Successful Career in Science &
Technology
Naresh Chand
BAE Systems, Wayne, NJ 07059
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What is success?
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Gaining or achieving the desired goal
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We must define our career goals
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Chances favor the prepared mind - Louis Pasteur
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If we don’t know where we want to get to, it does not matter which way
we go – Cheshire Cat
Work towards achieving the defined goals
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Prepare to pay the necessary price
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Even to win a lottery, we need to buy a ticket
If we do our best with right attitude, everything is success and nothing
is a failure
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I rarely end up where I was intending to go, but often end up somewhere
that I needed to be - Douglas Adams
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We are the authors of our actions but the results are subject to hidden
laws of nature – Karma Yoga
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Primary goal of life
Pursuit of Happiness
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Happiness is a state of mind based on perceived needs
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PHYSICAL NEEDS
Physiological: Food, shelter, clothes, …
Safety
Job security
SOCIAL NEEDS
Belongingness and love: Intimate family members and
friends.
Esteem and status: Drive for higher standing, reputation,
and prestige relative to others.
SELF ACTUALIZATION NEED
Personal system of values leading to self realization.
A right choice of career with wisdom can fulfill most of these needs.
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Happiness for:
• An hour :
– Take a nap
• A day
– Go on picnic
• A week
– Go on vacation
• A month
– Get married
• A year
– Inherit wealth
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Happiness for the lifetime
Enjoy what you do for living
(Then you will never have to work)
When work is pleasure, life is a joy.
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Why Science and Engineering (S&E) career?
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Fruits of S&E are essential to our modern society.
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For a respectful, honest and meaningful life
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To improve quality of life, develop the next generation of products and
technologies, combat hunger and disease,……
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To join the community of intellectuals and exchange knowledge with them
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To learn laws of nature and formulate theories for new ways of thinking
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To sow seeds and then help the plants bear fruits
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To do wonders by combining talent, technical skills, logical minds and proper
human interfaces
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To be an entrepreneur
Study of S&E is challenging. It is not for everyone because it is very
rigorous and demanding physically, mentally, and emotionally.
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Scientists and engineers see themselves
Ambitious
Assertive
Caring
Clever
Confident
Emotional
Determined
Creative
Possessing leadership capability
Rational
Cooperative
Competitive
Persevering
Hardworking
Risk taker
People oriented
Machine oriented
Passive
Team player
Intuitive
Imaginative
Logical
Methodical
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S&E offers numerous career opportunities
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University Teaching (need MS or Ph.D.)
Basic or fundamental research (Need Ph.D.)
- More by academia, disappearing in corporate world
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Applied research (MS or Ph.D.)
Defense services
Civil administrative services
United Nations, world Bank, or other international services
Foreign service
Product (both hardware & software) development
Product manufacturing
Communication service providers (TELCOs, satellite and cableTV)
Product or project management
Marketing & Sales
Technical services
Entrepreneurships
Financial world (investment and banking)
Law – Patent law
S&E opens more doors than any other discipline.
Patent inspector
If one door closes, another opens so long
Medical field – Technical jobs
we are flexible and mobile.
High School science teachers
Entertainment industry
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Excel in whatever career you choose
Burn as bright and as long as possible in the service of what really matters
Compete against yourself, not others, for that is who
is truly your best competition - -Feggy Flemming
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A few technological trends in Electronics and Computers Engineering
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Continued innovations in consumer products withy friendly human interfaces
Embedded intelligence
Software defined devices and systems
Dynamically reconfigurable communication networks
System of systems
Mobile ad hoc networks
For technology trends:
Sensor Networks
Proceedings of IEEE
January issues of IEEE spectrum
Alternative energy sources
Subjects of Technology Conferences (e.g., MILCOM)
Scavenge of energy
Micro sensor networks
Energy efficient network protocols
Multilevel security
Technologies to deal with terrorist threats
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Detect human intentions
Look through concrete walls to detect human movement
Remote detection of explosive material
Persistent surveillance
More functionality at reduced size, weight, power and costs
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Hardware, software, firmware and glueware
• Hardware continues to get better, smaller, lighter and cheaper
• Software is getting bigger, more complex, and expensive
• Through firmware (embedded software), products are becoming
more intelligent
• As the product matures, 15% cost is hardware and 85% cost is
software
• Often products fail due to software
• So software offers more opportunities
• Glueware is most important in making system of systems work in the
global economy
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BS, MS, MBA or PhD?
• Depends on our goals
• Many people find satisfying careers just after BS
• MS or MBA can equip us well for professional careers
• PhD is required for research and university teaching
• No degree guarantees lifetime employment.
• You may have to change jobs and even careers
• Lay the foundation for your journey, no matter how many
turns your path takes.
