When I started my professional journey five and a half years back, I had one single goal – being financially independent.
If I could offer one career advice to my twenty-year-old self or any other twenty-year-old who is starting out their professional journey, it would be this:
• You can have multiple goals & skills
My first job was at Ernst & Young, the auditing company that came to our college for placements – I gave the interview, got selected and then it was just the long wait to get going with the job.
When I started out, I had no clue whatsoever about what an auditing giant like EY does. And, I also knew within my heart that my personality is not the right fit for a corporate gig.
I remember my high school Accounts teacher asked all of us what were our plans after education – everyone had something definitive to state – Lawyers, Traders, CAs – almost, as if they had mapped it all out.
For me the answer was, I want to learn and do it all.
I have strongly felt that our professional labels and the expert culture are a result of Industrialisation and capitalisation, as humans, we are not meant to be put in boxes and labels – if you are an XYZ, that’s what you do.
We often let our lives be defined by these labels, I was fortunate enough to find the right organisation and path through error and trial.
When someone asks me or anyone at Amrutam – What do you do? It becomes a difficult question to answer because we do it all.
In my last five years, I have learnt how to illustrate/design, how to code – basics of css/html, read legal documents and draft them, learnt about logistics and advertising, learnt about data analysis and everything that touches our ecosystem. (And the best part is today, anything that you need to learn is available in the public domain)
I see my newly built team embarking on a similar journey – learning different aspects of what it takes to build a community and brand.
While this might not be the path everyone would like, if you are someone who would want to wear many hats – know that it’s okay to do so and the journey is full of great learnings.
