Think hatke! (Science)
It’s 2021! The world has changed and with it the number of careers is increasing ten-fold. If you ask your parents, they will tell you that back in their day they had very few options. You get 80% marks or above and you take science and end up either as an engineer or a doctor. You get 65% to 80% marks and you take commerce. Maybe end up as a C.A. or working in a bank. Maybe do an MBA later. You get below 65% and you take arts. Maybe end up as a teacher. Since then the number of careers in each stream has increased.
According to the latest research, the number of admissions in the science stream post 10th grade/standard has increased, while admissions for engineering and medical fields have decreased. The same is the case with the clichéd fields in commerce and arts. Thus, the time for alternate career fields or hatke careers has arrived.
Here are a few alternate careers to the mainstream careers we are usually familiar with.
Engineering se hatke!
India has a total of 6,214 engineering and technology institutions in which around 2.9 million students are enrolled. Every year on an average 1.5 million students get their degree in engineering, but due to lack of skills required to perform technical jobs, less than 20 per cent get employment in their core domain. Admissions for the medical fields are decreasing as well. Hence, think of the following as alternates:
Microbiologist: 2020 broke all of us with the pandemic. It was quite scary to see a small virus wreck so many lives. However, it brought the whole world closer. Every major country, including India, banded together to look for a vaccine for this deadly virus. India itself came up with two vaccines. Ever wonder who these heroes are who worked hard to save the world? It was the microbiologists who worked hard to achieve this feat! You too can be like them. Just take a B.Sc. in Microbiology post the 12th grade followed by a Masters. You could work in a research lab anywhere in the world.
Pharmacist: Every tablet or syrup you find bitter is made by a pharmaceutical company. With pharmacy you could work in the frontline of making medicine and distributing medicine for a whole range of sicknesses. All you need to do is to take B. Pharm. post your 12th grade.
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Darryl D’Souza (M.Sc. in Psychology specialized in Human Resource Development and Management) is a practising career guidance and mental health professional. He can be contacted for career guidance, testing of aptitudes, personality development and similar needs.