Aditya Kothadiya’s Blog

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Do not compromise on your field of interest

Targeted Audience: Students

Compromising on your area of interest for funding opportunity in some other area is very common situation I have seen amongst the students. Yes, funding is critical but there are always some ways to manage this worry. I shall cover how to handle financial worries at later part of this series. But in this discussion, I want to emphasize the importance of your area of interest.

It is very important to understand that postgraduate studies are easy to complete if you want to achieve just 3.0 GPA and get the degree, but it takes tremendous efforts if you want to excel and aim for more than 3.8 GPA. When it requires tremendous hardwork from you, then your interest is the only incredibly compelling emotion that enables you to slog hard, to push and stretch your limits and to perform high. It is hard to reproduce similar kind of passion for other subjects, which are not of your interests. Even if you are funded in some non-specific areas, it becomes difficult to excel in those subjects.

I know few of my genius friends, to whom I still admire the most, who have done these kinds of mistakes. They compromised on their area of interest, and finally landed into some other job profile. Now they don’t seem to be passionate enough about their technology, about their job life and also about their ambitions. It’s like having no passion in what you do is a small bug. Once it enters into our body system, slowly and steadily, it damages the whole body system.

On the same note, we need to understand that the change is inevitable. Your interests are going to change along the period. Be flexible, be open, and keep following your passion. Do not restrict yourself to one set of mind. Being open will help you to acquire what is new and in demand. That kind of outlook will help you to always do what is required in the industry and always be in the hot position.

Getting reward isn’t about making only right choice; it’s about practicing that choice consistently. — Aditya Kothadiya

When I decided to pursue my MS, I observed that all my seniors were going for Biomedical Instrumentation specialization. I also thought that Biomedical Instrumentation is going to be the next big thing, so I should also pursue my MS in Biomedical only. But then while working in the industry, I realized that I have more passion for hardware and software integration. So I decided to go for Embedded Systems. After I came to USC for Embedded Systems program, I learned that the department did not offer the courses in Embedded Systems. The respective professors were busy in their research projects such that they had to cancel those courses. By that time, I had taken some courses in Digital Design area, and realized that I am more interested into Architecture and Digital Design field. And finally I decided to work in VLSI Digital Design domain, and I am truly enjoying my work as I landed into my interest.

For more articles from this series, please visit – Beyond Intelligence