scope of journalism in India?

The world needs great journalists to report the ground truth ! Moreover Journalism has become
truly multi-disciplinary to present a complete picture or story for the news reader.

1. Environmental Journalism – Be a changemaker and report on key environmental trends

related to global warming, pollution, deforestation and many other natural hazards

2. Political Journalism – The whole world is closely interlinked today. Whether it is a border
issue with China/Pakistan or a nuclear issue with North Korea or a weapons transaction with
USA a political journalist needs to report the facts

3. Sports Journalism – If you love sports you can report on your favourite games and creatively
weave beautiful stories to attract readers

4. Data Journalism – With the availability and processing of Big data , the world is going
towards factual journalism where a journalist uses data and numbers to provide meaningful
information and trends. This is more believable and impartial.

5. Investigative Journalism – Love detective work? Combine your love for writing with
investigation and be a part of undercover operations to uncover illegal activities

6. Entertainment Journalism – Love movies? Be a part of the reviewing community and other
Page 3 happenings in the film world.

7. Science Communication Journalism – Most of the research done by scientists is too complex
to understand for the layman. The aim of science journalists is to break down research
information and communicate it in a simple way to the common man.
To see a full list of opportunities in Journalism please look at our interviews with Journalists below
– Journalism careers

What would be the most practical path to take to change careers from teaching HS math to enter
the data science profession?

The bridge between mathematics and data science is statistics. If you could do a BSc in Statistics with
a Masters in Applied Statistics with probably an internship in a data science project that will be the
best path

However it is easier said than done. Statistics is a vast subject and requires you to master sampling,
regression and machine learning concepts that can be applied to any domain.

Ideally a PhD would be great since it will lead you to unsolved problems where your statistics
knowledge will really be tested.

Is there a good career choice if we are good in the English language?

f you are good in English you can go for the following careers

English Major careers

1. Journalism

2. Publishing

3. Creative Writer (Social Media Marketing)

4. Advertising/Copywriter

5. Art Critic /Writer (If interested in arts)

6. Film critic

7. Food Blogger

8. Sports Writer

9. Digital Marketing

10. Theater

11. Lawyer

12. Public Relations Professional

13. Technical/Documentation Writer

Please check our portal to look at several interviews from professionals who pursued careers in
English Literature – English Literature careers

What career options are open for a software engineer apart from an MS or MBA in its fields? Can
he pursue a career in environmental science fields? If yes, then what would be the path?

Yes absolutely . An excellent question.

Any specialisation whether it is Civil or Mechanical or Environmental or Automobile depends on

technology/software to make meaningful and insightful decisions.
For example, Mechatronics and IOT are the emerging areas that make driverless cars possible.

Similarly, applications of software in Civil engineering are ground water simulation or even soil
mechanics analysis.

Environmental sciences relies heavily on software to crunch natural resource data (Air, Water, Soil,
Food) to analyse key indicators to make meaningful predictions for the future or even address
environmental hazards

Another key area where software is useful is GIS (Geographical Information Systems or
GeoInformatics). That is, leveraging geomaps to identify disasters, floods, earthquakes or storms
based on weather data.

Remember, the fundamental entity that binds all the above is Big data. The ability to analyze Big
Data comes from statistical software. If you are good at software and data crunching you could work
in any of the above multi-disciplinary fields to solve real world issues.

Please look at our list of interviews from professionals who pursued a path in Environment
– Environmental careers

How much scope is there in sales job?

I hate to give his answer but ”it depends…”

Let me tell you a simple anecdote on how a salesman made me buy a car that i never knew about
before i entered the showroom. I walked out with a purchase

About 8 years back i was on the lookout for a new car in the C-Segment. Honda and Toyota were the
usual suspects. I went to their showrooms and heard the salesmen rattle out the customary jargons
on mileage, resale value, warranty and several other dangled carrots. But it just didnt make sense to
me, the way the salesmen spoke. Indifferent, Unempathetic and more importantly they just didnt
need to sell seriously because these vehicles were anyway selling. And lot of their details were
incorrect.

Disappointed and on the way back i came across a Mitsubishi showroom . Entering it i saw an
unknown model . The salesman introduced himself and said the model was “Cedia Sports”. Before i
could comment that it was an unknown model, he told me that it was a failure in India. I was
stunned at his frankness. He went on to say how a car with a massive 2 Litre petrol engine and rock
solid suspension was a flop in the market due to the customer’s focus on top brands with resale
value. He also asked me to take a test drive. He gave me the numbers of a few customers who had
bought the car so i could get some feedback. In addition he explained that this was a global model
that was sold in India and was a detuned engine for Indian conditions (from 200 HP to 120 HP). What
he said made a lot of sense and i confirmed it online. He also told me to buy it ONLY if i drove the
car. If i had a driver it was not worth buying a Cedia since it was driver’s car.

What i liked about the salesman was his honesty and attention to details. I was sold !

This is what it takes to be in Sales. Empathy, Honesty and Attention to Detail. Build a relationship
with your prospects. They will buy it for you rather than just the product.

Thats why sales is tough. If you have what it takes you can be super successful.

You can specialize in technology sales, FMCG sales, Merchandising or Industrial sales. Lots of scope
but incredibly challenging !
Here are a few links to sales careers – Sales careers

 What does a 60% aggregate in PCB mean?

It means that you are now completely free to pursue any career you want without the pressures of
an incredibly high score. No one will trouble you.

It means you no longer bear the weight of high expectations. The only way you can go from here is
UP !!!

It means you are a part of an elite crowd who truly hated cramming and memorizing and stuck to
low scores even if it meant losing most popular career choices to crammers (Engg/Medical).

Take this as your opportunity to do whatever you are interested in as a career and focus on the skills
you need to acquire !

What are some career options which don’t require one to be academically sound, but be good in
multiple skills?

In general, an academically sound career isnt a necessity unless probably for a career in core
research or even applied research.

However this doesnt mean that careers that dont require strong academic skills are easier to pursue.
This is a big misconception! We have added career interviews of professionals in each area below.

1. Lawyer – Requires very good communication and logical reasoning skills –Law careers

2. Advertising – Highly creative thinking and communication skills – Advertising careers

3. Journalism – Creative writing and questioning skills – Journalism careers

4. Public Relations – Ability to be the representative of your organization and interface with the
outside world. Need to be an effective communicator Journalism careers

5. Designer – If you are creative and good at drawing and a problem solver at heart. How to
use arts to make things easier for end user whether its a product or a service –Design
careers

6. Psychology – If you can empathize with others and can be a good mentor psychology is a
great career –Psychology careers

While none of the above careers emphasize on academic skills they are probably much more
challenging and demanding . If you believe you have the skills go ahead

What can I do after 12th if I want to become a researcher/scientist?

The most important trait of a scientist is the ability to ask the right questions and go after problems
that could be disruptive in nature if solved.

Most students get stuck due to lack of clarity in framing a problem and then lacking the tenacity to
see through the problem and take on challenges to take you to your goals.

Remember, as a PhD student there will be mentors to guide you but no one will tell you what to do.
You are on your own and need to be a sure shot problem solver.
The typical path for a scientist is to do a BSc (Physics, Chemistry, Biology or Maths), then Masters
and then a Phd. You can also go for an integrated Masters and go on directly to PhD. Some students
also go a BTech and go ahead to do a PhD.

