What we learn from teachers has to be recited and memorized. But what we learn from events is embossed forever. Definition of event is pretty vague, it’s all about how you define it. Well, the event I want to discuss is the internship season in our office. When I told some of my friends that our team shortlisted 03 second year and 03 third year students, some of them said, “in bachon ko kia sekhao gey bhai tum loag?"
And it is actually the general perception. But in reality, people with more experience are more difficult to be taught. Do you know about the coconut tree? If you want to plant a coconut tree in a new soil, select the smallest. With more old trees there are lesser chances of growth. For students, industry is a new soil. Since our engineering industry is divided into two extremes i.e. a) the necessary theory and b) the practicality. The older you are, while jumping from the soil of necessary theory to the practicality the lesser chances you have for growth.So the internship began and my team mates tried their best to teach and the interns tried hard to learn. But other than that I learned two things, a) their hidden talents and b) a bridge of hands.
There was a person, who, from the very next hour looked like the part our team, took no time to adjust and from the next day this intern was comfortably roaming around and communicating. Let me tell you a secret, it’s not just students or juniors sometimes the seniors wants to feel comfortable with the juniors. This person never knew but it was the best skill. The next intern was a shy personality. I never saw full face of that intern in first two weeks. Then I realized that this one was speaking more boldly and soundly with the words and written statements. Writer I gave the name to that one.
Next was someone struggling to find a relationship with the beautiful illustrations and illusions and the ugly practical drawings. This struggle is actually a positive skill. When you accept the practicality with all its ugliness you can’t change anything. Only when you don’t accept its entirety a beautiful change is developed. This change itself has an amazing balance between the illusions and reality. Another intern was a bit aggressive, a bit more enthusiastic to learn and a bit angrier. None of them are negatives. These people are good leaders. People say, “Raise your argument not your voice”. But actually, to manage a team, sometimes, raising the voice is as important as raising the argument.
Whenever I roamed around the hall during internship days, I saw one person quietly looking at the software and trying to do the level best to solve whatever was the task. The good thing about this person was that whenever I asked the issue, I find a new one. If I had to select two people for design with equal GPA, I’ll go with this one. Another was more difficult to judge. But within some last lectures I realized that a very good listener was among us. A “silent mode” most of the time but always listening and nodding the way people who understands node. These people learn quickly than the others.
This was the first thing I learnt. The second thing was the myth that was solved during this interaction. The myth was how to connect industry with the university. Practicality with the necessary theory. We, with our biasness towards industry and university with a sound argument of standards can’t solve this. Only a mind fertile enough to grow both seeds together can do that. So with in these six individuals, I found a bridge of hands, quite able to connect these two entities together.
All they need to do is, learn thoroughly within the learning years and in stay connected with its implementation.
