Why did I take up engineering?

A couple of days ago a friend of mine asked me this question. I felt it was a logical question and I decided to give her all the details to the best of my ability.


This question has a lot of history to it. When I was young, I liked what my dad did. But as a kid all I saw him doing was walk out with a suitcase in the morning and come back with the same suitcase in the evening.I never knew what he actually did nor did he tell me. Maybe that was a clear sign that shouted out "Son don't make the same mistake I made". But I did exactly that!

So I went through school hating everything that I studied. Every subject was boring. I loved sports. Soccer was top of the list. I wanted to play for Manchester United along side David Beckham. But the soccer dreams came to an end when I had to choose a "real" career.

I had a certain inspirational point that changed my life: The time when a back bench student (yours truly) scored a 100/100 in physics. He silenced his peers and the staffs who told him that he was never going to make it. From that day on I was found walking around school with an autobiography of Albert Einstein. People thought I was crazy. And the truth is, I was.

I headed to college. I chose engineering because when I was a kid I saw a bumper sticker that read "Engineers make the world", which in a way is actually true. So I decided I would do engineering. But what engineering? You had so many choices. I looked at Mechanical engineering with a keen eye but then Electrical engineering was something that my dad did and I admired it. My childhood dream was to work for a company whose name was made of three letters in the color of the morning sun - ABB. And so I worked towards that dream. I did a B.Tech degree. I fell ill the day ABB came for recruitment. I still wonder what would have happened if I had gone for the interview then.

So then I landed a job in the booming software industry. I worked for a year and decided to do a masters degree in electrical engineering. I got into a good school. My prof. happened to be a former student from my same undergraduate college. Things fell into place.

One year into my Masters program and I was working with ABB as an intern for three months. My dream had come true (at least a small part of it).

Now I am in my final semester of my Masters program and I still wonder - Why did I ever decide to take up engineering?


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Well that was what I said. I know this post seems a bit pompous but that is not my intention. What must be really noted is how some things just fall into place. Always remember, Whatever happens, happens for a reason; a very good reason.