The path doesnt matter, all that matters is a clarity in the problems that you want to solve and the
tenacity to solve it !

Here are interviews from research professionals so you can understand their career path –Research
careers

How can you relate psychology to architecture?

Lets ask what is the job of an architect? To understand the requirements of their customer and most
importantly, what do they really want in a home? Isnt that psychology?

If i, as architect, understand the psychology behind their needs and tastes i can do a better job with
my technical skills which is to draw plans that they will like.

It all boils down to acting like a counsellor for your end customers and empathize with them. Isnt
that all about psychology??

Here are several interviews of professionals who pursued Architecture Architecture careers

Here are several interviews of professionals who pursued Psychology –Psychology careers

Do extra activities like music or sports (other than study) help in making better resumes for a CSE
engineer?

Extra activities like music or sports help you become a well rounded person. You become creative, a
team player and learn to empathize with others and most importantly, learn to handle defeat
gracefully !

These skills make you a better human being, not just a a better CSE engineer.

Now , how does it help you at work as a CSE engineer? The social skills will definitely help you build
relationships with your co-workers and customers. Sports gives you critical problem solving skills and
helps take pressure when it comes down a deliverables.

Every task at work cannot be solved by technical skills alone. It requires a combination of skills,
attitude and temperament which can be achieved only when one is exposed to extracurricular
activities

What are best career options for someone interested in drawing and painting and currently in
12th standard with science and maths?

Design and Animation are 2 areas where your interest in drawing/painting and exposure to
maths/science would help

In both areas, you would be working with technical departments who would implement your ideas
or concepts. So having a background in science and maths would help

Design has many sub-areas such as product, fashion, graphics, industrial, accessories etc . Please see
the link below for career interviews of design professionals

Design careers
In Animation there are creative directors and technical directors. Creative directors generate the
concept , the characters and the story. Technical directors bring the concepts to life. This again
requires collaboration with technical dept.

Please see the link below for career interviews of animation professionals – Animation careers

How many career options are available apart from engineering and medical?

Ofcourse there are hundreds of careers without engineering/medical. I HAVE ADDED LINK TO REAL
CAREER INTERVIEWS FROM STUDENTS WHO PURSUED EACH AREA.

1. Economics – A field that combines consumer behaviour and business has immense potential
in every sector. You will be focused on how to incentivize consumers to buy products and
services – Economics careers

2. Law – You can blend your background in commerce and law to become a corporate lawyer
dealing mergers & acquisitions, valuation deals, patent attorney or startup consulting – Law
careers

3. Arts – If you are interested in museums, history, conservation etc, you can pursue a career in
art conservation, curation or critic – Art careers

4. English Literature – You will be surprised to know that studying English literature opens up
many careers such as journalism, marketing, theater or public communication – English
Literature careers

5. Psychology – Psychology has so many applications in businesses – sports, organizations,

health, education, fashion etc – Psychology careers

6. Design – If you are creative and love sketching you can go for a career in design . Anything
from industrial design or accessory design or graphic design or fashion design or product
design- Design careers

7. Architecture – Love designing buildings, passionate about sustainability. Become an

architect – Architecture careers

8. Hospitality – Love serving people, interested in socializing. Become a chef or a hotel

management professional – Hospitality careers

9. Actuary – If you love maths and statistics, you can become an actuary who are professions
who price risk for life insurance, pensions and other institutions that offer disaster coverage.
That is, how do you simulate the future and cover yourself in case of disaster. This requires
combination of economics, maths, statistics and finance – Actuary careers

10. Financial Planner – If you love investing, you can become a financial planner and help clients
plan their future by offering services to diversify investments in various instruments like
Mutual Funds, Bonds, Derivatives etc – Financial Planning careers

11. Investment Banking – Do an MBA and become an Investment Banker who helps value
companies in acquisition deals. Involves lots of research and quantitative work combined
with presentation skills – Investment Banking careers

12. Financial Engineer – Also called mathematical Finance or computational finance, this uses
the power of maths and computers to model the future and understand the randomness of
 equity and stocks. Work for firms who employ financial engineers to suggest complex
derivative instruments to institutional traders/investors – Financial Engineering careers

13. Journalist – If you love writing, you can also combine commerce with journalism to work as a
financial reporter for economic times or bloomberg and report on financial news – Financial
Journalist careers

What should I choose, MCA or LLB because I’m a BSc student but I have also been interested in law
so I’m very confused about what I should choose for my better career?

The options that you have in mind are extremely diverse and require completely different skillsets.

A Law career is great if you are interested in reading and writing. You need to be extremely analytical
in your ability to interpret legal frameworks. A Law degree, unlike MCA is not just a technical
qualification. You need to put in a lot of effort in college to research your areas of interest, take
internships, participate in debates and moot courts to get a feel for your interests, strengths and
ability to serve your clientele.

Please see the following interviews from law students to understand the different career paths and
approaches

Law careers

An MCA, is much more technical but equally challenging. You will compete with lots of other
students for IT jobs. And unless you end up working for a product startup you might find the work
boring , especially of you join a service company like TCS or Infosys!

Is marketing a good career choice after engineering?

Engineering by itself is meaningless if it cant serve the needs of a business. You can build the
greatest product in the world.

However if you cant communicate its strengths (Marketing) or retain the people who built it (HR) or
ensure smooth running of the production line (Operations) or have a great team of people to
provide support it (Customer Service) or get enough funding to expand operations (Finance) , your
product will remain nothing but a dream.

Engineering shows you the technology to build things. However to launch it in a market is a
completely different animal. A career in engineering doesnt mean you always have to build things. It
also means the ability to leverage your skills in the above areas to successfully launch a product.

In your case your marketing skills in an engineering discipline can help you break down and explain
tough concepts in a simplistic manner to end customers. You would be the interface between
engineering dept and the consumer or market. You will be working on understanding the product
from a customer’s perspective and help the engineer address real world problems. A product cant
be sold without marketing

You need to show that you are a well rounded individual who can seamlessly move across the
functions in an organization

What will be my career options if I pursued a post-graduation from NIFT and an M.Des, having
done a bachelor’s in psychology?
With your qualification you can take an up an offbeat career such as fashion psychology, an
intersection of design, psychology and business. Basically working with fashion designers and
merchandisers to provide input on consumer behaviour as well as forecast new trends based on
market behaviour.

Fashion is one area which is very strongly tied to buyer’s psychology and your skills will be very
valuable to the industry. Please see an interview of a fashion psychologist and her career path
– Fashion Psychologist Interview

What options are available to take our career forward after pursuing chartered accountancy (CA),
if we don’t want to get into the field of audit/taxation?

CA is a very versatile and analytical role. A CA differs from an accountant in the ability to assimilate
and interpret information and see the bigger picture.

A high growth area for CAs is in the realm of fraud investigation. Lots of consulting firms employ
these investigators to go through financials to detect fraud. Here is an interview of a professional
– Fraud/Anti-Corruption Expert Interview

Is it a smart choice to start my career in technical support as a 2017 MCA fresher and then try to
switch careers when the opportunity arises or stay unemployed until I get a software development
job?

