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A close friend of mine is facing a crisis situation in his life. He has done BA economics (1995) and has been working in the shipping industry - mostly in C&F and later managing sales of loose consignments. Things didn't work out too well for him and after years of struggle he has ended up quitting (forced to) the industry. He is also in a financial crunch and has to find work soon to support his family. In my read, he can do general management/ operations/ sales roles leveraging on skills he has. But he has no experience in any other field. I fear his age (46 yrs) may also start going against him.

Please provide your thoughts and advice on how he can go about his job search.

Anyone here working hands in the Machine Learning space. I'm looking for some inputs related to the same in retail domain. Please do pm for details.

I am working in a Digital marketing agency as an Account manager for 2 years now and have previously worked in marketing roles in my previous companies. If any opening in Marketing in a company in Gurgaon please do let me know. Something that pays around 50-60k would be fine. My total work ex is close to 5 years now.

Need some advice from folks here:

I've was working for desi IT companies for 10 years now in the BFSI domain and finally got a move to a product company where the work is just the same as the desi IT firm with a slightly higher salary. I'm working on some old world tech and not any fancy Angular 5.0 or something.

Previously I was trying to dabble a little with Python and I know the basics. Now my question is - would it make sense for me to seriously start learning Python so that a year down the line, I can start applying for new python based jobs?

I'm thinking about a year down the line because I just recently joined the product company and I don't want to leave in a matter of months - and it will give me enough time to prepare and build a solid profile (perhaps on Github or something) before I start applying.

My concern here is the fact that though I would have had a lot of "experience", I wouldn't be aware of the nuances of Python coding, which any interviewer worth his salt can realize - which is why I will have to apply for positions that need 5-6 years experience or something similar but then the salary offered will be low compared to what I am making now. Plus, the competition will be tougher in cases where one is looking for a Python developer as all the kids coming out of college (no offense meant) will have used it a lot and will be more eager/hungry/inexpensive to hire.

I'm perhaps at cross roads here :(

Sorry, you got it wrong. If you are learning python to compete with freshers or people with less experience- you have already picked a losing battle. You should be looking at pain points in your domain and attempt to solve it using python (or any Lang of your choice). No interviewer will give weight to syntax and nuances of language if you do that and you would have a clear cut advantage.

My cousin is looking to do pilot training from anywhere outside that can land him in a job. He is into his pre-final year mechanical engineering, interested in flying but clueless on how to proceed. He is learning for GRE as a backup to study abroad in case flying does not materialize.

Kindly refer any good career counselors in this regard in Chennai, Cochin or online.

Hello All
Our family friend's daughter is graduated in B.Sc Physics this year & was seeking suggestion on higher studies. Obviously most folks suggested her pursuing M.Sc Physics next. When I asked her interest on line of work, she stated that her interest was to use her education in Physics in construction.

She stated something like "applied physics" or something like that; basically she was looking to improvise the materials in construction industry using Physics.

Are there any such education for the above please? Otherwise what are other non conventional options that can fetch her a job as soon as she completes post graduation.

Note - Since they're from farming background they're looking at earliest employable opportunity

Hello All,

Please allow me use the multi talented community here as a sounding board.

I am currently working overseas in a position where pay is good and life is amazing. The ideal role, one would expect to settle down and retire from which is also meaning the whole work environment is too relaxed and learning curve is flattening rapidly which is not ideal.

However there is an opportunity where I can change my domain significantly within the same industry.

The future in the new domain (manufacturing) is as good or bad as current one (operations / operations support / training) has. Also a change in role at current organisation seems very difficult given the travel industry is barely surviving. However the catch is that I may have to take significant pay cut for this venture. When i say significant, it could be somewhere like 25-30%. It would demand a move to yet another EU state which would have almost 18% lower cost of living as per numbeo the taxation may drop by 5-6%.

Now my question is what considerations should be applied at mid senior level in career (20 years experience) to see if it is worthwhile to take pay-cut for a new domain experience starting from 1 stage lower. I see lot of HR guys at Team BHP and hence their perspective would be really helpful. While working the maths with numbers is easy, I always see the next job offer tries to slightly beat existing one and hence wondering if this may entail steeping wrong ladder in the long run.

Rgds

Hello everyone,
My brother just finished his 10th standard and is now at cross-roads when it comes to deciding whether he should take up science or something else. Rather than us giving him advice based on our experience, we thought it would be better if a professional career counsellor helped him in choosing the right option.
We are from Bangalore and if anyone happens to know any professional career counsellor who can help him choose right, kindly send me a PM.
Thank you very much in advance.

What are his core interests and hobbies? Why can’t he pursue them seriously? Professional career counsellors are fundamentally useless. Does he have a mentor? Someone he confides in? I would even encourage him to see a psychologist who might help him go within himself for answers as opposed to a career counsellor. Or even travel for a few months alone and see the country if he doesn’t know what to do. And stitching a career this early in life? That’s like chaining him for the next 40 years or more.

Your answer is in your own signature. Go where your heart takes you.

Sorry if I was brutal but I was trying to keep this as honest as possible. We are a generation who need solutions for everything, even for what we want to do in life. Unfortunate and sad. I wish the best for your kid brother :thumbs up

Thank you for replying sir.
We mentioned to him about the rat race and many other things.
What happened today was that he was suddenly thrown open to so many choices and that overwhelmed him...

The reason we thought of a career counsellor was that they could explain to him in a way he understands and maybe mention about the new trends happening.

So finally we asked him to take a few days to introspect and decide so that whatever the decision he takes that should not be one that causes regrets.

One of my relative is studying BE in Computer science science engineering. He's in 3rd year.
Those who are in IT field , what are skillset that he should focus on and are on demand ?

I can help you connect with someone from our military veterans community. His name is Col Sajan Moideen (+91 7702711120). He has been mentoring over last many years and I have received positive feedback on his counselling. In case you need specific feedback, happy to speak with you. Please PM.

Technology keeps evolving and he can choose anything under the sun. He may like to get certified in cloud, network, data etc. I would recommend that he identifies what his interest and personality are. He can take cues from https://www.16personalities.com/
Then he can see the current job openings in the industry or domain of his choice. That would introduce him to skills and tools required. He can train himself in those tools through e-learning mechanisms like Lynda, Pluralsight, Coursera and likes.

Being his brother, are you not in a better position to ascertain his aptitude and interests rather than some random counselor? Even otherwise, find out what subjects he likes and let him choose the stream accordingly. Anyways, if he chooses Science, he still can move to Commerse or Arts domain at a later point in time. The other way round might not be that easy but we do have software engineers who are not from a science background. Many companies even want to hire non-science people for the different perspectives they bring in.

He should focus on core fundamentals, algorithms, etc, and not worry about the new buzzwords or hot-skills. Those can be learned on the job.