First steps towards a Successful Career

IIT Bombay, Sep 2012

Ashwin Rao

Life after IIT

● IIT tag follows you. Is it a good thing ?

● "We were so naive during our IIT days !"

● Acquire versatility in skills and personality

● Associate with people different than you

What are suitable jobs for me ?

● You can figure it out objectively

● Glamour, Money and the Mom Syndrome

● Understand your Skills and your Taste

● Think Career, not Jobs

Prepare Well, but Chill Out

● Research the various jobs thoroughly

● Advice from your classmates and seniors ?

● Personal Life versus Professional Life

● Never compare yourself with others !

● Easy to correct bad jobs or wrong decisions

Higher Studies

● Titles like MBA, PhD - what is their value ?

● What do the best employers care about ?

● PhD-> Only if you want to be an academic

● MBA -> Reset career

● Masters versus PhD

● MBA: Now or later ? From India or US ?

Finance Jobs

● Banking

● Sales and Trading

● Quant

● IT

● Algo Trading

● Finance Jobs in India ?

Current Wall Street Scenario

● Regulations hurting the industry

● Compensation levels down severely

● Still good for STEM backgrounds

● The tide will turn

STEM Jobs

● Boom in STEM, particularly Silicon Valley

● Tech jobs don't pay well ?

● Example - Big Data

● Google, Facebook, Apple, Amazon

● Exciting tech jobs in India ?

Startups

● Not for everyone

● Market Size, Product, Team

● Funding

● Advisors

● Passion

ZLemma.com● Mission: Make career decisions a science

● "How talented am I ?" ● "How can I get better ?"

● "Who would like to interview me ?"

● Come visit us in 2 months

● {gaurav, zubin, ashwin}@zlemma.com