I have a cousin of mine in a very similar situation. He shifted from TCS into a product company in a
technical support position. He diligently worked his way in support and became the goto guy for
technical debugging and customer handling. He learnt so many nuances of the job like
understanding customers, developing patience, problem solving and analytical skills.

He patently waited for his chance and when the opportunity arrived, he applied for and secured an
internal transfer in the same company as a data scientist. He has been a data scientist for 2–3 years
and doing well.

In a similar way, dont pass up this opportunity. Technical support makes you well rounded and
prepares you for the future, it is a stepping stone and utilise it fully. Rather than waiting pick the
support job

What should a class 12 art student do if he/she has a dream of becoming an astronaut or a space
researcher?

With several of the world’s most powerful nations launching their satellites and Space X planning to
send people to MARS, there is a need for space professionals with diverse skills ranging from
engineering, healthcare, architects and food professionals. In order to make a successful journey to
space and live their  these professionals work together to build a liveable habitat that can mimic
earth in terms of environmental conditions.

Space Engineer – The most common but very challenging career that deals with designing and
building reliable spacecrafts

Space /Astrobiologist – Provides expertise on environmental conditions and analysis of

microrganisms that live in space and their effect on humans

Space Architect – For professionals who plan to live in space for extended periods of time there is a
need for professionals who can design appropriate pods that support day to day human existence
based on ergonomics, usability and livability. This needs space architects with very specific skills
Please look at the interviews below for careers os space professionals – Space careers

How do I help my daughter choose her career after the 12the standard? She is good in history,
literature (writing poems), psychology, & economics. Is Ashoka University a good option?

Looking at your daughter’s skills she is quite creative.Infact she is a good fit for a liberal arts career.
Liberal arts, unlike Fine arts (like painting, drawing, design etc) hones the generalist skills of a person.
Rather than specialise in science or maths or arts, these professionals attain broader cross-functional
skills in several areas such as economics, politics, literature, psychology etc . Such professionals are
very successful in business due to their complementary skills relative to technology/engineering.
Ashoka University provides a liberal arts degree which is quite difficult to get into.

Here are a few interviews from liberal arts professionals – Liberal Arts careers

Also, If she is interested in History, Anthropology (interesection of people, culture and history),
archaeology (fossils, excavations) or museology (curation and preservation) are great careers. Please
see interviews from professionals who pursued careers in history below

careers in History

Literature opens the door to several careers requiring good spoken and written english. Law,
marketing, creative writing, theater, advertising, journalism, Linguistics or public communications.
Please see interviews from professionals who pursued careers in literature below.

careers in literature

Psychology is great for a person with good people skills. There are several areas in psychology like
fashion psychology, sports psychology, clinical psychology, developmental psychology etc. Please see
interviews from professionals who pursued careers in psychology below.

careers in psychology

Economics is interrelated with psychology with respect to consumer behaviour. How to incentivize
end consumers to spend and grow the business. Firms employ economists to understand consumer
behaviour. Economists are also employed by govt to understand how consumers influence the
economic growth. Please see interviews from professionals who pursued careers in economics
below.

careers in economics

What are the career options one has after doing M.Sc. Maths from IIT ?

Here is an interview from a professional who did his MSc Maths from IIT Madras and then went on
to a PhD in Applied Maths and currently works for a trading firm in NewYork. Please read his
interview to understand his career path

Applied Mathematician Interview

To look at other careers in maths please go through several other interviews from Maths
professionals

Maths careers

What are the career options after graduation from geography?

Think of one of the most usable products in recent history . Ofcourse maps have existed since
centuries.

However google maps revolutionised the way we travel and look for new places.

Geography is our interface with nature. Geography binds us. We have seen so many natural
disasters like floods, climate changes, earthquakes etc. Farmers have sustained losses due to less
agricultural produce.

What is the answer to these problems?

Remote Sensing

With India launching its satellites in space, lots and lots of big data is being captured regarding every
single location in this entire world and the characteristics of each location.

The GIS (Geographical Information System) can collect, store and aggregate the data and enable
geography professionals to understand the results and provide meaningful information regarding
floods, earthquakes and natural disasters.

Not only that, remote sensing can also help analyse the content of soil for moisture and suggest
specific actions to improve crop productivity.

Remote sensing can also help trace ground water in specific areas and solve water problems

The next biggest disruption is going to be to use of location data (climate, soil, terrain, altitude etc)
to solve and predict geographical issues like floods, earthquakes etc

Please read through careers of geography professionals through their interviews – Geography
careers

What is the scope for wildlife science in job opportunities that will allow me to get paid good
amounts?

Since you have emphasized on “get paid good amounts” let us take a look at the money pyramid for
various careers

1. Investment Banking/Brokerages pay the highest amounts to finance professionals. They

work insane hours, under tremendous pressure and mistakes arent tolerated. An 80 hour
week almost filled with meetings isnt uncommon. There have been several cases of suicides.

2. Management Consulting/FMCG Sales is the next in terms of remuneration. Top B-School

graduates get picked and have to be ultra-competitive to win deals. Mckinsey, P&G, Bain are
examples of a few firms. Again, 80 hour weeks are common. They say that most employees
leave Mckinsey within a year due to work pressure and health issues

3. Tech Startups like Amazon, Google, Twitter are next in terms of pay. Lots of creative work
but equally stressful as well.

4. Core Engineering pays much less relative to the above careers but much more satisfying in
terms of work. You get to solve real world issues and apply what you studied as an engineer.

5. Finally, you have careers like research and Wildlife sciences which pay much lesser. But what
you get is great flexibility in learning, observing and help implement policies. You get to
travel the world, your words are heard and your work is appreciated in front of the entire
 world. You work in probably Leh, ladakh, Arctic or Amazon jungles and spend your nights
and days there cut off from the rest of the world.Why do you even need money when you
have nature cuddling you?

Having said that the scope for wildlife science is huge. With our natural resources dwindling the
world needs passionate professionals who look beyond money and work towards nurturing our
plant and animal life.

Check out several interviews from wildlife professionals regarding their career path

Wildlife career interviews

Now, go through the careers 1 to 5 and decide what works for you? Money or time or health or

stress or travel? Its all a matter of priorities. You cant have all 

What is the best job for me in MP after doing a BSc from math, statistics, and economics?

With a combination of Maths, Statistics and Economics, you can pursue a career of an Actuary.

An Actuary uses mathematical and statistical modeling to assess risk quantitatively and price
insurance premiums and pension payments.

That is, they work for insurance and reinsurance firms to estimate, based on macroeconomic trends,
the reserve risk. Its a great career and requires you to take the actuary exams.

You can also become a data scientist where you will use the power of data to make predictions on
the future, forecasting product demand or Stock prices.

Please check the link below for interviews of professionals who became an actuary and data
scientists – Actuary career interviews

What is environmental economics? What are the job opportunities? What is the scope? Which is
the best university to learn it?

Good question !

Lets break down Environmental Economics into Environment and Economics.

Environment, as we all know, deals with sustainability. Issues related to saving our planet, preserving
its resources for us and future generations.

Economics deals with finance and human behaviour. That is, how to financially incentivise individuals
to behave in a certain way.

Now lets merge the two. How do you incentivise organisations to adopt environmentally sound
practices through financially sustainable approaches.

