How Being Unconventional Got Me Ahead in Life | Tharun Naik | TEDxPlaksha University
Summary
TLDRThe speaker reflects on life's ironies and parental expectations, using the story of Rahul, an IIT Bombay graduate with an unexpected low salary, to highlight the changing job market influenced by AI and automation. He shares personal experiences and emphasizes the importance of experimentation and learning diverse skills in college to adapt to the evolving world. The '344' framework is introduced as a method to acquire new skills every three months, advocating for resilience, agility, and problem-solving as key traits for future success.
Takeaways
- 😀 Life's Irony: People often desire to be children after wanting to grow up, highlighting the changing perspectives on life stages.
- 👨👩👧👦 Parental Expectations: Middle-class parents often wish for their children to have stable careers, like doctors or engineers, which they may have missed in their own lives.
- 📚 Academic Pressure: The story of Rahul illustrates the high expectations and pressure on students to excel academically and secure top positions in their fields.
- 🏢 Job Market Reality: Despite academic success, the job market has changed, and high achievers like Rahul may not always secure high-paying jobs as expected.
- 🌐 Technological Impact: Advancements in AI and automation are altering the job landscape, making traditional career paths less predictable and stable.
- 🎓 Rethinking Education: The script suggests that students and parents need to reimagine conventional career paths and adapt to the changing times.
- 🛠️ Diverse Skills: Karthik's story demonstrates the value of developing diverse skills outside of traditional education, such as ethical hacking, which can lead to success.
- 🔭 Lost and Found: The speaker's personal journey from being a lost college student to finding success through experimentation and diverse experiences.
- 🧪 Experimentation: The speaker emphasizes the importance of experimenting with different skills and careers to find what one truly loves and is passionate about.
- 📈 Framework 344: A suggested approach for skill development where students work on a new skill every three months, accumulating a broad set of skills over time.
- 💪 Key Attributes: The importance of resilience, agility, adaptability, and problem-solving skills for students to navigate the uncertain job market of the future.
- 🔁 Continuous Learning: The message that the next five years will be challenging, especially for engineers, and the necessity to continuously learn and adapt to new technologies and job roles.
Q & A
What is the main theme of the speaker's talk?
-The main theme of the speaker's talk is the changing landscape of career aspirations and the job market, particularly for students, in light of advancements in technology such as AI and the need to experiment and adapt to these changes.
Why did the speaker's friend Rahul not get a high-paying job after graduating from IIT Bombay?
-Rahul did not get a high-paying job because the job market has changed significantly, with advancements in AI and automation affecting the demand for traditional engineering roles, leading to a situation where even top students may not secure high-paying placements as expected.
What does the speaker suggest as an alternative to having a fixed five-year plan for students?
-The speaker suggests that students should not have a fixed five-year plan but instead should focus on experimenting and trying out new skills and experiences to discover their passions and adapt to the changing job market.
What is the 'framework 344' mentioned by the speaker?
-The 'framework 344' is a strategy where the speaker recommends that students should work on a new skill for every three months during their college years, making it a hobby and learning it thoroughly before moving on to the next skill after three months.
Why did Karthik, a student with eight backlogs, have a gaming setup and a super bike?
-Karthik, despite having eight backlogs, had a gaming setup and a super bike because he was an ethical hacker who earned money through bug bounding, where he found vulnerabilities in websites and web apps for companies.
What does the speaker imply about the sustainability of Karthik's career as an ethical hacker?
-The speaker questions the sustainability of Karthik's career as an ethical hacker, suggesting that while it may be lucrative in the short term, it might not provide long-term stability or growth.
How did the speaker's own career evolve from being a lost student to running multiple ventures?
-The speaker's career evolved through a series of internships and experiments in different fields such as copyrighting, marketing, digital marketing, web development, and software development, which eventually led to him running a creative agency and a successful YouTube channel.
What qualities does the speaker believe are essential for students to develop in the current job market?
-The speaker believes that resilience, agility, adaptability, and problem-solving skills are essential qualities for students to develop in the current job market due to the rapid changes brought about by technological advancements.
What quote does the speaker use to conclude his talk?
