Indian Job Search Engine

Dear Friends

I recently came across the site www.simplyhired.com. Its a job search engine, which extracts relevant jobs from all the job sites and display it. Its a global portal and primarily focuses on US jobs.

The Indian portal of the same group is www.simplyhired.co.in

It is also present in the www.linkedin.com job search feature, which is powered by simplyhired .

The wonderful thing about this tool I found is that you dont need to go to individual sites, but still can extract all the data from there.

Simply punch in the keywords and criterias like location, and all the jobs from all the Indian Job Portals and other geographies(if selected) will be displayed in single place

Happy job search :)

Just Another Explorer: Why I am MBA not an Engineer??

Dear Friends

I am writing this article, not as a boasting that I am a Management Grad, but as a sarcasm and regret, that why I am not an Engineer??

To tell you about myself, I did Engineering and then MBA.

So, as an average Indian student, in 1997, I was focused on the biggest fear or the D-Day, for each and every Indian student, has to slog, mug, burn midnight oil. Yes, that is the Board Examinations of 10^th. At this point of time, the only goal in front of my eyes, was to get good percentage, so that I can get admission in better schools (or colleges) for Senior Secondary Education.

So, as per destiny, I happened to score around 80% in 10^th Board Examination. Now, the D-Day was over, what next??

Do, we actually plan after D-Day?? I don’t.

Now, had to take a decision that whether to go into Medical , Non Medical, Commerce or Arts.

At that time, commerce and arts were looked down upon, as compared to Medical and Non Medical.

In my case, choice was easier. I can’t see blood. So, it was by default Non-Medical i.e. Physics Chemistry and Maths.

But, is it only because of this reason??

No!! It was something more. I was always fascinated by machines and technology and science behind it. And, now I was on my way to do what I wanted to do.

At this point of time, I wanted to be great scientist, inventor or discoverer. I think, I am not the only one, who thought that way.

So, next two years, were even more gruesome, preparing for Engineering Entrance Examination.

The Next D-Day, was already scheduled.

But, while studying these preparations for Engineering Entrance, I also enjoyed studying those subjects. To better say, exploring those subjects.

As, internet was not that prevalent or I must say, that was not in reach of an average Indian Student, so I resolved to libraries. I used to pick up books like ‘Unified Theory’, ‘Theory of Relativity’, ‘Para Science’, anything whose name was enticing. And, most of the time, I couldn’t make out much sense out of these books, as it was too early. But, still it helped me to keep the notion intact in my mind, or atleast maintained my hope, that I am gonna be what I desire to be. Will take some time, but will reach there.

So, after 2 years of hard work, I was able to crack the Engineering Entrance Exam, and was able to make it to a decent Institute, with the long history. Although, my cherished dream of being an IITian, was blown away, but still I was on my way.

So, everything started rosily. First time, out of your parents control. Complete freedom. In my case, as I studied mostly in boys institutes, so girls were the additional and I must say one of the most enticing factor.

Then, there I saw, such a big workshops, where we used to or I would rather say, forced to do exercises like Carpentry, Smithy, Fitting, Welding, Machining……….

But, then I was confused. Did, I did all the studies, and faced one of the toughest competitions in India, for doing this, to act as a carpenter or smithy guy?

Obviously not. My dream was to do inventions, to take science to next level. Work on uncompleted works of Great Scientists like Einstein………. But, was I alone in this thought process.

At this moment, I came to realize the difference between Science and Technology. Science is the study of the laws of nature that govern the universe. But, that is what I thought I would be doing in Engineering. Now, the term came to be understood as Technology. What is Technology?? Frankly, I was not able to answer this question for many years, I admit I have a dumb mind in that sphere.

But, technology is the application of science, not the science. That is the biggest eyewash, I had during my engineering 1^st year. But, I said ok , no probs, atleast as a Mechanical Engineer, I may be able to design the car, or aspired to design the best car. And, I think my friends in other streams like Electronics, Computers etc, had similar notions or fantasies in their field.

But, full first year, I was just drawing nuts and bolts. I couldn’t understand why???

