Techie or scribe, join the cool tribe

Good guys still want to be engineers and good girls would still teach, but it isn’t bad anymore to be a young entrepreneur or work in a mall or fly an airline or become a gym instructor, writes Rahul Sharma.

Three decades ago if you were a youngster ready to step into a career nobody asked you what you wanted to do. The choices – like the brands of cars in the market then – were few. Good guys became engineers; good girls became teachers or doctors (if at all). Some smarter folks got into civil services, and the brave and foolhardy donned stiff military uniforms.

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When I told my mum I wanted to become a journalist she wore a devastated look for several weeks. My father was more understanding. He merely nodded his head in disbelief and walked away … almost forever.

But times change. Media today has turned into first-among-equal as a career for young people.

Good guys still want to be engineers and good girls would still teach, but it isn’t bad anymore to be a young entrepreneur or work in a mall or fly an airline or become a gym instructor, or work the nights at a nearby BPO taking calls from thousands of miles away in the company of male colleagues.

No more does a government or a public sector job provide generations of satisfaction. It’s more or less acceptable to be an item girl in a Bollywood film, though I doubt if many would like to see their

daughters become a cheerleader waving pom-poms at a cricket match.

India is booming. There are choices that never were before. Our new series takes you — our young readers — through the labyrinth of opportunities that have emerged in recent years and simplifies them for your need. Over the next few weeks you will meet some who are pursuing careers you might want to choose, and hear about the challenges they face. You will receive expert advice on how and why to choose a certain path – its pluses and negatives.

So stay the course with us if you are readying to jump into the job market — there are innumerable new possibilities that will tickle you and make you want to try them out. In case you miss the morning paper, you can always find Hot Careers on our website www.hindustantimes.com.

Rahul Sharma, Editor, Delhi