Thursday, June 7, 2012

Unexpected: Black Swans


These days, I am reading the book The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. The book is about uncertainty and why the so-called champions on the subject fail to explain the occurrence of the black swans i.e. events that occur out of the pattern like natural disasters, stock exchange failures and also many of the discoveries that have changed our  lives immensely. 

At one point, the author illustrates, through an example, how we react when the unexpected may happens to us. Many a couples get divorced every day, but even their wildest imaginations, they would not have considered that things in their relationship would get to such an extreme. It was all so well, they made one of the best couples. The loved each other so much. At such instants, one asks, how come this occurred to us, as if the all other couples in the world had considered that would happen one day. It's all so unexpected. We can't predict such things. However, one such things happen, we try to find reasons for them. We try to identify patterns and categorize things into classes of failures and success. That's how our brains are wired to establish links and concoct justifications. 

I will end this note here unexpectedly and let you think whether this is true. 




Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Masters or No Masters?? Confusions of an Electro...!!!

After the graduation, fresh electrical/electronic/computer engineers in Pakistan typically go to one of the following types of job:


  1. In the telecom sector: either vendor side Mobilink, Telenor, or the Operators: Huawei
  2. In  the power sector, some power plants or the government jobs in WAPDA etc.
  3. Join the likes of NESCOM and SUPARCO
  4. In the Embedded and Control field, where we find names like PowerSoft19 
  5. Join a set of fertilizer companies and oil refineries 
  6. Go into Networking Sector 
  7. Join the academia as Lectures/Lab Engineers hoping to be professors one day
  8. Some join the software sector
The current situation of  job market by no means is perceived to good by any means. It is hard to find a job and in cases even an internship while the institutes are churning out more and more engineers annually or bi-annually. 

Again there are taboos and myths and varying descriptions of realities associated with each career path. 

The scarcity of jobs, lower than expected pays and continuous questioning on part of relatives about salary and marriage is disheartening is and sadly, often heard of.  Patience and keep trying on is the usual advice floating around. 

People think of finding jobs outside Pakistan which in most cases needs some years of experience. 

A common alternative is to opt for a Masters Degree, either from a local university or go abroad. If the parents are willing to support your next degree and you are not too picky, getting admissions and visas is the only delay in your path. However, if you have to wait for offers with scholarship, you are into the lot of the troubled. There are not many scholarships for just a coursework based Masters and you are not willing to take the research path for you want to return to industry. 

In case, you believe you can somehow manage the finances, the big question is what will happen after Masters??

Will you be able to get a job in field of your choice or any field what so ever??

If you return to Pakistan, will the MS be of any value?? Is it not better to continue your current job and get some experience ??? But when will the situation in the country itself improve ???

Such the the woes of a fresher electro.... 

Do you have a solution to his problem? Do you have some experience of thoughts to share ???

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