Reading comprehension
Writing - Essay and Precis writing
Arithmatic - hmmm.... (mental math perhaps)
Frequently Unseen Skills:
Resourcefulness
Creativity
Before one complains of not having a perfect academic record here is what businessmen say they want from employees : India's lost generation: A systemic risk?
Like 'paper money' certificates follow the law of demand vs. supply. Certificates act as a filter but do not by themselves ensure quality. Quality in terms of reasoning ability, deductive ability, reading/writing/speaking skills or creative ability.
I think creativity though bandied about a lot is only "required" for creators like inventors, designers etc who are labelled with "need to be creative".
What an employer looks for are basic delegability i.e. if I give this task to him/her will they complete without requiring help. This of course requires resourcefulness or jugaad as per expectations of employer.
At most having bit more vision as in directing/assigning tasks to others and "getting things done" will get you to managerial level.
Ironically, any more creativity/resourcefulnes
----
Either way Relax, YOU have an opportunity NOT a problem!! :-)
Suggest you to start or join an open source project on github.
The sooner you start the better esp. when you've loads of time to learn new tools and explore more. You can learn a lot from others while working hands-on on a live project.
Each hour you spend finding out how to do something is like a trainee pilot logging in flying hours. You'll become real good with every passing day, week and month.
You already know some web development so you can join any of the web apps developed using php, python, rails etc. You can pick up any language as you go along with an interesting project. Internet is full of videos, wikis, howtos, free resources to learn. All you need is interest and time.
The below list may seem like a lot of work. It's not, it's a free education you won't get in any college or work-place. You're self-learning all the SKILLS you require to be a good software engineer (irrespective of years of experience).
Best to start with
1) Installing the software on different operating system (using virtual machines).
2) Finding, reporting installation bugs or bugs found while using the software on github repository. This will help you get used to bug-reporting do's and don'ts.
3) Find gaps in the documentation and suggest changes via github pull requests.
4) Finding work-arounds or fixes by searching the Net for the error message. You can include the fix in the pull request to main project source code.
5) Write plugins or extensions to the code.
6) Add features that you require and contribute them back.
If you do this for a year or two you'll learn more than any course can teach you. You'll teach yourself all SKILLS you need to know. The degrees will be paper certificates for job applications only.
Finally, unlike most other candidates you can actually show-off the quality of your skilled work by just going to github.
Writing - Essay and Precis writing
Arithmatic - hmmm.... (mental math perhaps)
Frequently Unseen Skills:
Resourcefulness
Creativity
Before one complains of not having a perfect academic record here is what businessmen say they want from employees : India's lost generation: A systemic risk?
Like 'paper money' certificates follow the law of demand vs. supply. Certificates act as a filter but do not by themselves ensure quality. Quality in terms of reasoning ability, deductive ability, reading/writing/speaking skills or creative ability.
I think creativity though bandied about a lot is only "required" for creators like inventors, designers etc who are labelled with "need to be creative".
What an employer looks for are basic delegability i.e. if I give this task to him/her will they complete without requiring help. This of course requires resourcefulness or jugaad as per expectations of employer.
At most having bit more vision as in directing/assigning tasks to others and "getting things done" will get you to managerial level.
Ironically, any more creativity/resourcefulnes
----
Either way Relax, YOU have an opportunity NOT a problem!! :-)
Suggest you to start or join an open source project on github.
The sooner you start the better esp. when you've loads of time to learn new tools and explore more. You can learn a lot from others while working hands-on on a live project.
Each hour you spend finding out how to do something is like a trainee pilot logging in flying hours. You'll become real good with every passing day, week and month.
You already know some web development so you can join any of the web apps developed using php, python, rails etc. You can pick up any language as you go along with an interesting project. Internet is full of videos, wikis, howtos, free resources to learn. All you need is interest and time.
The below list may seem like a lot of work. It's not, it's a free education you won't get in any college or work-place. You're self-learning all the SKILLS you require to be a good software engineer (irrespective of years of experience).
Best to start with
1) Installing the software on different operating system (using virtual machines).
2) Finding, reporting installation bugs or bugs found while using the software on github repository. This will help you get used to bug-reporting do's and don'ts.
3) Find gaps in the documentation and suggest changes via github pull requests.
4) Finding work-arounds or fixes by searching the Net for the error message. You can include the fix in the pull request to main project source code.
5) Write plugins or extensions to the code.
6) Add features that you require and contribute them back.
If you do this for a year or two you'll learn more than any course can teach you. You'll teach yourself all SKILLS you need to know. The degrees will be paper certificates for job applications only.
Finally, unlike most other candidates you can actually show-off the quality of your skilled work by just going to github.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.