And, then we were forced to do manual drafting or drawings. Again, I couldn’t understand, that when we have softwares on our computers, and it’s much easy on it, why I or anybody should do it by manual methods. Is it just the rotten heritage the Institutes are trying to carry forward? Or I was just not thinking straight??

So, confusion prevailed.

Now, the subjects came Chemistry, Applied Thermodynamics, Solid Mechanics,…………. And endless list. But, again I was not able to make head and tail out of it. I was not able to understand, why I am doing this cramming???

So, slowly the interest started drifting, the very idealistic mind of a fresh Engineering Students started to go for ‘Cut-Copy-Paste’. We had our ways. We used to call it ‘Glasso Toppo’. It was the technique, where you trace the diagrams and drawings, on your sheet, by the help of bulb, bucket and glass. And obviously tracing paper.

So, rat race again started.

But, I was loosing interest, as I was not comfortable cramming. Infact, I felt guilty cramming. And, couldn’t make any sense of the Prof, what he/she is teaching in the class, because it was purely theoretical in most of the cases.

So, what to do?? I stopped attending classes. My routine was that I used to read a novel, in the night. Sleep by 4:00 am in the morning, and then wake up at 12:00 noon for lunch. And, then of course, I couldn’t have missed labs and tutorials. So, I went to attend them.

But, slowly I realized, that after 5:00 pm, when the classes are over, then I become active. Talking to friends. Sitting on lover’s lane, or jealously staring at the couples sitting on the lover’s lane.

Then, I came in touch with lot of seniors, who were poaching us for their respective Clubs like Dramatics, Youth Welfare Club, College Magazines, …………..

And, we went with the flow. At times, I was selected in these clubs and at times I was rejected. But, it was part of the game.

In whole of this process, where is my Engineering???

I seriously don’t know. And after some time, I was not even bothered about it.

The norm was that it doesn’t matter, which branch or specialization are you from, big IT companies like Satyam, Infosys, TCS, Wipro…. Will come and pick us not in numbers, but in truckloads. So, career was set.

But, was it so??

So, continuing these extra curricular activities, I got involved in management stuff. And its obvious extension i.e. politics. And I enjoyed it. It gave me the feeling of power, feeling of belongingness, and a platform to improve my management skills. But, above all it gave me a feeling that I am creating something i.e. systems. I picked up the Club, which were having around 5 active members, and within the span of 1 year, I along with my friends made it 150 members.

So, now my college was secondary, and my extra curricular activities primary.

You, can say, that I started evolving as a Manager and devolving as an Engineer.

Then, as per our curriculum, we have to undergo 6 months industrial training in 6^th semester. I was selected with one of the best brand names, and went there with lot of expectations.

But, it was actually a shock. They wanted me as an engineer, not as a manager. They wanted me to install machines. They wanted me to increase the quality level to 6 sigma. They wanted me to develop gauges, and what not.

At this time, I was no more an engineer. So, I was back to square one. I slogged for 6 months. I did lot of work in many engineering fields of mechanical engineering like machining, welding, die casting……………..

Now, I was back at my college for my final year. And, again the same subjects cropped up with new Avtaar like Applied Thermodynamics, Metallurgy, Advanced Solid Mechanics, Theory of Machines,…..

But, I don’t know how, it became more interesting for me. I started enjoying the lectures. And at times, I was more knowledgeable then Profs, because they have studied it, but I have worked on it for 6 months. So, there was a again a drift.

In the final year, I went back to introspection, that why I lost my Engineering. The answer was very simple. Evey Prof, and subject and the course book, told me ‘How?’, but nobody told me ‘Why?’. In other words, nobody made me realize that why these subjects are important from application point of view. Or in other words, they never showed me big or holistic picture, they were just focused on micro elements. I am not sure, whether it comes under Maslow’s Pyramid or Theory X or Theory Y and other such theories of Organisational Behaviour and Psychology, but can one be driven without seeing the big picture? I am really sorry to say, I am not. So, when you don’t understand, ‘Why?’, then how can you feel like or actually master ‘How?’

But, the surgery was done. It was too late. I was now a Manager, not an Engineer.

