TELECOMMUNICATIONS Dethrones Computer Systems

Pakistanis are a peculiar species when it comes to almost every aspect of life. Take choosing careers for instance. The moment a new career sprouts up with potential for high-paid jobs, a gold rush starts which is probably unprecedented in the entire world. Institute of Business Administration, popularly called the IBA, has been around since 1955, associated with the distinguished Wharton School of Finance and Commerce at the University of Pennsylvania; one which is credited for churning out CEOs(that are ruling the world by proxy) by the dozen. And yet only a handful ventured there. The perception was: who needs to get a degree in business? It is something to be learned in the field, not in a classroom. The medical and engineering sector was the darling of the nation at that time. But then out of the blue came the MBA trend and IBA began to be worshipped reverently. “MBA Universities” began springing up in each gulley nala of the country. If you threw a stone randomly, 9 out 10 times it would hit a so-called MBA. Then the all too famous IT rush began and consumed the nation more rapidly than the previous one.

Now there’s no denying the fact that these phenomena were more or less synonymous with the world trends. But the intensity and stupidity of what was happening (and still is) was unparalleled elsewhere. Take the case of this guy who came up to me for advice as to which career he should choose. I asked him what he loves doing. He replied sketching. Then when I further queried him, he revealed that he was fascinated by architecture and stuff and had considered applying for the architectural program at NED. I asked what’s stopping him, and he delved into the all too familiar droning that it was not a financially viable profession these days and that computers was where the money was. I replied by asking him didn’t he know that the architects and civil engineers are one of the highest paid people in the engineering profession. He said he knew that but it was all in the past. I asked why is that? Have buildings stopped being built? He didn’t look convinced. I then began a lengthy lecture about how much life is bitter and from now on he’ll have to spend more than half his life working. So why not do something in which you are genuinely interested and can easily bear for the rest of your life. Then there’s the dilemma of competition. If you venture into a field which is ready to burst at it’s seams, chances are you are gonna face cutthroat competition, and finding a dream job in these conditions is going to be tough, unless you are damn good at it. So why not do something for which you have the aptitude and can carve out a unique niche for yourself? He still didn’t look convinced, and as he left, I had the sinking feeling that he was going to jump onto that about-to-be-doomed bandwagon.

This guy easily personifies the uncertainty and the lack of common sense amongst our youth. They are eager to jump into the well if everyone is following suit, without questioning what they are going to get out of it. And it isn’t as if the average Joe and Jane have this line of thinking. The ‘cream’ of the young intellectuals is into it as well without even a semblance of common sense.

While I was waiting for my interview at KU for the B.S. program, I struck up a conversation with a guy who was my fellow Adamjian, though I didn’t know him back then. He had scored 84% in the Intermediate and had applied for Computer Systems program at NED. I knew almost everyone having a score in that region was doing the same blindly. I asked him why did he chose that program of all the others. He looked at me like I was some sort of inconsequential being and replied, “Because I like computers”. I didn’t have the stamina to argue with him that it was a dead-end career as far as Pakistan is concerned. Not many knew that back then, and even those that did, just followed the others thinking if so many intelligent people are hooking up to it, something good would surely come out of it.

But how did this chain reaction start? The thing is, in the 90s when there started revolutionary advances in computer technology with Intel churning out processors with double the computing power than the previous almost every other year; most of the top dogs that came out of college each year, bedazzled by these surrealistic developments, started applying to the Computer engineering (hardware) degree program at NED. One thing led to another and before anyone realized it, in Ned especially, to award admissions on merit the percentage required had climbed to above 80%. That meant a sort of an elite class was created, and everyone getting an A-one grade wanted to be associated with it. So it was more of a question of honor rather than interest in the field that got people to opt for it. That’s how myopic our future intelligentsia is. But the bubble burst sooner than later. Telecommunications now ranks number one choice for the aspiring candidates followed by Electronics and Electrical. Computer engineering ranks a pathetic fourth. It just ceases to be elite all of a sudden. And most of those that chose it are now facing the harsh reality, which was evident even then but was shrouded by their own prejudice. The thing is, Pakistan is solely a computer consumer. There’s hardly any production, let alone research, going on here apart from a few like Inbox Business Technologies which is manufacturing local branded computers. Microsoft has decided to put a plant here now but even that is going to be in Lahore. The only places of interest are the local software houses but even those require mostly software engineers. The only viable option is to go abroad for higher studies and stay put there.

