Advice for students starting their first year of engineering

Don’t start with the traditional negative mindset and the fuss we all hear about engineering in India. Believe me, engineering is cool, make it sound great again!

Okay, this article is a format-converted version of my quora answer (from sept, 2019). But it seems surprisingly relevant so sharing it here again!

I love this Iron Man poster! It’s an accurate version of how a product is developed (iterated)

Start

• Don’t start with the traditional negative mindset and the fuss we all hear about engineering in India. Believe me, engineering is cool, make it sound great again. (If you lose enthusiasm, do watch the Marvel movies again especially Iron Man and Black Panther, and see what engineers can really do and achieve! We create the change, and we take the world forward.)
• It’s okay if you didn’t get into NITs or IITs or any other premier institute, the world doesn’t end here – it barely starts.
• Don’t just stick to academics, learn on your own. Self learning is going to be a thing now in your life, you need to give up your conventional approaches. Google will be your best friend. Research about the topics you come across or have interest in. Learning to google search properly will help you, as you’re going to do R&D for rest of your career.
• Know your thing. Don’t worry about the teachers, staff, attendance, submissions, etc. all that stuff is manageable or least can be handled. If you know your thing, nobody will say anything to you. Just maintain good relations and a friendly conduct.
• Do internships or startups — if possible.
• Build a personality. I was told, “You’ll enter engineering as a boy, but will leave as a man.” So decide what kinda man you want to be. Groom yourself, do things outside your domain, take part in extracurriculars, explore world, shape yourself.
• Have fun, make friends, live life. It matters.

Thanks for reading. If you liked it, do say a hi to me on twitter :)