We need to continue learning to avoid obsolescence
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Careers in science and engineering have changed
• Fewer full-time academic and R&D positions in
– Universities, Industries, and Government labs
• Global competition and outsourcing
• Demand for a breadth of competencies, both managerial
and technical
• Working on wrong or risky technologies
• Threat from disruptive technologies
• Too early or too late in the market
• Wall street pressure, downsizing and limited resources
• More opportunities in military and home land security
We need to be more flexible and mobile for more
opportunities and control over our careers
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Evaluating possible careers
• Watch people around you
• People play multiple roles. Find which role appeals to
you
• Ask where do you want to be after 5 years
• Consider your personal values and circumstances
• The more we plan our career, the better we can face
unplanned events.
Decide what you want to do and
make others to pay for it.
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Action points
• Talk to people working in the fields of your interests
• Their work and how they got where they are today
• How do they spend their time?
• What do they find most satisfying and most disagreeable?
• Does the life that they describe appeal to you?
• Ask them if anything they wished they had known early in their
careers.
• Pursue every opportunity to gain first-hand practical experience
• Go to conferences, trade shows, and job fairs
• Build network of friends and well-wishers
• If you are in a wrong field, change it.
Most of us would rather hold on to a familiar pain
than trade it to unfamiliar pleasure - unknown
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While employed:
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Always respect your hiring manger
Ask, if you don’t know
Go an extra mile
Try to work on winning and long-term projects
Find team-mates or collaborators
Give credit to others. They will credit you
Take advantage of career development opportunities at work
Be honest to yourself and others
Never stop learning
In the beginning, learn as much technical skills as possible
Work hard and smartly as best as you can
Be ready to accept higher and meaningful responsibilities
Periodically evaluate your career
Beware of disruptive technologies and economic conditions
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You can achieve anything if you do not care who gets credit – President Reagan
Find a mentor
• A mentor listens to us and gives advice and objective
feedback with our interests at heart
• A mentor shows us the rope at the time of distress
• A mentor identifies our internal strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities and threats
• A mentor in your organization is more beneficial in teaching
corporate culture and valuable career moves.
• Help us think through career options and goals and
develop action plans
• We usually have multiple mentors
• A two way street
– We get advice and the mentor gets the chance to pass on wisdom
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We need to be visionary, innovative and creative
• Make full use of head, heart and hands
• Self and highly motivated
• Self learner, enthusiastic, optimistic, and risk takers
• Naturally curious, visionary, humorous, and self-accepting
• Adaptive, reflective, committed, intuitive, analytic and collaborative
• Articulate, resilient, persevering, and inspired
• Tolerate ambiguity, strive for perfection, and love to do jobs at hands
• Think objectively and have uncommon capacity for self instruction
• Challenge the status quo
• Innovators require no policing environment
• They want their ideas to be heard and listened
Champions aren’t made in gyms. Champions are made from something
they have deep inside them – a desire, a dream, and a vision.
- Muhammad Ali
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Some winning strategies
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We are responsible for our career
Don‘t count on others, laws and regulations
Be comfortable with yourself and project a winning image
Seek and accept help graciously, and prepare to listen ‘NO’
Build clusters and networks of friends and well wishers
If unsuccessful, change the game
Be persistent, never give up
Help others and others will help you
Recognize your hidden strengths and weaknesses
Thank others and express gratitude for their help
Gratitude resonates: People who feel appreciated are more
willing to help those who make them feel valued
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To be mentally strong, bring spirituality in your Life
• To be fearless
Spirituality: Knowing who am I?
• To purify head and heart
• To discover a path for self-realization or enlightenment More we
know ourselves, more burden of the life is gone
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– Spiritual strength: commitment to our deepest values regardless
of circumstances or any personal sacrifices, and
– Spiritual flexibility: tolerance for values and beliefs that are
different from ours, so long they don’t bring harm to others.
• Spirituality is not religion which is about fear (fear of unknown) and
worldly desires
Nothing in life is to be feared. It is to be understood.
- Marie Curie
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Keep your head and heart clean
• Anything that is used becomes dirty
• Head and heart are used constantly and can be full of garbage, if
not cleaned
• A varieties of agents for cleaning body, none for internal cleaning
• A meaningful prayer, meditation and service to others is internal
purifying
• Remove jealousy, hatred and various other painful emotions and
bring their opposites in your lives
– Be kind to yourself and others.
– Find out the features in you and others which are definitely
appreciable.
– Accept non-conducive situations cheerfully without reacting,
complaining or blaming.
• Clean head and heart before going to sleep like cleaning teeth.
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Take a lesson from a tree
• Stand Tall and proud
• Sink your roots into the earth
• Be content with natural beauty
• Go out on a limb
• Drink plenty of water
• Remember your roots
• Enjoy the view and your true nature
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Summary
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Define your short- term and long-term career goals
Make a careful choice of your career
Take advantage of dynamic, and vibrant global economy
Find a mentor, and ask if you don’t know
Seek and accept help graciously
Build network of friends
Continue learning to avoid stagnation and obsolescence
The more flexible and mobile we are, the more
opportunities we will have and the greater will be our
control over the shape of our career
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