-The speaker concludes his talk with the quote, 'If You're Going Through Hell, keep going,' which emphasizes perseverance and continuous effort despite challenges.
Why does the speaker emphasize the importance of experimenting outside of the classroom?
-The speaker emphasizes the importance of experimenting outside of the classroom because it is through real-world experiences and trying different things that students can discover their true interests and passions, which is crucial for success in a rapidly changing job market.
Outlines
🤔 The Paradox of Growing Up and Career Expectations
This paragraph discusses the irony of life where people first desire to grow up but later wish to be children again. It poses a question about career aspirations, contrasting childhood dreams with parental expectations, often rooted in providing stability. The speaker, from a middle-class background in Mida, Telangana, uses the example of his friend Rahul, whose parents wanted him to be an engineer. The story of Rahul's academic excellence and the stark contrast between expectations and reality in the job market, especially in 2024 with AI advancements, is highlighted. The paragraph ends with a reflection on the changing job landscape and the challenges faced by college students in adapting to these changes.
🎮 Diverse College Experiences: From Gaming Setups to Ethical Hacking
The second paragraph introduces the audience to Karthik, a fellow student with a lavish gaming setup in his hostel room, which initially leads to assumptions of wealth. However, it is revealed that Karthik is an ethical hacker who has successfully made a name for himself in bug bounty hunting, earning significant income despite having academic backlogs. The speaker questions the sustainability of Karthik's career path and contrasts it with traditional college experiences, pondering the unpredictability of life outcomes based on non-academic skills.
🛠 Experimentation as a Key to Success in a Changing World
In the final paragraph, the speaker shares his personal journey of transformation from a lost college student to a successful entrepreneur and content creator. He emphasizes the importance of experimentation and stepping outside of traditional academic routines to discover one's passion and potential. The '344 Framework' is introduced as a strategy for skill acquisition, suggesting that students should focus on learning new skills every three months rather than adhering to a rigid five-year plan. The speaker concludes with the advice to keep experimenting in the face of an uncertain future, especially with the rise of AI and automation, and ends with a motivational quote encouraging perseverance.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Middle Class
💡Career Aspirations
💡IIT Bombay
💡Job Market
💡Ethical Hacking
💡Experimentation
💡Resilience
💡Adaptability
💡Problem Solving
💡Automation
💡Five-Year Plan
Highlights
Life's paradox: the desire to grow up and then return to childhood innocence.
The societal pressure to conform to parental expectations of becoming a doctor or engineer for a stable life.
The story of Rahul, a top student whose parents wanted him to be an engineer, illustrating parental aspirations.
Rahul's academic excellence and the high expectations placed on him as the 'poster boy' of his school.
The contrast between Rahul's academic success and the reality of his job placement with a lower-than-expected salary.
The changing job market in 2024 due to advancements in AI and automation, affecting traditional career paths.
The dilemma faced by college students on how to adapt to the evolving job market and the need for new skills.
The story of Karthik, an ethical hacker who defied traditional college life and achieved financial success.
The question of sustainability in unconventional career paths like Karthik's bug bounty hunting.
The personal journey of the speaker from being a lost college student to achieving success through experimentation.
The importance of having no fixed five-year plan and instead focusing on continuous learning and adaptation.
The 'Framework 344' for skill development, suggesting learning a new skill every three months.
The value of the journey in skill acquisition over the specific skills learned for personal growth.
The necessity of resilience, agility, adaptability, and problem-solving skills for the future job market.
The inspirational quote from Steve Jobs on the unexpected benefits of learning calligraphy.
The final message encouraging experimentation and perseverance in the face of an uncertain future.