Then again, I got my first job in an Automotive Industry. I worked mainly on technical areas like Machine Installations, creating systems like Just In Time, and then I was an engineer in the R&D, working on actual R&D, not the false R&D (which is just modifying the drawings and adjusting the designs).

It was the best profile, as a Mechanical Engineer, I could have got. But, Engineer in me was long dead.

And, now ask myself a question; why even in such a technical and creative environment of the Core Engineering, it couldn’t rekindle the dormant fire of Science & Technology in me.

The reason was again clear. In the technical area, one can grow, but not exponentially. There is a glass ceiling, that if you want to grow in the organization, then you should be Masters, and obviously in Management.

So, the choice was crystal clear, draw satisfaction out of Engineering job or make a giant leap both in terms of career and salaries, by doing MBA. So, I went for an MBA.

But, now I ask, if I actually had to do MBA at last, then why did I do Engineering?? Why I didn’t go for Commerce, which was easy, could have saved my one year (as B.Com is of 3 years and Engineering is of 4 years)?

It was too late. Past is the only event, which has probability value of 1. It can’t be changed. So, I lost so many valuable years, when I was at the peak of my youth, doing something, which I don’t want, and not doing something which I want.

So, has happened to ‘many many many’ Indian Students over these years. And, it’s still continuing.

But, recently after doing MBA, I came to realize that my batch mates, who haven’t done MBA, are drawing more packages than myself, even after doing MBA.

I think it was because the fad is getting over. We always, at least in India, give more powers, packages, fame, recognition……… to a guy who is ‘Managing’ the show. We don’t give all these things, to a guy who is actually ‘Giving Reason to Manage The Show’.

Just imagine, what will Management do, if there is no R&D, if there is no Quality Department, if Machines are not properly selected………..

In that case, I won’t call it a company per se, but a trader. It could be a big trader like Walmart.

So, with the fad getting faded, I think it makes more sense to pursue your actual interest, if it was science and technology, rather going for Management.

Sooner of Later, you will grow, where you have to manage. But, in that case, you have completed the journey to the top. And the journey was enjoyable and blissful, because you were doing which you actually wanted to do, in most of the journey.

So, coming back to the main topic. I blame, the whole eco system, which is superset of education system. And, to an extent, I was part of it. So, I am to be equally blamed.

So, at last I will say, that please understand ‘Why?’, and ‘How?’ will automatically come to you.

I am writing this article, so that the students or professionals, who still have time, shouldn’t repeat the same mistake, which I have made along with many others, and still making.

Via this article, even if one person is able to make a better career choice, my purpose of writing this article is more than served.

Well, at last, this was just my opinion or thought process, and I felt like sharing with you. But, the very idea is to stimulate or trigger the thought process, that ‘Am I doing, what I want to do? And why?’

Just Another Explorer

Prabal Aggarwal

PS: I got lot of queries, via forwarded mails that can one forward or use the earlier articles, I have written with the same motive.. The very idea, of this article is to share experience, so that the mistakes I did in my professional life, others shouldn’t do it. Even if one professional or student is benefited by this, my purpose is more than served. So, friends if you like it spread it. That’s the whole idea of sharing.

Friends, as an author of this article, I authorize anybody, can use this article for publishing on any media i.e. print, visual, audio, internet, forwarding emails, intranets, etc. Only request is that, the name of the author, body of the article shouldn’t be changed or altered. Secondly, would request to mention that this article was originally written & posted by Prabal Aggarwal, on Aug 6th 2010 on www.managementinformatika.blogspot.com. You can start discussing with me and other readers, by commenting on the blog post. Also, if anybody using this content, feel like that monetary contribution should be made, you can donate on my behalf that sum of money to Project Why (http://www.projectwhy.org/), not for profit organization.