Now coming back to the situation prevailing at NED, although Telecommunication rules the roost at the moment, there’s no telling what twist and turn it may take in the future ala IT. Even Electronics and Electrical engineers are finding it extremely hard to make a living. The electronics group is still doing relatively better because there are no Telecommunications specialists coming out of the universities as yet, so the electronics ones are the best bet for the companies like Mobilink, Instaphone, and Ufone. And now two licenses have been awarded (the most lucrative in the history of this country) to two new contenders who’ll start operations probably in a year. Initially, everyone was saying that Vodafone was certain to penetrate into the local market, but it seems like these two new kids on the block outbid Vodafone. So while the competition is heating up, so is the job market for Telecommunication engineers. But I wouldn’t put my money on the initial few batches churning out from NED, for Ned has a habit of starting a degree program first and then catering to the needs of the students. Teachers come and go at the blink of an eye. The Electronics department at the beginning didn’t even have proper labs. There is a consistent haphazard way of doing things in there.

How well the Telecommunications sector (and in turn the Tele engineers) fares in Pakistan will depend as much on the public demand as on the prevailing economic conditions. In India for instance, there’s a very definite growing demand for telecommunications capabilities. The integration of multimedia is the most decisive factor for this. The gaming industry for mobiles in India is estimated to be worth billions of dollars! So the software and telecommunications sector are providing each other’s bread. But all this depends on more computing power to handle efficiently the increasingly sophisticated 3-D games as well as high- quality audio. So things will go from good to better once the prices for high-end cell phones come down drastically.

The Pakistani market lags far behind India even in this sector. And this isn’t because Pakistan is home to a meager 159 million souls while India to a staggering 1.08 billion people, though it does play a part. The thing is, right now in Pakistan, a respectable all-purpose cell phone costs anywhere between Rs. 15,000-25,000. That’s quite expensive by local standards. But people have been so caught on in the mobile frenzy that those (mostly youth) who can’t afford to buy these devices somehow manage to save enough money to get them. Trouble starts after they have bought them, and it’s the current lawlessness which holds the key to all this. The thing is, most of the people who do manage to buy these costly things travel by public transport, and there’s a very high probability of getting mugged. In fact the other day a friend of mine got mugged in broad daylight in a crowd bazaar just because of his mobile. In fact the mugger was gracious enough to return his sim and he just took the set. Imagine that; this scoundrel has enough time to take out the chip and hand it back to my friend and then walks away calmly for all to see. In this pathetic environment people are wary of buying costly cells to avoid getting mugged. This is a very real danger to the growth of the sector.

Then take the case of PTCL. This lethargic giant has helped no one by dragging on with its monopolistic shenanigans. Leave ISPs and other private firms dealing with it aside, even the public doesn’t trust PTCL in the least bit. Take the case of the recent decision by PTCL to make local call free from 12 am to 6 am. Now they may have taken that decision in good faith to show their sincerity, but rumors are doing the rounds that this is just another trick to entrap people into making more calls during this period so that more revenue can be generated. And no one can find out since there’s no record a local call. But the most popular is that the calls are free for the first 15 minutes, then they start being charged as usual. So in order to beat the system, you talk for 15 minutes, hang up, call and talk for another 15 minutes and so on. So people generally are wary of this suddenly sugary approach of the PTCL, which shows the extent of distrust between these two. And PTCL is to blame for all this. Companies are eager to get into our Tele- market and would have made great strides by now had it not been for the evasive policies of the government.

Considering everything, the telecommunications in Pakistan is pointing in the right direction, but whether it does move ahead in that direction or changes course midway, remains to be seen. In the current environment it is a bit of a risk venturing into this field. My advice: go for it by all means but once you’ve established that you’ve the aptitude for this kind of work, for if you’ve don’t have that; you’re going to get burned out pretty soon, prosperity or no prosperity.

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MECHANICAL ENGINEER: FLUCTUATING FORTUNES?

There was a time in Pakistan when people heard you were an engineer, any type of engineer, you were literally revered by them. Mothers would fall over each other to grab an engineer for their daughters, and if a girl did it, she was considered nothing short of Einstein. Then when I was undergoing the engineering program; the era of IT prosperity; people would ask what you were studying. When you replied engineering, they sulked a bit and asked which field. Upon hearing the word mechanical, they looked down at you like you were their mechanic. Yep. People in their infinite stupidity don’t know their mechanic from the mechanical. It all seems the same to them.