Transcripts
[Music]
so don't you all feel that life is funny
because first we want to grow up and
then we want to be kids again ladies and
gentlemen I'd like to start today's talk
with a question that all of us have been
asked
before what do you want to become when
you grow
old a scientist an
astronaut or anything that sounded cool
as a kid right but the real question is
what did your parents want you to become
well if you're someone like
me who comes from a normal middle class
background from a small town called Mida
in Telangana your parents would like to
would want you to become maybe a doctor
or an engineer because your parents want
you to have something that they missed
in their life what is that a stable life
or a lifestyle right and same in the
same way one of my friends Rahul his
parents dreamed of him to become a an
engineer right so ladies and gentlemen
this is story time this was back in 2011
right I and Rahul were classmates and we
were like something around 11 years old
we used to sit in the first bench in our
class right Rahul was this you know
topper friend that I used to have he is
the dream kid that parents can dream to
have and like a ideal student that
teachers would pray to have right he was
he was always first in the class
first in exams first in submitting the
assignments everything right years
passed by year after year year after
year year after year his you know he was
very very studious and he finally put
the know the school's name in front of
the you know entire town right and he he
actually became the poster boy of the
school right and 10 boards happened and
then 11th class 12th we went to the
coaching and what do you expect from him
he became the topper over there as well
he finally cracked IJ and finally went
to IIT
Bombay first year second year third year
he finally started to excel at I Bombay
as well what else his parents could
dream of everyone thought that this
Rahul would now become you
know join hands with some of the best
companies in the world and earning
crores and crores of
money fourth year he finally side in the
placements 2023 it was December day one
day two day three he didn't get placed
he finally got placed on day five and
guess his
package 5
LPA the same kid
who was supposed to get crores of
package is now a out of IIT Bombay with
with a five lakh
package why did this happen everything
was supposed to happen good he's a dream
kid he's a dream child he's the studious
one he's the most disciplined one so
what happened why five LPA why not in
crores little did anyone realize that
the year is
2024 and the job market isn't the same
anymore the times have changed with the
advancements in AI with the advance
advancements in
llms with the recent release in AI soft
Ware engineering like engineer a lot of
things have changed the job market
doesn't seem the
same so what do we do what do we the
college students do right now how do we
cope up with this what should we
learn are we all messed up right now
imagine studying four years five years
in a college you study engineering and
then you get out of the college without
any job in fact you're not even
employable how does it feel like
so what should we
do I mean before we answer this question
I'd like to tell you I'd like to share
two more stories with you the first one
is back in
2022 right and before going to the story
we have to realize the fact this is the
time for us for the students for the
parents to reimagine the imagined
conventional career parts that we have
been looking forward for the last 20
years in India the times have changed
now let's get back to the story the year
is
2022 Co finally like covid-19 finally
started ending and I along with my
friends we started going back to IIT
kakur this was back in my second third
year of
college and I just packed everything my
bags luggage books laptop everything I
just packed everything I just went back
to the college I got out of the cab I
just started entering my hostel room
right and two rooms apart there used to
be one of my friend his name is
Karthik
right so Karthik I've just looked at him
I was like what is this guy doing
because this guy had three four other
people with him they were carrying huge
boxes along with him we like entering
the hostel and then I see the boxes are
just like people are opening the boxes
and then they see huge monitors a big
game gaming setup a PS5 all of those
things coming a big lighting setup and
all of the things coming out of his room
I was like man this caric is so rich I
guess his parents should be so rich like
how can how can he have like so many I
used to have like a chair which was made
of that iron and all of that stuff when
I move it it used to give me that Kur
sound and now this guy in like just two
rooms apart this guy has like a gaming
setup entire thing Studio inside his
hostel room how is that even possible I
was just jealous actually but 2 days
pass 3 days passed of couple of weeks
passed and then I realized I slowly
started talking to uh Karthik and I
realized that this guy he had eight
backlogs and then I realized that this
guy was from my department in my college
itself I've never seen him seen him in
the class so I just went I was like very
curious I talk to him was like what are
you doing in college like such a waste
like eight backlogs who who has
it then I
realized the same guy who had eight
backlogs whom I have never seen in my
class has recently bought a super bike
has recently bought a
car has bought a flat to live
in how parents comeone that's what I
thought but then I realized that this
Kik was actually a ethical
hacker right he used to do something
called bug bounding where you know
companies try to you know give some like
give a project to all the freelance
ethical hackers and these people try to