If you like this article, then subscribe to justanotherexplorer@googlegroups.com, by visiting http://groups.google.co.in/group/justanotherexplorer

Interesting Applications: That can make Professional Live Easier

Dear Friends

Since, last few days, whenever I used to browse google on my mobile handset, there was a footer ' Google Search by Voice' . I kept on ignoring, this for couple of days. Then, finally I downloaded the app from http://www.google.com/mobile/voice/ and tried it. I was simply amazed. I never thought that voice can be substitute of text, because of tones, volume and dialect, which vary inevitably. But, it works. I won't say, that it works perfectly, but reasonably well to start with. And, morover Google has, given the option in settings to choose the type of dialect. In my case it was 'Indian English'. And, I am sure, that sooner or later Google will drill down to North Indian English, East.............., West......................, South..................... And then it will further drill down to Punjabi English, Haryanvi English.................. So, its a good start.

Secondly, application which I recently came across is Google Maps, whose app can be downloaded from here http://www.google.com/mobile/maps/ . Google has done a wonderful job, to create maps of all the major cities of India. Then there are features like, the level of traffic on the particular road (presently available only for Metro Cities). Another feature is, directions i.e. you define your starting point and ending point, and the transport mode. Google will give you different alternative routes for it. Above all, I liked the feature Latitude. This enables you to define your current latitude(location)- automatically (via wifi connections, mobile tower settings and Satellite) or manually or even invisible. The interesting thing about this feature is that you can invite your friends to connect and share their latitudes(location) with you. Now it will make easier to meet friends whenever we happen to be on a nearby locations. But, the flip side is that, I am sure that companies sooner or later, will make it compulsory for its employees to share their latitudes with their company database. I know its a debatable topic. And, I am sure, if it happens, then the subsequent action will be by Human Right Activists, against such enforcement by companies. Surely, it will interesting tussle, and finally(hopefully) free will prevail.

Anyway, I just wanted to share these two interesting applications, which has made my professional life easier.

regards

Prabal Aggarwal

Is Gmail or Google Account Safe???

Dear Friends

Just 2 days back I accessed my gmail. It was normal. After another half an hour I operated it, I was unable to access it. On trying I came to understand that not only Gmail but the whole google account got deleted i.e. orkut, google docs, blogger all gone in one go. I was unable to understand, when nobody else knew my password and I didnt delete it then how its possible.

I tried to approach various offices of Google India, but couldnt locate relevant guys there.

All this time, I was tense, all my contacts, all my data of 4 years including the whole data of my MBA, down the drain. It was indeed a major loss, for a netizen like me.

Now, next day I filled the lengthy google form, that I can't access my account. In half an hour my gmail and blogger was restored. Again, no intimation by google, that what went wrong, and is it safe in future or not.

Now after 3 days, still my orkut profile remains deleted. And I am unable to do much about it.

So, the point of me sharing this information is, that as most of us keep most of our data in the form of stored mails on gmail and other popular emails, is it really safe practice? So, please please dont use just one id, use multiple ids, if possible from different service providers like yahoo and hotmail. Secondly, regularly download your contacts in the form of CSV format. Thirdly, please keep all your important data in hard disk or computer, and keep on updating it on regular basis.

Because, if it can happen to me, it can happen to you also.

regards

--
Prabal Aggarwal

The New Era of Offensive Advertising in India

Dear Friends

I was seeing TV on last Friday, after so many days, and suddenly I saw the ad of Rin (HUL), in which it is openly negating Tide(P&G), its competitor brand. I was simply shocked. In fact shocked is an understatement, i was horrified. Never seen such an ad in my life.

The link to the ad is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2M5rBXtK9iA

Is it new way of offensive advertising? How will it effect the future of advertising? I am unable to answer these questions.

Kindly give your opinions about the same.

Just Another Explorer: Is Professional Networking Important???

Dear Friends

I am writing this article, because I have recently observed my friends from premier B Schools like IIMS & ISB, and premier engineering colleges like IITs and very good career path in top positions of leading MNCs not able to get the opportunities, which they deserve. The point is that they don’t know how to search for this options. In other words, they don’t have good professional networking skills.

Now, professional networking or any type of networking can’t be taught, it is inborne skill. But, yes you can sensitize the one and help the one to discover the skill within.

I am not claiming, that I am expert in Professional Networking, but I have my own ways, which have proved to be effective. So, via this mail I would like to share my ways of professional networking. And would like to receive feedback from you guys, which will help me to further improve my skills. Anyone can connect with me via my email id aggawal.prabal@gmail.com or via my linkedin profile http://in.linkedin.com/in/prabalaggarwal.

