Being Equipped
I have been writing code since the mid 1990s. I started out my professional career building applications and games for mobile phones (J2ME, Palm, Symbian, etc) then some Android, iOS and then moved to building server applications using Spring framework, and frontend using JQuery. Now working on Spring Boot, Docker, Flutter etc.
A bunch of graduates who graduated from the film institute met the famous person in the film industry who was a versatile actor, producer, director, singer & so on. The graduates with the burning desire to work with the multi-faceted actor and with the hopes to appear positive, willing to learn, able to serve, said to him, "Sir, we are like wet clay and we would be always ready to adapt to the way you would "mould" us. It is our lifetime desire to work with a person like you Sir."
The actor said, "My job is not to mould you but to engage myself in the activities of making that film that includes acting. Equip yourself to the level that you can understand what the film industry needs then the industry will reach out to you. Sorry, I might not have the time to teach your people everything within the limited time we have to get the film out."
It is said that the actor is Mr. Kamalahassan.
The message in what he said applies to every industry. Especially, the software industry needs people to equip themselves with the right technologies that the industry needs.
Students who graduate out of college aspiring to become software programmers find it hard to crack the interviews these days. It is not the fault of the industry or that of the team that does the interview, it the fault of being ill-equipped for the job.
Positivity is good, but it would be useless if it is not backed by the required knowledge. Sympathy will work only for some cases but only in the short run.
Remember that the industry will reach out to people who are the most equipped, so focus of building your skills.