For example if iam a chemical manufacturing firm dumping toxic waste in nearby lakes, an
Environmental economist can devise new innovative approaches that help the manufacturer adopt
eco-friendly practices that reduce the firm’s cost and also result in dumping the waste through bio-
degradation or convert the waste into eco-friendly products and sell them.
There are several institutes in Europe (Germany, Switzerland, Sweden etc) that have specialised
courses. Please check several interviews below of Environmental Economists who pursued careers .

Environmental Economics career interviews

Environmental Economics Researcher Interview

Environmental Sustainability Professional

United Nations Environmental Sustainability Professional Interview

Environmental Professional Interview

Environmental Policy Expert Interview

Sustainability Professional Interview

Environmentalist Interview

What skill set should I develop and/or what career should I pursue in order to thrive in the future
work life, and avoid being replaced by AI?

For a moment, lets forget about AI replacing us. Its not an immediate concern.

However the immediate concern is someone else replacing us (a human being!).

Lets ask ourself, why? If we arent adding value to our jobs then someone else will, the same way
that AI will later !

In today’s ultra competitive world, jobs require a lot of creativity, quality deliverables and customer
satisfaction.

Creativity is something that is very specific to every individual where they execute a job in their own
way. Think of a journalist or a music composer or a civil engineer. They all bring something to the
table in their unique way that sets them apart from the rest.

It is this trait that is very hard to replicate by a machine. Machines are great at speed, quality and
automation. But when it comes to creativity and intellect the human mind is light years ahead.

Hence if you are doing something that sets you apart from the rest, whether it is writing or research
or engineering or illustration or sales or any other career and if your company needs those skills to
survive, then you dont need to worry about anyone replacing you let alone a machine !

How can a fresher (*CSE engineer) enhance her resume?

 A resume is not just about technical skills. It must expose your personality. That is your window of
opportunity.

Highlight your school and college experience, any examples of leadership or interpersonal skills.

Firms know that technical skills are easy to train. What they look for are hidden traits that are very
difficult to get in a candidate.

Are you a quick learner? Can you work in a team ? do you have leadership qualities?

Show examples of those traits through real examples (doesnt need to be in a job) and you will be
able to differentiate yourself
How can one pursue a career in psychology? What are the different ways?

 Psychology is a field related to human behaviour. There are several applications of psychology
across multiple domains which i will list here. For each domain i will also add a link to a career
interview of a professional who pursued psychology.

1. Clinical Psychologist – Deals with human mental health issues such as depression, anxiety or
dealing with relationships – Clinical Psychologist Interview

2. Behavioural Psychologist – Deals with behavioral issues like Autism and other developmental
disorders – Autism Interventionist Interview

3. Forensic Psychologist – Understanding the psychological profile of criminals and violent

offenders – Forensic Psychologist Interview

4. Sports Psychologist – Working on the mental preparedness of sports professionals to be able

to handle stress during matches – Sports Psychologist Interview

5. Occupational Psychologist – Understand employee behaviour in an organization. Works with

HR to identify practices that encourage productivity at work – Occupational Psychologist
Interview

6. Fashion Psychologist – Work with fashion designers and provide insights on consumer
behavior – Fashion Psychologist Interview

7. Counselling Psychologist – Work with children , high school and college students to counsel
on various interests and careers – Counselling Psychology Professional Interview

8. Environmental Psychologist – Professionals who work on identifying how environment

affects our behaviour – Environmental Psychologist Interview

9. Art Therapist – Professionals who work with Art and its influence in healing and therapy
– Art Therapy Student Interview

10. Economics – If you love numbers you can merge psychology with finance to study consume
behaviour

Please visit more interviews on psychology here – Offbeat, unusual, unconventional & interesting
career interviews

What is the best information technology job?

Lets take some good examples where IT and AI can really help

1. Fashion – Lets say you like a dress with a certain design and color. How can you search for
similar dresses. This is currently not possible because all our searches are text based.
Artificial Intelligence is the answer. It uses the power of our brain to identify similar dresses

2. Music – The same is with music. If you like a certain song how can you identify similar songs
that you might like. Currently you do it by listening to 100 other songs and select a few. How
would it be if a program can function like your brain and pick the exact songs that you might
like. Again AI
 3. Psychological Counseling – This is a very private need. Most students dont want to go to a
counsellor. What about an AI counsellor that can understand a students mind and offer
solutions. Again AI

Where do I start a career path in AI?

In a set of alphabets from A to Z, AI is Z. You must learn the other alphabets before reaching Z.

It all starts with data. First you need to understand the concept of analyzing data, take a few courses
or learn from the web. Try to do an internship with a company on Business Intelligence and
Analytics.

The next step is to use historical data to be able to predict the future. This is data science where you
would use languages such as R, Python or Scala to statistically analyze past data to predict the
future. This will be your first step into the world of AI.

Predictive models use the concept of machine learning to infer the future from the past. This is also
NOT technically AI. This is called supervised learning based on certain indicator variables which are
human defined

You need to be very familiar with building predictive models and concept of supervised learning
(Random Forest, SVM, Logistic regression etc)

AI comes under truly unsupervised learning or experiential learning or deep learning, the way we
humans do. We learn the concept of learning through real life experiences. This is where AI is
currently heading. This requires good understanding of Neural Networks and other algorithms that
specialize in deep learning.

Key problems being solved in the area of deep learning are image recognition, facial recognition and
healthcare disease diagnostics. You need to have a good computer science and maths background

As a mechanical engineer, which option shall I choose, an IT company or a core company? I am

interested in an IT company rather disappointed with the environment of core companies. Is this
correct? What should I do now?

You have spent 4 years of your life getting a mechanical engineering degree. So if you were to
choose between a core company and an IT company what would you choose? A job that needs 4
years of engineering education or a job that doesnt require an engineering degree?

Coming to your point on being disappointed by core companies, iam not sure about your experience.
But getting a core mechanical job is not easy, infact it is incredibly difficult. So many engineers take
the easy way out – IT. To get a core job your engineering fundamentals need to be very strong.
However if you get in, the work you do will be miles ahead. Think about working for Tata Motors on
their new SUV line (say, designing their shock absorbers) or working at Ather Energy on their latest
electrical scooter.

Now, coming to the environment in a core company. Different companies have different
environment. A Mahindra culture might be different from a Tata. As a graduate this is always a
challenge but is not reason enough to switch to IT. If you dont like the environment try in another
company till you find the right fit.

Coming to IT, you can still work for an IT company like in mechanical design where you can use your
mechanical engineering knowledge to build technology products. But if you are thinking of joining a
pure services company like TCS or Infosys or Wipro let me tell you that it is a waste of your 4 years !
Can I go for an Honors degree in MSc (biochem) after doing a BSc chemistry (general)?

Yes. a BSc (Chemistry) degree is like a foundation. Though you cant do much with it, its a stepping
stone to something deeper or broader. With a Biochemistry degree you get to work on applied
chemistry. That is, application of your chemistry knowledge in the realm of healthcare. As we all
know, chemistry is the building block of our human body (proteins, molecules etc)

Most pharma companies employ biochemists to work on new drugs for cures to diseases such as
cancer, AIDS, Diabetes and several others. This requires fundamental understanding of the building
blocks of the human body, its defense mechanism and its susceptibility to different external entities.
You will touch upon several areas such as microbiology, genetics etc to address the problems that
the industry faces.

