It is that time of the year when several engineering graduates have job offers without a starting date. Some of them are content to wait for the company to give them a joining date. During the previous economic downturn, there were students who had to wait a year or so to get started on the job that was offered to them during campus recruitment.
I have observed that an average college student hardly invests time, money and effort on his/her personal development and growth. We live in a time where knowledge is almost free. We have free MOOCs, YouTube lectures and videos, and free/cheap e-books. Today, a typical student in India has access to a wealth of knowledge hitherto available only to the elites in the country and students of the developed countries. It is possible for a student in a remote Indian village to learn the basics of aeronautical engineering from the MIT open courseware catalogue, for free! Despite this plethora of free programmes, employers still find it a challenge to hire the talent they need.
Reading is one of the best ways to get oneself up to date with the developments in one’s area of professional interest. Highly successful people such as Bill Gates, Warren Buffet and Mark Zuckerberg read several books a year, every year. To quote Charlie Munger (If you do not know who Charlie Munger is, read up), “In my whole life, I have known no wise people (over a broad subject matter area) who didn’t read all the time — none, zero.”
Be aware
So, if you haven’t been reading anything serious, you can start by reading a business newspaper on a daily basis. Do not think that if you are an engineer or a doctor, it is no business of yours to read a business daily. As a regular reader of this column, you have chosen to achieve financial freedom, something that is just a dream for many middle-aged people today. If you grasp the ideas in this column and practise them, achieving financial freedom would be inevitable. Reading a business newspaper lets you in on what is happening in the world around you. For instance, you would have been aware of the headwinds facing the IT services industry well before the average Joe/Jane in the college campus.
You would also know about the huge growth opportunities in the area of Internet of Things, cyrptocurrencies, and so on. The world is constantly changing. New opportunities are created all the time, while the old opportunity set shrinks. People who identify big trends early and ride them emerge as winners. If you wait for things to be handed to you on a platter without putting in the effort, you may have to settle for the crumbs. I will sign off this article with a quote from Louis Pasteur: “Fortune favours the prepared mind”. If you are not investing in yourself, you are unprepared to face the realities of a working life.
The writer is an alumnus of IIM Bangalore and the co-founder of Money Wizards. chari.venkatesh@gmail.com