find bucks in the websites web apps and
all of those things like man this is
such a badass thing like I've never seen
someone do doing that at least in
college this guy is like on a different
level he's like he's not even playing
like the regular College thing like
regular College you know things that we
have to do he's on a different
level so so then I started asking myself
is this
sustainable I mean whatever he's doing
okay maybe he's doing bug bounding he's
a ethical hacker and all of the stuff
but this is not sustainable right that's
what exactly I thought do you think this
karik will do the same stuff throughout
his life maybe this year this year he
earned something around 30 40 50 60 70
80 LH but do you think next year he'll
do the same I thought that's like a
graph which is always coming coming
coming down right but let's not you know
conclude this right
away this gets us to the next
story which was in 2021 and this is
about myself I was this lost kid I was
in the second year of my
college I was just looking at my wall I
was just sitting in a corner of my room
this was again back when covid happened
and all of this stuff we are all at home
I was looking at the wall I was like tan
what do you want in life
maybe at this point of time all I want
is just like a normal College placement
which can pay me something around 1 lakh
per month that's like my dream job right
now anything any job is my dream job if
you can pay me something around one lakh
per month that's what exactly I thought
then what happened to you because when
you were a kid you thought of becoming a
scientist what what happened to all the
dreams right
now right I was just that lost kid in
the class I was scared that I would I
I'll not be placed and all of this
stuff then you know fast forward 2024 I
have a full-time job which pays me huge
amount of money I run a couple of
YouTube channels I have my own creative
agency where we provide you know post
production and preproduction services to
Brands and all and then I also run one
of the fastest growing videoing cohodes
in India so how did all of this change
like just two three years of thing and
how did like a normal
like a low confident well a kid how did
he do it how was he able to do
it well it all started with the one word
which which which goes like
experimenting so it all first started
with me experimenting I Ser I first
started with like a internship in
copyrighting and then that led to one
more internship in marketing and then
that led to one more internship in
digital marketing and then that that led
to one more internship at I am Bangalore
and that led to one more internship at a
startup based in Romania and that led to
one more internship in you know
uh the what do we say uh like web
development or software development or
whatever it is so when someone ask me
like tarun what is your Five-Year Plan
or maybe when someone asks you what is
your fiveyear plan especially when
you're in college what do you say
I believe I completely believe that you
know students at least in the year 2024
or 2023 you should not have like a
five-year plan all you have to do is
experiment because you have to keep
searching for what you love in college
and you won't be able to search for what
you love in college if you just go to
classes if you just submit your
assignments and if you just come back
and sleep in your hostel rooms you have
to keep experimenting it's not what you
do in the classes it's not what you do
inside the college it's what you do
outside your classes that's what matters
the most in like being a successful you
know in having a successful career as a
student in
2024 and I'm very confident that if a
student if a student doesn't have the
features like being resilient right or
if a student doesn't have the feature of
being agile or
adaptable right or if a student is not
good at problem
solving his life his next five years is
going to be very very very scary right
so what are the four things being
resilient being agile being adaptable
and being great at problem solving so
how do we develop this like these four
or five these features how do we do that
so I have something called
as the framework 344 it's very simple
for every 3 months that you have while
being in college try to work on a new
skill make it a hobby like learn it in
and out right and after every 3 months
try to move on to the next skill because
after after one year you'll have at
least three to four skills in your hand
and after four years you'll have at
least 12 to 16 skills in your hand and
it's not about what skill you're
learning it's not about is this skill
even valuable right enough because it's
about the journey it's about the person
that you'll become after you know
through this journey after finishing
learning this you know three years or
four years of
Journey right because I'd like to tell
Steve Jobs names here because one Steve
Jobs in his page told how the
calligraphy class that he took after
dropping out of college has helped him
to develop beautiful type type like
fonts for the Macintosh maybe you'll be
the next one talking about one of these
12 or 16 skills that you'll learn before
you
graduate and I'd like to end today's
speech by telling you one thing if you
have to take out like one thing take
away one thing out of this entire speech
that would be you have to experiment
because the next 5 years is going to be
scary especially for the engineers
because everything is going to be
automated AI is going to take over and
this is the time where we have to find
what we love right I and I'd like to end
this with one quation which is very very
close to my heart which is which goes
like If You're Going Through Hell keep
going thank you
[Applause]
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