Here are several interviews of professionals who did biochemistry – Biochemistry career interviews

What are the career options for me if, I am a grade 12th humanities (arts) student with subjects:
history, geography, English, legal studies and fine arts?

Arts, History, geography, English, Legal Studies. Lets look at some of the amazing careers in these
areas. Iam adding links to interviews of professionals who pursued each of the careers below

Arts – If you love heritage and conservation, go for a career in arts . You can also specialise in
museology with a master’s degree or pursue a career in arts curation or criticism or illustration- Arts
career interviews

History – You can merge your interests in history and flora/fauna by pursuing a career in
Paleontology or study of fossils. Similarly you can also be a Anthropologist if you are interested in
human history and different cultures. Here are several careers in History- History career interviews

English – English can pave your way to several careers – Advertising, marketing, technical writing,
Journalism, Theater or a linguist – English Literature career interviews

Geography – This is my personal favourite. An underrated career with huge potential. Can you
imagine a world without maps or google maps. How are we able to know the weather or terrain of a
place without going there. Answer is remote sensing or GIS or GeoInformatics. Ability to even
predict floods or earthquakes based on remote mapping of geography. A fantastic career
– Geography career interviews

Legal studies – You can pursue a career in corporate law or Litigations or criminal law. Corporate law
will put you in the midst of mergers, acquisitions, IP protection, contracts etc – Law career
interviews

Please go through the above links with in-depth interviews on the career path of each professional;

Which is the best foreign language to learn for job?

When we talk about opportunities , especially for higher studies two languages stand out – German
and Japanese

Germany offers the Erasmus Mundus Scholarship and Japan offers the MEXT scholarships

In many cases you can get 100% scholarship to study in these countries in cutting edge technologies.
And if you know these languages it becomes much easier, though at a graduate level you can still
manage with English
Here are interviews of students who went to Japan with MEXT scholarship – Japanese Scholarship
career interviews

Here are interviews of students who went to Germany with Erasmus Mundua scholarship – German
Scholarship career interviews

Which career has more job opportunities but less people?

1. Pilot

2. Merchant Navy

3. Pure Science Research

4. Geologists

5. Geographic Information System Professionals

6. Theater Artists

7. Core Engineers (mechanical, automobile, electronics, civil)

8. Automobile Designers

9. Environmental Professionals

10. In India, every occupation other than Information Technology and Doctors

How harmful is it to take a career break? I am 30 years old, joined a new job with a 40% hike, and
now want to quit in a month to take a career break.

Lot of people will tell you not to take a career break because you wont get your next job because
you dont have continuity. In my opinion, thats like saying , buy a Honda instead of a Ford Mustang
because when you sell a Honda it will have a better resale value.

So even before you want to sit back, relax and enjoy your life without work , you will be expected to
think about what happens after 3–6 months when you want to look for work. In that case you should
be thinking, we all should be thinking what will happen to us when we reach 80 and how to control
those events now.

I have done this many times. First thing is, dont think about what will happen next. Thats not in your
hands. Enjoy the moment, have a good sleep, sit idle, watch your favourite movies. Do things that
you always wanted to do. And on the side try to learn a few new skills that would support you later
during interviews. Just to show that your break also helped you constructively.

Yes every company will ask you about the break , but that shouldnt stop you from doing what you
want , to enjoy your life. Remember , work is a very small part of your life, which you will realise
much later when you cant change anything. At your age you have a choice to change things and
believe me, this experience will give you the confidence that you took your breaks and then decided
to take up a job when you wanted to !

What are the job opportunities available to masters after completing an MS  in industrial
management & engineering stream in USA?

When you talk about Industrial Management there is huge potential in process, inventory and
business optimization
Today the biggest challenge in Industrial engineering is to make everything efficient and cut costs.
Companies are using the power of data to predict demand.

The biggest opportunity is in the areas of IIOT, Data Science and machine learning and how to apply
that to manufacturing to optimize the business.

Here is a career interview of an Industrial management professional – Industrial Management

Professional Interview

What is the best career option for a person who is good in biology but his interest is in maths?

oday most careers are based on cross-functional skills. That means, gone are the days when you
were considered marketable if you were good in one area. Problems have become so complex that
you need to have a perspective from multiple angles

So, what can Biology + Maths do?

The biggest challenge posed to healthcare is the complexity of the human body – our genes and
DNA. No one knows how each body reacts to medication or how some people get cancer and some
dont.

The solution to these issues is in the combination of biology and maths. How can we go through
historical data (statistics) and permutations and combinations (maths) of gene
structure/DNA(biology) to identify unique traits and create personalised medicine

Since the data here is enormous its called big data and needs cutting edge automated, statistical and
maths based approaches to solve.

Please read the 3 interviews below from professionals who built a career based on Biology and
Maths/Statistics

Cancer BioStatistician Interview

Computational Biologist Interview

Pharma BioStatistician Interview

Which of the following career paths has more scope in the future? Design of interior and exterior
of an automobile or piping and process engineering.?

Between the 2 career options that you have mentioned i would pick design.

Though you wouldnt go wrong with any of them you have to keep in mind that the automobile
industry and every other manufacturing sector is facing automation.

Design is one area which cant be automated because of its creative needs and human intellect which
a machine cannot replicate, atleast for now.

And given the new technologies such as Robotics, Mechatronics, IOT and connected cars there is a
whole new dimension of design involved in building a car. It is a truly cross-functional area that
would connect technology with arts, computers and electronics.

So design is the way to go!

What are the best careers for creative individuals?

Creativity is a transferable skill, which means it can be applied to several career domains. Creativity
means you have a very unique spin on your thoughts and opinions. So lets see how you can use it

Next to each domain there is a link to several interviews from professionals who pursued a career in
that area. Do check it out

1. Creative writing – Journalism

Journalism career interviews

2. Creative Speaking – Lawyer

Legal career interviews

3. Creative Thinking – Advertising/Gaming

Advertising career interviews

Gaming career interviews

4. Creative Drawing -Animation/Cartoons

Animation career interviews

Illustration career interviews

These are some areas that you can pursue

What are the career opportunities in aviation after engineering?

We can basically divide careers in Aviation after Engineering into 2 key areas

1. Industry Based

2. Research Based

Industry Based careers require a Masters specialization at the very least. You could specialize in
anything from materials, electronics, Aerospace or Metallurgical. Depending on the specialization
you will work on a specific area such as Aircraft/Spacecraft material or Avionics or design. You can
slo choose to become a pilot or flight maintenance engineer.

Research based careers require a PhD and would involve Astronomy, Exoplanet research or any
other kind of Aircraft/Spacecraft research to improve design or efficiency

Please look at careers of several Aviation professionals who followed the above path

Aviation career interviews

What is the scope of game developing in India? Is it wise to choose this as a career option?

If you look at the history of game development in the last decade, you can see how gaming has
evolved from the era of dial up modems and PCs to the current age of dedicated console games with
high speed connections

Assuming that internet is going to be everywhere, the potential of gaming is going to go across
borders and will bring about a huge demand for extremely creative game developers.
This will require not just a strong technical background but solid skills in immersive storytelling and
concept execution.

