Every single mechanical engineer has to study a subject called mechanics. Some call it MOM, some call it SOM, some call it EM. But whatever you may call it, it's always there and it's always the same. This subject tells us how to decide whether our design will fail or not. And it is a very complex subject. And the bad news is, we only study this until we get familiar with the concept of Simulation. Once you start doing simulations, there is no going back. I had a glimpse of simulation very early in my college life, way before it would have according to my syllabus. And then I got myself involved in another project that made me understand simulation to a very great extend. This was the design and manufacturing of HAWT. Basically, we were trying to make a hybrid wind turbine that can produce electricity safely inside a crowded city. And the very first step included the Fluent based simulations. Actually, the first step was a literature review, but yeah you got the point. So, my s...
I think it would be best to start from the beginning. To be very honest, I wanted to be in an IIT: like all the engineers of India. But as soon as I studied the first time for JEE, I knew JEE Mains was not my cup of tea; let alone JEE Advanced. So similar to nearly 99 percent of the engineers, I joined a reputed, non-IIT.
And here I was, with nearly 60 students, all of which had a similar story as mine. The first year was over in the attempt to get the highest possible marks. I was in the top 5 at least. Little did I knew then that this score won't matter to me at all. Neither would it play any vital part in my future. You see, I was able to get 75-80 % marks with ease without much effort. However, getting the next 10% to keep me in the top 5 took a lot of my time. Also, I had a very bad habit, which eventually would have destroyed my career.
The Habit:
Take this as advice, an experience, or a request: Never ever study for marks. And this is me saying this: a guy who was the topper of his class for twelve years and a guy who got 90% plus marks in a subject he didn't even understand. See, I knew this from the very childhood that I had a talent. I could get marks without having the knowledge of the subject. I had just as much understanding as my friends, still, I'll be the topper, while they all would be just average in studies. This fact hit me hard when one of my teachers made me do every single problem from our math book. It was only then I realized that I didn't understand a thing about any of the subjects I studied in the past. I solved every single problem, and only then I was able to understand and grasp the concepts behind every problem. And it was that one year that helped me never ever fear math in my future. The second time this hit me was when I was in my second year. I realized that I had forgotten whatever I studied in my first year, which was about the same stuff I studied in my senior secondary. In simple words, I had wasted nearly three years of my education. And that's when I shifted from studying for marks to studying because I want to.
Side-Effects:
It took me only two months to understand my new decision was a huge failure. My grades fell to nearly half. And after a whole semester of failures, I made a new strategy.
- Get marks in the subjects because, good grades are a must, the best grades are not.
- Keep studying whatever I like, since getting good grades takes only a week out of my six month semester.
And this leads to me scoring a respectable CGPA throughout my college and studying human psychology as a mechanical engineer. So yeah: never underestimate and overrate the importance of marks.
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