Times have changed again for the better as far as mechanical engineers are concerned. Job advertisements for mechanical engineers are splattered all over the classifieds and word is spreading fast that the mechanical field has been resurrected. People are claiming that the “Second Coming” is holier and more glorified than the first. I doubt it, especially because this field never got to be crucified. Sure it received a dent when the IT boon was happening, but the industries didn’t stop working, did they? And to run the industry you require these engineers.

This job boon has got more to do with the economic growth rather than the receding IT ventures. It’s really very simple: when the economy is booming, that means more money is pumping through the economy, people are buying goods, demand is higher than the supply, production has to be increased to counter that, and viola! Work force gets increased which includes the engineers as well.

Unfortunately, this hasn’t really translated into prosperity for the engineers. Sure, they are employed by the dozen, but what are they being offered? Literally peanuts.

A mechanical engineer has the toughest job of all the professions. It is not only physically debilitating, but mentally taxing as well. You would think with this sort pressure, the person should be properly compensated for his work. No sir. Nothing of this sort in our industry. Most of the factories have working conditions which are despicable. I‘ve already pointed that out in the case of Textiler. God knows how many places have such working environments, or maybe even worse. And these are supposed to be good times for the mechanical engineer. Imagine what the bad times would be like. But I’ve a strong suspicion that these conditions are only applicable to Pakistan. I can’t imagine other nations maltreating their mechanical assets to such an extent.

When everyone was singing Information Technology’s praises, the IT specialists were being pampered all over the world, more so in Pakistan. They were demanding and getting exorbitant salaries, even the fresh graduates. No one came forward and objected to this trend, or even termed it crazy. Hell, even these days they are getting away with ‘murder’. I met a FAST (NU University) graduate at a friend’s wedding who had recently graduated. He was getting Rs.22, 000 monthly from a local software house plus a car (Suzuki Mehran). But when it comes to a fresh M. engineer, even the people in the industry consider it crazy to demand or get respectable pay when starting out. Consider the case of Bilal Ahmed Siddiqui. One of the brilliant students of our batch, of not the brilliant student, I’m sure he would make for a great engineer. A couple of people narrated this incident to me that when Bilal applied for a job at Hino-Pak Pvt Ltd, he wrote the expected salary Rs.60, 000 monthly. The people there were incredulous as to how could a fresh one demand so much. But since he was the star of the batch, the darling of all the teachers, the Hinopak had to check him out. May be he made a mistake or something. So he was called for an interview. The operations manager who was conducting the interview asked him if he had made a mistake. To which he replied in the negative. He then told him he was the manager and he was getting Rs. 42,000, so how could they give that much money to him, who had no experience? All he said was that if they couldn’t pay him that much, why on earth did they call him? Arrogant, huh? That’s what most people have been calling him since learning about this incidence, including the people who narrated this to me. They say he thinks he’s above everybody. But their envy is nothing new, but more like a historical affair. He has been accused of going where no civilian has gone before. And they are right. Bilal did his internship at the Heavy Mechanical Complex Taxila which is a heavily guarded military installation. Almost everything is manufactured there. A truly unique place. So once you gain experience from such a place, you are obviously going to be far ahead of the competition. No one else got the chance, and Bilal also was able to get in only because his father is a retired brigadier. People grudge him for even that. Then he was able to design as well as fabricate some sort of micro gas turbine, an expensive undertaking, because he was able to afford it. So that’s one more strike against him. Others fret that they are not able to pull off these wonderful feats and get the accolades from the teachers and all, because they don’t have the resources, otherwise they are as good as him, if not better. What these people don’t realize is that he has been involved in this stuff from the day he set foot in the university. He isn’t just interested in engineering, he’s passionate about it. And once you get in that frame of mind, doors of opportunities start opening for you left and right. Then it doesn’t matter if you have the resources or not, things just start to fall in your lap. But to achieve that state, you’ve got to go the extra mile, do things that others leave out merely due to inconvenience, for as the saying goes:

“When you want what you’ve never had, you must do what you’ve never done.”