Now the starting point of any networking is the will, the urge to network. It can’t be created, it has to be within oneself. I have seen my friends, sitting at home for an year, after being laid off during recession. They will continuously use the job portals like www.naukri.com and monsterindia.com, but to no avail. At these times, they try to meet people who are decision makers in good MNCs via their personal contacts, or via sites like www.linkedin.com. But, do you really think that somebody just met me at party or at linkedin, and next thing he does is talk about a job option from me. Will I help such a guy?? The answer in most cases is no. Till I don’t know that guy for a fair amount of time, I wont help him. So, the point is that network, can’t be and shouldn’t be built overnight. It needs continuous efforts and time.

Now, the medium for professional networking could be many. It could be attending professional seminars, it could be alumni or batchmates meets, it could be emails, it could be professional networking platforms like linkedin. And true networking, needs combination of all of them.

I will tell now my ways.

Few years ago, when I was doing my engineering, one of the professionals told me to keep visiting cards. I was totally shocked, how do u expect a graduate student to keep a visiting card. But he had his own point, that this may seem odd but its an investment. And when I joined MBA, this advice came very handy. Not many, students in my institute used to have visiting cards. I used to keep it, though it used to pinch my pocket. It helped me to keep in touch with lot of high fi professionals, I met during seminars organized by TIE and NEN. Then, sometimes it so happened, that during the vivas, I came across a professor, who was external faculty or unknown to me. I used to introduce myself, by exchanging a visiting cards with him. It may seem odd, but believe me I did it. And this used to take the viva on altogether at different platform (mostly I got better marksJ ). Now, since last ten years from my engineering days, I never used to throw a visiting card, I always used to store it. You never know, who could be of help to you, in future. So, this was the section covering importance of visiting cards, especially for students.

Now, there was a time, when I had my first official email id during my first job. And then best use of it (apart from official work), was forwarding interesting mails. I used to be in the race of sending most interesting mails to my friends, and vice versa. These mails could be good pictures, some masala news, some funny mails, some videos and what not. But, I observed, that most of colleagues when left the organization, they never used to send the mails , as they earlier used to. Second aspect was, that these things seemed good, while in start of career, but later on as the responsibilities grew, I used to grow irritated, by continuous flux of mails in my inbox. The reason was simple, that they were irrelevant mails to me, and they didn’t help me in any way at all. Gradually, it so happened that the friends who used to send these sort of stuff to me, I slowly started deleting their mails even without reading. I learnt from this behaviour. It so happened, that when I left my first job and subsequent second job, on my last day, I made a list of people, with whom I would like to be in touch in future. And the best and cheapest way, was emails. But what type of emails, how not to get marked as a spammer?? The idea clicked me, that one the email should be good one, which adds value to the receiver, and secondly, it should be infrequent. So, I made a list of email ids. This feature is easily available in all the frequently used mail services like yahoo. I made a lists or groups of email ids by tagging them with relevant nick names like company 1, company 2,…. Or mba friends, engg friends…. Then being an MBA grad, I had a wide repository of business articles. I used to send the best articles to my groups, in 2 to 3 months time. Not earlier than that. And it used to be continuous. This lead me to stay in touch with hundreds of ex colleagues even after 5 years of leaving the job. I still get mails, from these colleagues, that how come you haven’t sent an interesting email, since last few months. I keep on getting calls, from them, sometimes after 3-4 years. But it’s always a good surprise. So idea, is that you can use emails as a good source of touchbase with your ex colleagues or friends, without being marked as a spammer, on the contrary creating respect for your communication. But, still there may be many of the people, who doesn’t value it or still are not in touch with you. One can’t please everyone!!! Clapping happens, when both the hands participate, if one person is not interested in networking with you, you can’t force him to.