If you have these skills there is no limit to career options

Here are a list of career interviews of game developers and their story

Gaming career interviews

Which stream should one choose after 10 in which there are maximum job opportunities? I am
good in both maths and science.

What are the key areas that will have immense demand for the next 10-20 years at the very least.

There are 4 major areas where we believe there will be lots of opportunities. All these opportunities
are multi-disciplinary in nature which means they require skills across multiple domains.

We have added links to real career interviews of professionals in each area so you can look at their
career path and what they studied

Sustainability – With the planet being burdened by human existence, we are all aware of the
consequences of global warming, habitat destruction, improper planning and food shortage. Solving
these problems require urban design experts (Architect + Urban planner), Renewable Energy
professionals (engineers + alternate energy), food scientists (Food + sustainability ) and ecologists
(biologists + conservation) – Sustainability career interviews

Disease Prevention – This generation has seen emergence of lifestyle diseases (Obesity, Cancer,
AIDS etc) that have afflicted pain and sufferings on all age groups from children to adults. The world
is turning to geneticists, microbiologists and biochemists to understand the genetic code of every
individual to develop personalised cures to these diseases. This requires computational biologists
and analytical minds with cross-disciplinary knowledge (Biology, Chemistry and Genetics). Just
imagine being able to scan the genes of an individual and suggest a combination of medicines that
can cure him/her without any side effects. Thats what computational geneticists , biologists and
chemists do. – Healthcare career interviews

Mechatronics – All of us have been driving vehicles since we graduated from college. However do
we even understand what happens under the hood of a car? How upset do we get when a car breaks
down in the middle of nowhere? How good would it be if our car tells us that something is wrong
with the brakes and to get it fixed before a major breakdown happens. Instead of servicing a car
every 3 months, how about servicing it based on the car’s actual condition based on wear and tear
of the parts. Mechatronics is a multi-disciplinary field involving Mechanical, Electrical, Electronics
and Computers. Any machine that operates in the field would be equipped with sensors that
communicate with each other to ensure normal operations. Mechatronics enables machines
communicate their state through sensors. IOT (Internet of things ) is an area related to
mechatronics. The ultimate application of mechatronics in cars is the driverless car which uses a AI
(Artificial Intelligence) based framework to drive a car. This requires the application of Mechanical,
Electrical, Electronics and Computer Science concepts – Mechatronics/Robotics career interviews

Space/Aviation – Now that we have conquered the first frontier of space travel, there has been lot
of curiosity regarding living in space. The focus is now on the ability to live in space for longer
periods. This requires an understanding of the proper environment for humans to live in space
whether it is the food, health or the accommodation itself. There is a need for space designers,
architects and nutritionists who can work towards designing a proper environment for professionals
to venture into space for longer periods – Space career interviews

While we have listed only 4 areas, there are a lot more which we will discuss in the next few article.

We believe the above careers are going to define the future and will provide lots of opportunities for
graduates to unleash their creativity and knowledge.

What are the different job opportunities for an electrical engineer?

I would call Electrical the “water” of the engineering world. Can you imagine any engineering
product exist without current?

Ofcourse, you would say a vehicle. But thats changing and every vehicle manufacturer is rolling out
an Electric Vehicle.

Lets talk about Healthcare . A critical area that needs a stable and non-fluctuating source of power
for life critical devices.

Electronics, Civil , Robotics, Structural or any other field of engineering needs water ie, Electrical
engineering to survive. Its the most basic form of engineering that has potential for several
advancements.

The focus of electrical engineering is now on cross-disciplinary areas such as Robotics, Mechatronics,
Biomedical etc where electrical engineers need to be able to optimize power to devices that provide
output to various domains.

That makes electrical the foundation on which other disciplines work. Please read through several
interviews of electrical engineers to understand how they built a career path working through the
above areas

The single biggest potential is ways to extract electrical energy from renewable sources such as
wind, biomass or solar and the ability to provide a powerful and uninterrupted source of power for
household (A/C, Heater etc) and industrial (transformers) equipment

Electrical Engineering – Electrical Engineering career interviews

The amount of studies required for MBBS scares me and makes me more confused towards
choosing this profession. I like watching movies. Can there be a scope in that?

While it is perfectly fine not wanting to do MBBS, one needs to understand that to succeed in a
profession you have to work hard. However, hard work wouldnt appear hard if you like what you do

If you want to be involved in films there are several options

1. Film Critic – Take a journalism course (say Asian Institute of Journalism) and specialize in
films

2. Media statistician- If you love numbers (Maths and Statistics) you can do number crunching
for films. See a career interview of a media statistician

Media Statistician Interview

3. If you are into drawing or arts you can get into animation and special effects. Here are several
career interviews
Animation/Effects career interviews

What is organisational behaviour, and its career options?

Industrial or Organisational psychology is an area where you could find a good fit. Organisational
Behaviour is a field of psychology which studies how employees behave in an organization and what
kind of incentives can be given to foster productivity.

Since attrition, low productivity and non-performance is a big issue in today’s workplaces,
organisational psychologists either work with HR or do cutting edge research to find solutions to
people related challenges in work environments

Its an area with immense potential. Please read the interview from an organisational psychologist
and the career path

Industrial/Organizational Psychologist Interview

Organizational/Industrial Psychologist Interview

Occupational Psychologist Interview

What type of job can I get after completing a bechelors degree in statistics, maths and economics?

A combination of statistics, maths and economics is a very powerful qualification. While maths and
stats provide a quantitative perspective, economics provides a behavioral and qualitative
perspective. Several careers are available for this combination

1. Decision Science Professional -How can you analyze data to make rational business decisions

Decision Science Professional Interview

2. Data Scientist – Use maths and statistics and analyze data and use the analysis to predict the futre
based on past trends

Data Scientist Interview

Data Scientist Interview

3. Actuary – These professionals are employed by insurers and re-insurers to quantify risk and model
then to price premiums correctly. Requires skills in macroeconomics, statistics and maths

Actuary Interview

Which is better, IISc (undergrad) , IIST, IIT,IISc or others? I wanna join ISRO and do research in
ASTROPHYSICS and Astronomy, actually very much interested …

Between IIT, IISc and IIST, all are very good. But each of them have their strengths

IISC gives one a good grounding in basic sciences and research methodology especially due to its rich
heritage. So if you are looking for a broad foundation in pure sciences it is great. You can always
branch out to astrophysics through a PhD.

IIT is more applied and geared towards the industry and lesser research oriented compared to IISC
but again thats relative. If you plan to go non-academic IIT definitely makes the cut. Ofcourse you
can still end up doing research after IIT.
IIST if you are very sure of your goals to join ISRO. IIST will give you good exposure to space physics
but all your other options will no longer exist.

I would still recommend IISC because its solid grounding in pure sciences which is the basis for any
scientific career

What is the best career option for one loving maths and biology besides biomechanics?

The answer is BioStatistics/Bioinformatics, that is computational biology. You will use a combination
of maths , biology and statistics to process billions of genetic codes, trial results and Biomarkers to
identify key trends.

