I was confused about my career — So I experimented for 3 years
Note — After receiving so much love for this post through DMs and comments, I made a follow up video on my new YouTube channel. I’d love for you to check it out. Also, happy to have you here! 😁
Ello there! I’m a robotics engineer, who loves both robotics and startups. The combination resonates deeply with who I am as a person, and I recently started putting out what I do on the internet — Twitter, Medium, Instagram. It is a way for me to document my personal journey in Robotics (and some micro experiments).
But it would be unfair to this journey if I do not talk about how I came to this place.
Here’s the thing — I was pretty darn confused about what I wanted to do right after college, and that led me on a very experimental, chaotic (and rather criticized) path.
It took me a long time to realize how important that chaos was. I no longer feel doubtful of the path I took and my ways — but for a long time, I did. This is my journey, from the beginning.
Naive beginnings
I graduated in 2016 as an engineer and joined a Robotics startup as a Hardware Design and Development guy. This is what my brain looked like back then —
- Engineering — I was inherently good at practical technology development. Throughout university, I was into building robots for competitions. But I was lowkey unsure all along because I only enjoyed it outside formal classes (read as over-structured curriculum). Unfortunately, I took that sign as “lack of interest” in engineering back then.
My first startup job made me realize that I enjoyed working in tech startups. But it could still not overpower my accumulated doubts from university. - Music — I fell in love with music and guitar in high school (I had to learn when my childhood crush asked me if I could play). And I doubled down, oh no, tripled down on learning the guitar during my undergrad. If I was not working on tech, I’d be learning the guitar. And I of course carried the same feelings about music when I graduated.
- 5kgs of what the fuck ?— A confused mind is not taken well by society. But that does not change the fact that it is confused. Every time someone asked “Why are you confused? Why do you want to experiment?”, it would puzzle me beyond measure. It felt like them saying “Hey, figure yourself out without figuring yourself out” And that weighed me down with my 5kgs of “What the fuck should I do?”
And you know what I did? I said, “Fuck it”.
Iterated Career Games
The idea was simple: figure out what I wanted to do for a living. And once you say “Fuck it”, it becomes easier to act from intuition. But I had a problem — I did not know what to choose.
So I went the other way — eliminating options. Here’s what my options looked like —
Step One — Music
I loved music and thought it could be a viable career (bless my high school crush).
I started cold mailing sound studios in the city to ask for pro-bono work/apprentice positions after my day job in the robotics startup.
To my luck, the warm bunch loved the idea of me working for them (for free). A couple of days into it, I clearly did not see myself working in the industry. As great as it was, I wasn’t cut out for it.
I tried writing for local music journals and being a part of the local House Concerts organizing committee to see if I like something around them. Nope, not my cup of tea.
Eliminations!
I continued to learn the guitar, which I thoroughly enjoyed.
Step Two — Engineering
Since I eliminated 50% of my choices in music, I started focusing more on Engineering.
Startups — I was working in a robotics startup which I enjoyed. In hindsight, this place formed the strongest base, both technical and aspirational, which I leverage in my current skill set. But since that was the only experience under my belt, I did not know what other options looked like. So I decided to try other options and see for myself.
Academia — After working in the aforementioned startup for a year, I happened to find an academic research position in Robotics and moved to another country. In time, I realized that academic labs can be very slow and focus more on publishing papers than high-quality engineering (not generalizing — don’t hate me already). It dawned on me that I loved fast-paced work and industries (hint: startups again).
Elimination!
Corporates — I stayed in academia for eight months, only to join the industry again. I spent the next 2.5 years in the industry (MNCs) as an ASIC Software Engineer where I learnt most of my engineering chops. I was also taking up online courses in Robotics and ML after my day job.
With time, and as I had lived other options, I grew very fond of Robotics and the startup culture.
But there were still some knots in my brain — How do I see music as a guitarist? Do I know what non-technical domains actually feel like? Well, these are parallel quests spanning the same 2.5 years, which got me closer to startup Robotics.
Step Three — Music
While I was working as an ASIC Software Engineer in a great MNC, I was performing as a guitarist in a band.
It took me about 2 years of focused learning and performing to realize that I wish to keep my music pristine, away from money-making. I still wanted to do it, but not for a living. This was a major data point in my process.
Step Four —Miscellaneous
While I had eliminated most of my options, I was riding the wave of life purely based on curiosity. In my own free time, I explored some nontech options too — public policy, design. All of these were short-lived and reinforced the idea that Robotics (and tech) is both my strength and deep interest.
Eliminations!
All my experiences and trails came together in these 2.5 years. By the end of it, I had 2 keywords etched in me — Robotics and Startups. I had eliminated everything else in tech and decided to double down on what I found.
After many trials and experiments, I realized that startup Robotics is what I want to focus on for a living. They deeply resonate with me as a person and a professional. So that is what I do — I build robots for a living, in fast-paced startups.
What about music?
Well, I love being a guitarist and continue to do so when I’m not working in Robotics. In fact, I run an online music school and if you wish to learn this beautiful instrument, I’m always available on my Instagram music channel — _the_humming_bird *shameless plug*
Navigating turbulence
If I wanted to experiment early on, I had to let go of financial benefits in the short term.
I had to say no to a higher pay twice and promotion once so that I can be fluid enough to move and figure myself out. While those were the best decisions of my life, I took flak from almost everyone for a long time. I’m just good at ignoring advice, for better or worse.
People do not like you poking life to see what happens.
The smoother you move with common career decisions, the more everyone appreciates you. I don’t know if they were right, but that didn’t sit right with me — knowing what I want to do seems far more important than appeasement.
A forward-looking market looks at intent and skills more than resumes
Discouraging exploration to have a wrinkle-free resume is the biggest load of crap I’ve ever heard — if you don’t know what you like. If you do, I get it. But if you don’t, why the fuck would you fear resume-based market rejection, if you don’t even know which market is a fit.
I want to be a kickass Roboticist who can build — and that aspiration did not come about because of a wrinkle-free trajectory. I had to figure that out while working on my skills. And that’s what a forward-looking market should bet on.
Non-linear navigation makes you better in every domain, because all skills are correlated
While deep expertise is very important, some broad exploration, in my opinion, is imperative to see the bigger picture. And if you’re working in startups, it helps a lot. A career is non-binary, and ideas are combinatorial; they do not live in isolation.
Why write about this?
Because it feels right.
Note: This post in no way points to a plan I stuck to. Each step was a product of intuition taking over. And right now, this post is me realising how all the dots connect in life.
Well, I think this post is a way for me to crystallize my thoughts about the last years. Maybe someone finds it amusing, maybe no one does.
If you’re still here, thanks for reading! 😃