Then, the next way to do networking is participating in professional seminars or alumni meets. Now, I was ardent participant in all the free professional seminars organized by NEN and TIE. Apart from it, I used to participate in conferences, which were of my interest, and which my pocket allowed me to. The biggest challenge I faced, when I came back to Delhi, after completing my MBA in Mumbai. I lost touch with quite a few batchmates of my engineering, and now most of my MBA mates were in Mumbai. And it was the time, I was looking out for socializing and to expand network. Instead of waiting, for somebody to take initiative, I initiated Delhi Chapters of my engineering as wells as my MBA college in Delhi. This led to frequent meets of these chapters, where I was able to network not only with my batchmates, but with quite a seniors as well as quite a juniors. This actually expanded my network to a great extent. So, idea is don’t wait for anybody to take initiative. If you want to network, then create your own ways and take the initiatives. Another thing, I would like to emphasize here is that email is not a substitute for phone call and phone call is not a substitute of face to face meeting. Also, to make the communication effective and meets easy to organize, I created email groups of the participants and the possible participants. These sort of group services are easily available like yahoogroups.com and googlegroups.com. But, the problem was that I found that these groups were equally linked to the inboxes of all types of people. Some busy some free, some interested some not interested. And all the mails posted in them were not very relevant, which irritated quite a few members. This is an evil; I am not able to understand how to cope up with technically. At the same time, the groups I created with the view of networking, soon started having mails, where alumni started helping members to get jobs, to get more business. This was a real eye opener for me.


Then the latest tool, which is a boon to any networker are social and professional networking sites like orkut, facebook and linkedin. I like www.linkedin.com best for this purpose. It has helped me to connect with the people, about whom I used to read in the Economic Times or see on CNBC TV 18. It has totally punctured any boundaries imposed on professional networking. On the flip side, I had once the tendency to increase my network blindly i.e. my no. of connections should increase. But, later on I realized the difference between Active Network and Passive Network. If I am not interacting with the person I am connection of, then how it is better than repository of electronic visiting card? So, again the idea is to interact with the people you find synergy with. It can lot of topics for students regarding their studies, for professionals regarding their careers, for academicians regarding the research they are doing, for businessmen regarding their business. Infact, if you don’t have any purpose, than it will be very tough to network. In that case, at max you will be able to get back in touch with your old associates or friends. But, what about meeting new people. I don’t think it can be done without a purpose. So, have a purpose, and don’t be afraid of meeting and interacting with new people, that is the essence of networking.


Another aspect, I will like to emphasize here is that networking can’t be done by being selfish. If you seek to take help only, it will sooner or later diminish your networking capacity. Be willing to help others also, and that too in selfless way. This is the true essence of networking. Take interest in the people’s work, and try to think how you can add value to him or help him out via your network. Sooner, or later this will give you returns far more than you have expected.



Now, the purpose of writing this mail is not to boast about myself or my networking skills. I am also on learning path. But, to help my friends, ex colleagues and alma mater to take advantage of the skill, which is not taught in colleges i.e. Networking. Second purpose, of this mail is to start a dialogue regarding the importance of Professional Networking and the ways to do it. So, friends do reply to this mail to start the dialogue.

Regards

Just Another Explorer

Prabal Aggarwal

PS: I got lot of queries, via forwarded mails that can one forward or use this article. The very idea, of this article is to share experience, so that the mistakes I did in my professional life, others shouldn’t do it. Even if one professional or student is benefited by this, my purpose is more than served. So, friends if you like it spread it. That’s the whole idea of sharing.

Friends, as an author of this article, I authorize anybody, can use this article for publishing on any media i.e. print, visual, audio, internet, forwarding emails, intranets, etc.Only request is that, the name of the author, body of the article shouldn’t be changed or altered. Secondly, would request to mention that this article was originally written & posted by Prabal Aggarwal, on Jan 18 2010 on www.managementinformatika.blogspot.com. You, can start discussing with me and other readers, by commenting on the blog post. Also, if anybody using this content, feel like that monetary contribution should be made, you can donate on my behalf that sum of money to Project Why (http://www.projectwhy.org/), not for profit organization.

If you like this article, then subscribe to justanotherexplorer@googlegroups.com, by visiting http://groups.google.co.in/group/justanotherexplorer

What is risk in Entrepreneurship?

Dear Friends

Recently I came across the following mail forwarded by my friend. It just changed my mindset regarding Entrepreneurship. Hope you will feel the same after reading it.