Infact Bioinformatics is a job of the future because it leverages the power of computers to identify
statistical trends on truly Big Data related to diseases. And if you add machine learning on top of it
you will have algorithms that can predict diseases based on various genetic variations based on past
data

Here are several interviews of several BioStatisticians where they discuss their career path

BioStatistics – Biostatistics career interviews

BionInformatics- Bioinformatics career interviews

What are the career options after completing an MSc. in chemistry besides teaching?

With an MSc Chemistry there are several options in the areas of packaging (Plastic,polythene), Food
(Beer/Wine/Beverages), Pharma (Medicines and Drugs) or Research. You can also do a specialization
in Environmental Chemistry and apply your skills to identify chemicals in air, water or land.

Please look at the career path of several chemistry professionals here

Chemistry career interviews

What are the best career options after getting a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering?

Biomedical Engineering is the best of both words- Medical and Engineering. Its also called Medical
Physics

If you love engineering and want to apply engineering principles to address healthcare issues,
BioMedical engineering is the way to go. The medical equipments (MRI, CT, Sonographs etc),
Prosthetics and other medical equipment that help diagnose diseases or support handicapped
humans, are marvels of Biomedical engineering.

However you will need to do your Master’s to further specialize in Biomedical area of choice.

Please look at interviews from 30 Biomedical professionals who pursued their masters and their
career path

Biomedical career interviews

This will give you an idea as to how to approach your career

What is the best answer of why you want to join non technical field when you are doing
engineering?

Engineering by itself is meaningless if it cant serve the needs of a business. You can build the
greatest product in the world.
However if you cant communicate its strengths (Marketing) or retain the people who built it (HR) or
ensure smooth running of the production line (Operations) or have a great team of people to
provide support it (Customer Service) or get enough funding to expand operations (Finance) , your
product will remain nothing but a dream.

Engineering shows you the technology to build things. However to launch it in a market is a
completely different animal. A career in engineering doesnt mean you always have to build things. It
also means the ability to leverage your skills in the above areas to successfully launch a product.

In an interview you need to communicate that you will still fit into a non-technical field in an
engineering firm that needs those skills.

You need to show that you are a well rounded individual who can seamlessly move across the
functions in an organization

Can I do psychology after my BTech?

Yes. But you need to carefully plan your career since the two appear unrelated. But they are.

Industrial or Organisational psychology is an area where you could find a good fit. Organisational
Behaviour is a field of psychology which studies how employees behave in an organization and what
kind of incentives can be given to foster productivity.

Since attrition, low productivity and non-performance is a big issue in today’s workplaces,
organisational psychologists either work with HR or do cutting edge research to find solutions to
people related challenges in work environments

Its an area with immense potential. Please read the interview from an organisational psychologist
and the career path

Industrial/Organizational Psychologist Interview

Organizational/Industrial Psychologist Interview

Occupational Psychologist Interview

Is sales a good career after engineering?

Remember that your career is a product of two attributes – Interest + Skills.

An ideal career is one where you can use your skills to do a job that interests you. Since you have
done engineering i assume you have acquired technical skills and since your interest lies in sales, you
can utilize your technical skills in a sales and marketing role.

Here is an interview of a mechanical engineer who transitioned into sales from an R&D role and
doing really well

Golf Equipment Sales Manager Interview

Sales Engineer Interview

What are the career options after BA in English?

With a BA in English you can go for the following careers

English Major careers

 1. Journalism

2. Publishing

3. Creative Writer (Social Media Marketing)

4. Advertising/Copywriter

5. Art Critic /Writer (If interested in arts)

6. Film critic

7. Food Blogger

8. Sports Writer

9. Digital Marketing

10. Theater

Please check our portal to look at several interviews from professionals who pursued careers above

English Literature career interview

What are the career options in music after 12th science?

If you play music, there are several universities like KM Conservatory in Chennai, or Berklee School
of music or the Berkeley School of music where you can hone your music skills professionally. These
schools will give you the launch pad that you deserve. Some even offer full scholarships for
deserving candidates

If you want to go in a technical path you can become a sound engineer or sound designer

A Sound Designer needs to have an aptitude and taste for clear acoustics and sound. A background
in physics or electrical/electronics engineering would help tremendously.There is FTII in Pune which
has a course in Sound Designing. There is also School of Audio Engineering in Chennai which is a
great institution for Sound. You can also explore KM Music Conservatory (AR Rahman’s Music
school) for more options focused on music.However please remember that a career in Sound Design
and Recording is immensely challenging and it requires lots of creativity. Getting into an institute and
getting a break are two different things. You need to have a talent for sound.

Please take a look at the following interviews of graduates who pursued a career in sound design
– Music career interviews

What is a better career option in PCB: research scientist, geneticist, biochemist, or microbiologist
according to salary and job prospect? What are the courses required for your said field?

Let me try to answer this question to the best of my knowledge.

I dont see any one area as having a better career than the others. Genetics is probably a good option
because of its computational potential

If you are looking for versatility, Microbiology is great since it has applications not just in healthcare
but also food/beverages and environment.

Biochemistry if you are interested in drug development

A research scientist would be working in any of the areas – Genetics, Biochemistry or Microbiology
or a combination of the three streams to solve a problem

Biochemistry – In this stream you will look at things at a molecular level to come up with new drugs
to cure various diseases. Scientists study drugs and their interactions with proteins in human body to
build genetically engineered drugs that can be resistant to diseases. Or even how can you modify
bacteria into drugs to treat untreatable diseases. So this is essentially intersection of chemistry
(drugs) with Biology (Human body)

Microbiology- Here you will study microorganisms to determine how they cause diseases, preserve
food (cheese , Beer etc) or interact with external environments like water, soil, air etc
(environmental microbiology) to run the cycle of life.

Genetics – Genetics is a more generic area that deals with DNA and sequencing to identify
personalised solutions to cure diseases. Its a highly computational area at the intersection of Biology
and computers/maths which allows researchers to scientifically analyze and associate genes with
various diseases and their cures. If you love computers and Biology this is a great area

As you can see all the three depend on each other to solve big problems, hence these are all multi-
disciplinary

Please look at our interviews in these areas to understand if you would like to see yourself in any
one of these areas

Biochemistry – Biochemistry career interviews

Microbiology –Microbiology career interviews

Genetics –        Genetics career interviews

What are the career prospects after completing Mechatronics Engineering?

Mechatronics is a very exciting an upcoming inter-disciplinary area involving mechanical, electronics

and computers. It has immense potential in automobiles and manufacturing industries

Driverless cars and IIOT are most common applications. Just imagine being able to use the power of
AI (deep learning) to drive cars without any human input

You will work with several computer scientists to build autonomous machines which belong to
industries of the future

Go for it ! Please check a few profiles of mechatronics engineers here

Mechatronics career interviews

 What is option after doing economics hons?

There are several options in economics

1. Developmental Economics – Focus on developing nations- Poverty, healthcare etc

2. Behavioural Economics – Focus on micro and macro econoics. Incentivizing consumer

behaviour

3. Environmental economics – Sustainability

4. Agronomics – Crop management

Please read through real career interviews of economic graduates here

Economics career interviews

What are study options for a science student other than engineering?

Let me list out a lot of very interesting careers other than engineering and medicine. I have added
links to interviews from professionals in each of the areas below and how they achieved their goals.

1. Design- You can get into industrial design (Cars, Bikes, Consumer electronics etc), Graphic
Design (Magazines, Logos etc), Transport design or fashion design – Design career interviews
!

