Prathima's Miles & Milestones

Crossroads in life

I’m someone born in the 90s who was subconsciously manipulated to become a so-called “Software Engineer” just because someone in the family & the neighbourhood was earning in lakhs monthly, and enjoying their frequent trips to the US. During my school days, I didn’t even know what it meant to become a software engineer. This was the definition of success. When someone asked what you wished to become when you grew up? By now, you’ve guessed the answer.

When I look back, we were naive & innocent. With the computer being at only one person’s house in the entire street, we’d go to play the “Sky Roads” game was my fondest memory of being introduced to this new fancy machine. Initially, I was told that it’s faster than the calculator. I used to be in awe! I’d ask you mean even the scientific calculator which we use for calculus? The answer was a yes.

After finishing my pre-university college with Electronics, I’d still contemplate if this is now the time to delve into computers. I’d love to solve the effective resistance of a complex circuit of Resistors in parallel & series. I’d love to play around with the sinusoidal waves in the CRO. I’d the colourful diodes, capacitors, breadboard & Ohm’s law was ingrained in me.
I loved the digital electronics using the Boolean logic and its gates. It was practical that I saw the applications and devices in real life, so I could learn more through my curiosity. My physics classes got way easier as some parts of the electronics chapters coincided.

Yet, one fine day, I was introduced to programming languages starting with “Let Us C” by Yashwanth Kanetkar! My first huge academic book from the library. Slowly, my vocabulary switched to syntax, semantics, indentation, IDE, Turbo C, errors, microprocessors, compilers, and interpreters. Then the love for the Headfirst series books with pictures of birds on them. I still love the Treehouse tutorials, W3schools. It was learning & unlearning so quickly to find my favourite one. Then another set of programming languages started, like Java, J2EE, applets, servlets, J2SE, .NET, and so on. Then came the revolution of open source. Python started winning my heart since a lengthy program could be condensed into just a few lines of code.

At this point in time, the true love for electronics just faded! Maybe, given a chance now, when I look back, I’d want to continue pursuing electronics if I were not manipulated by society. Maybe I’d become a professional dancer and a dance teacher in my spare time, as I always loved having multiple streams of income since back then. Maybe I’d have been less stressed than being an IT professional. God knows! Maybe grass is green where it’s watered.

I feel we should be given a chance to rethink our career choices at some point in time. It’s never too late to work on your hobbies & make it one’s profession. After all, we all have one life to live. And profession is not everything. However, choosing it by our instincts should be mandatory rather than being influenced at such a tender age.

What do you feel? 
What’s your long-lost hobby? 
What was your childhood ambition, unbiased?
Have you grown into the person you once dreamed of becoming as a child? Have you become the person your younger self always wanted to be?
Are you now the version of yourself you hoped you’d grow?
Have you turned into the person your childhood self admired?

I’d love you hear your experiences in the comments below.

Hi, I’m Prathima 😊. I write about mindful living, running 🏃‍♀️, cooking 🍳, and turning everyday routines into moments of happiness ✨.

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