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Update on 18th May 2010. I have been long wondering who has written this inspiring post. Finally, I found him. His name is Sameer Guglani. People may refer to his linkedin profile at http://in.linkedin.com/in/sameerguglani

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Recently I met with parents of the founder of one of our portfolio companies. They asked me about their son’s venture , how do I think its doing and what will be the outcome etc. Here was my answer to them:Your son worked for 1 year as a SW engineer with a big company before starting his ventureNow the venture is 4 months old and is already seeing some good tractionLets say he works on this venture for 2-3 years, at the end of it one of the two outcomes will be seen Good case outcome: He continues with the venture. It has become successful – not necessarily an IPO but at the minimum its growing steadily and makes enough money to sustain itself and pay him a salaryWorst case outcome: The venture shuts downWhen your son started this venture he auto promoted himself from SW engineer to the CEO / CXO A level he may have never achieved or achieved after a very long time period in a regular career with big SW companiesSince he is CEO / CXO – he would need to work & network with CEOs / Founders / Owners / Senior management folks of other companies As a matter of fact this person I am talking about has already met CEOs / owners of more than 10 established / funded companies which are from the similar domain as his own companyIn case of shutdown of his venture it is certain that with the right efforts your son will: Find a senior management position – VP / AVP / Director / Head of department with a company in the same domainGet very good salary to go with these positionsAnd he would have switched from writing code to a domain of his choiceAnd if he has another venture in him, he can save enough to start itThis will happen because 2-3 years as an entrepreneur will give the two things needed to get a senior position: Network of decision makers at good companies who have seen him run his own company3 years of intense learning you get as as a start up founder, is worth more than 10 – 12 years in regular jobThese days people in the industry are very happy to hire X-entrepreneurs, since they know these guys can get work doneNot all companies would be open to hiring him. But there are lot of funded, growing, young, dynamic companies who would be happy to consider him seriouslyYour son will be way ahead, both in salary and position, as compared to most of his classmates / colleagues who will never go out of the SW industry and become Senior SW engineer or at best a team lead in these 2-3 years. Some of these guys may have gone to top B-Schools to do MBAs and after 2 years will be doing entry level jobs in companiesSo if in the worst case spending two years passionately working on your startup can him chance to switch his job profile and domain, a very good jump in both and salary, and in good case he may be running a successful venture – doing a start up is a great investment in career, and not at all a riskThey understood my point since it was quite logical, but still did not seem fully convinced . I don’t blame them. They are from a different generationI also shared with them my personal example:In August 2004, when I left my job to start madhouse, I was Principal SW engineer in a telecom startup in California, two levels below a managerI started madhouse and promoted myself to be the CEODuring my three years with madhouse I worked and networked with lot of other CEOs / VPs / Owners / Partners of other companiesAfter three years madhouse was acquired by Seventymm and I joined as Vice President – Corporate StrategySo in three years I went from being two level below manager to the topmost layer of a well known company and with quite a good salary packageNow while I was at Seventymm I had access to senior management jobs across domains like retail, consumer products, media. I had an offer to join as president of strategy at one of the leading public entertainment companies in India and the annual package was more than 50LBut I turned that offer down and decided to start the next stint of entrepreneurship – MVPOther two founders of madhouse (Ankur and Nandini) saw a similar result as well. Nandini became AVP @ Seventymm and Ankur joined as VP @ TravelguruI am aware of many more similar casesBusiness Ideas may fail, but Entrepreneurship is risk freeNo opportunity comes with surety. Even an MBA from a top B-School might not get the best returns. There are lots of bright ideas which never reap fruits. What is important is that you should be able to separate failure of your idea from your personal failure. Its very clear, if you choose to become an entrepreneur for the right reasons, have the right approach and are determined to give it your best shot for 2-3 years and create value in your venture, chances of failure are near zero. You will learn so much and get to know so many people that even in case of the worst outcome, you will come out way ahead and will be a much wanted resource.hThe journey of entrepreneurship is the real value add for the entrepreneur. The result is a by product.So where is the risk in entrepreneurship?