2. Architecture/Urban Planner – There is s huge need for city architects , building architects
and conservation architects who have a big picture view – Architecture career interviews !

3. Journalist/Tech Writers – You can combine your love for subjects (Arts.Sports,Science etc)
with writing and become a journalist.- Journalism career interviews !

4. Statistician – Another multi-Disciplinary subject which applies numbers (Maths/Statistics) to

research diseases (Biology), Sports (Cricket/Football/Tennis etc), entertainment (Box-office
nos), Insurance Pricing (Actuary), Data Scientist – Statistics career interviews !

5. Food and Beverages – You can specialise in Food and Beverage using a degree in
Microbiology/Biochemistry especially Beer making, Wine making or Cheese making – Food
career interviews !

6. Disease Research – Microbiology degree will help you specialise in disease research for
cancer, aids etc – Disease Research career interviews !

7. Agriculture and Farming – Work on cutting edge research that helps industry build
technologies to bring additional food to the evergrowing population – Agriculture career
interviews !

8. Aviation/Space – Be an AstroPhysicist or AstroBiologist researching outer space particles and

life – Aviation career interviews !

9. Entertainment – Animation, Illustration or comic drawing if you want to combine your talent
for drawing with movies – Animation career interviews !

10. computers – If you love hacking, you can become an ethical hacker – Hacker career
interviews !

11. Environment – You can also become a Geologist or Marine Biologist or Climatologist to get
involved in conservation of the planet – Environment career interviews !

12. Pure Sciences – If you interested in maths or physics or chemistry or biology you can pursue
pure science research – Maths career interviews

What is the scope of job opportunities for power engineering in the coming 5 years?

We are all are aware that like water, sources of electrical power, that is, fossil fuels are depleting
rapidly. Coupled with the fact that they cause pollution the world is looking at renewable sources.

Though renewable sources such as water, solar, wind etc are generating electricity the biggest
challenge has been the conversion ratio and wastage. That is, we still dont have technology that can
harness the thermal power of the sun or power of the wind. Which means high load devices like AC
and Geysers still run on traditional power.

This is where the future of power engineering is. Work on new technologies that can achieve 95% +
conversion from solar or wind energy and provide uninterrupted power supply.

Scandinavian universities are world renowned for their research in this area because most of these
countries have switched to renewable power. Please look at a few interviews of career professionals
in this area

Power Systems Engineer Interview

Wind Energy Professional Interview

Sustainability Energy Professional Interview

What are the skills required for an internet security analyst? Do we have to know by heart the
programmes and algorithms to study that course?

While programming and algorithms are important for this role the most important skill is real
application driven experience.

To give you an example, if a rat enters your house and you want to stop it from entering. You read
up several articles on killing rats. Most articles mention a rat trap or a rat cake. However most rats
are smart enough to avoid these traps.

Hence you need an ingenious way to stop them. That pretty much sums up the role of a security
analyst. The tried and tested ways dont work anymore. What works is based on what you learn with
experience.

Here are a few interviews of hacking professionals for you to read :

Hacking career interviews

What is the best career after biology in the 12th class, except a doctorate?

Biology is such a versatile subject. There are so many options

1. Marine Biologist if you are interested in conservation and wildlife

2. Food Microbiologist if you are interested in Beer Brewing/Wine making

3. Veterinary Sciences if you want to deal with animals

4. Research based on diseases like cancer which requires Microbiology degree

5. Agriculture/Horticulture research

6. BioStatistics/BioInformatics. Applying statistics to clinical trials

7. Biomedical research – Artificial organs, medical equipments

Please review our career interviews in Biology here

Biology career interviews !

Please review our career interviews in Biomedical here

Biomedicalcareer interviews

What are the career options available in psychology after 12th?

Psychology as a career has immense scope in the following areas

1. Sports Psychology – Preparing sports professionals to handle stress

2. Organizational Psychology – Analyzing behaviours and patterns of employee at work

3. Clinical Psychology – Providing treatment to address mental health issues

4. Medical Psychology – Dealing with patients affected with terminal diseases such as cancer

5. Genetic Pscyhology

6. Forensic Psychology

As you can see there are several specializations. Please look at interviews from professionals who
majored in psychology and made a career

Psychology career interviews

What should I do after 12th (commerce)?

With commerce you can pursue the following. Please click the links for interviews of commerce
professionals and their career path

1.

a. Law – Corporate law is a huge opportunity today, a mix of finance and law is great
– Law career interviews

b. Economics – If you are interested in number crunching with human behavior this is a
great area – Economics career interviews

c. Institutional Investment or Fund Management or equity research are a few other

areas – Institutional Investment based career interviews !  

d. Actuary – If you love maths and statistics, you can become an actuary who are
professions who price risk for life insurance, pensions and other institutions that
offer disaster coverage. That is, how do you simulate the future and cover yourself in
case of disaster. This requires combination of economics, maths, statistics and
finance – Actuary careers

e. Financial Planner – If you love investing, you can become a financial planner and
help clients plan their future by offering services to diversify investments in various
instruments like Mutual Funds, Bonds, Derivatives etc – Financial Planning careers

f. Financial Engineer – Also called mathematical Finance or computational finance, this

uses the power of maths and computers to model the future and understand the
randomness of equity and stocks. Work for firms who employ financial engineers to
suggest complex derivative instruments to institutional traders/investors – Financial
Engineering careers
 g. Journalist – If you love writing, you can also combine commerce with journalism to
work as a financial reporter for economic times or bloomberg and report on financial
news – Financial Journalist careers

What career options do I have after 12th class, if I have a commerce in psychology?

If you are interested in Commerce and Psychology, the best option would be economics. Economics
is a fascinating career at the intersection of commerce and psychology (consumer behaviour)

There are many sub-areas within economics where you can specialize

1. Developmental Economics

2. Micro-Economics

3. Environmental Economics

4. Agricultural Economics

5. Behavioural Economics

However at the crux is the ability to incentivise people to respond in an appropriate manner to drive
social upliftment or profits or conservation.

Please look at several interviews of economic graduates to understand their career paths

Economics career interviews

Which are the best career options after a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering in india?

After a degree in Civil Engineering it would be a good idea to specialize in a few chosen areas like
Transport Planning or Urban Design or Hydrogeology or Environmental engineering

These specializations will enable you to apply your engineering foundations to solve real world
problems

Please check interviews of professional who pursued careers in the above areas

Civil Engineering career interviews

How can one start his/her career in music (especially as a studio recording and sound designing
engineer) after getting an engineering degree? Where and what are the courses (in India) that
need to be done?

A Sound Designer needs to have an aptitude and taste for clear acoustics and sound. A background
in physics or electrical/electronics engineering would help tremendously.

There is FTII in Pune which has a course in Sound Designing. There is also School of Audio
Engineering in Chennai which is a great institution for Sound. You can also explore KM Music
Conservatory (AR Rahman’s Music school) for more options focused on music.

However please remember that a career in Sound Design and Recording is immensely challenging
and it requires lots of creativity. Getting into an institute and getting a break are two different things.
You need to have a talent for sound

Please take a look at the following interviews of graduates who pursued a career in sound design

Music & Sound Design career interviews