1 Successful Career in Science & Technology Naresh Chand BAE Systems, Wayne, NJ 07059.

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Successful Career in Science & Technology

Naresh Chand

BAE Systems, Wayne, NJ 07059

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What is success? • Gaining or achieving the desired goal

– We must define our career goals

– Chances favor the prepared mind - Louis Pasteur

– 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

– Prepare to pay the necessary price

– 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

– I rarely end up where I was intending to go, but often end up somewhere

that I needed to be - Douglas Adams

– 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

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?

• Fruits of S&E are essential to our modern society.

• For a respectful, honest and meaningful life

• To improve quality of life, develop the next generation of products and

technologies, combat hunger and disease,……

• To join the community of intellectuals and exchange knowledge with them

• To learn laws of nature and formulate theories for new ways of thinking

• To sow seeds and then help the plants bear fruits

• To do wonders by combining talent, technical skills, logical minds and proper

human interfaces

• 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 Persevering Assertive Hardworking Caring Risk taker Clever People oriented Confident Machine oriented Emotional Passive Determined Team player Creative Intuitive Possessing leadership capability Imaginative Rational Logical Cooperative Methodical Competitive

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S&E offers numerous career opportunities 1. University Teaching (need MS or Ph.D.)2. Basic or fundamental research (Need Ph.D.)

- More by academia, disappearing in corporate world3. Applied research (MS or Ph.D.)4. Defense services 5. Civil administrative services6. United Nations, world Bank, or other international services7. Foreign service8. Product (both hardware & software) development9. Product manufacturing10. Communication service providers (TELCOs, satellite and cableTV)11. Product or project management 12. Marketing & Sales13. Technical services14. Entrepreneurships15. Financial world (investment and banking)16. Law – Patent law17. Patent inspector18. Medical field – Technical jobs19. High School science teachers20. Entertainment industry

S&E opens more doors than any other discipline.If one door closes, another opens so long

we are flexible and mobile.

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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• 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• Sensor Networks• Alternative energy sources• Scavenge of energy• Micro sensor networks• Energy efficient network protocols • Multilevel security • Technologies to deal with terrorist threats

– 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

For technology trends:Proceedings of IEEE

January issues of IEEE spectrum

Subjects of Technology Conferences (e.g., MILCOM)

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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: • 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

You can achieve anything if you do not care who gets credit – President Reagan

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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

• 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

• 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

• We need – 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

Spirituality: Knowing who am I?

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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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• 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

Take a lesson from a tree

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Summary

• 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