Coming back to the question, was he justified in asking for that kind of pay? Why not? If he’s able enough, why shouldn’t he get it? He’s not forcing anyone. He’s merely asking, though what he’s asking may be a tad too much. And don’t get me wrong. While I may endorse his demand for such a salary, I do not necessarily have the same expectations for myself, though I’d love to get something in that region. The point is, if you are good enough, you have every right to negotiate the terms of your employment. Right now, we mechanical engineers are in shambles when it comes to pay. We don’t have any union which can set a limit to the minimum wage. And there’s no real unity among us; if one of us rejects an employer for paying scrap, another one would grab it greedily. The employer doesn’t even have to think about increasing the wage since someone is always ready to take the job.
There are examples of mechanical engineers earning respectable income. For instance, take the case of Arslan’s manager at Adam Motors Pvt Ltd. He was drawing about Rs. 42,000 monthly from there when he was suddenly offered a job at Ali Motors for about Rs. 58,000 plus a KIA Pride while here he was given a mere Daihatsu Cuore. Immediately he applied for a leave at Adam’s and switched to Ali’s. The leave part is the trend in the industry. You just don’t resign from your job, but apply for a leave for 2-3 months. In that way, if you don’t like the new job, you always have the option of falling back on the former one. Everybody, including the M.Ds know when an employee applies for leave that he’s leaving them for good, but they don’t do anything for there isn’t much to do really, is there?

Coming back to the guy, he did have about 7-8 years experience in the industry, and he was just a graduate from NED. But these success stories are few and far between, and I would bet a person in some other profession would be earning a lot more after this period.

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MECHANICAL ENGINEERING: PROS AND CONS

In Pakistan, mechanical engineers are at the lowest end of the pay scale when they start out. Even simple semi-literate salesman earn twice of what they earn. And this is the state of affairs despite the fact that there is a high demand for them these days. I don’t want to think about what they’re going to be paid when the market goes into recession.

The edge they have over most of the other professions is that they can grow with leaps and bounds if they plan their career carefully. In the domestic market there is a high demand for them, and if they manage to get in the right company and spend a few years there, they are truly on their way up. Many a time it is even not necessary to get the right company. Consider the case of Textiler, an unremarkable medium-sized industry which produces solely socks and exports them. Most of the people of my batch started out there but soon moved on to greener pastures. Had they stuck to Textiler, it wouldn’t have been a bad choice either, for your salary their really rockets up after a couple of years. There’s a man working there who’s literally completely illiterate, and yet he’s raking in Rs.40,000 a month, which is more than four times what a fresh engineer is earning these days. His only asset is that he knows the machines inside out. At the moment, Textiler needs literate workers (in other words engineers) who are willing to stay put, because they are vying to get ISO certified; what with the January 1,2005 deadline fast approaching. But yeah, there is a limit here as to how much you can grow in terms of your career. It’s just the financial aspect which is enticing in that company.

The other advantage to the mechanical engineers is that they can switch between fields pretty comfy, it being a diverse field as opposed to Electrical, Electronic or even Computer engineering; which are more of a specialization. For instance, a mechanical engineer can easily get a job in the petroleum industry or even get to do a masters program in geology, petroleum, aeronautics, oceanography and a million others. A site I came across once even claims the petroleum industry to offer the highest paying jobs of all engineering disciplines combined, in every nook and corner of the earth. This is no surprise though, since black gold (crude oil) is the one commodity that makes the world go round. Just take a look at how the recent oil crisis and the burgeoning oil prices are worrying everyone to death, and you’ll know what I mean. Take that out of the picture, and you get right back to the Stone Age. And mechanical engineers have the opportunity to step onto this gold mine. No doubt every student of mechanical that passes out these days has the dream of venturing into this field, either directly or after doing Masters. It’s not easy though, here in Pakistan. Some say the market is saturated, others that the senior engineers of the handful oil and gas companies in Pakistan(BP,Total,PSO,Carltex,Shell to name a few) make sure no newcomer enters there, since almost all of the senior staff are either diploma holders or just plain bachelors. As such there’s a strong possibility that a more intelligent fresh engineer may rise above them hence breaking their monopoly. If I were earning a delicious Rs.200,000-3, 00,000 per month, I would probably do the same. It’s a dream job really for the Pakistanis, and to tell you the truth, most of the new entrants (myself included) don’t know jack about the pros and cons of this field, apart from the financial aspect, of course.

However, the other disciplines of engineering mentioned above have benefits of their own. For instance an Electrical graduate can relatively easily do a Masters in Computer Science compared to a Mechanical one. A Computer engineer has access to better working environment, and with a few relevant courses under his belt, he can very well venture into the software side.

And then there is the adverse conditions factor. Danger and mechanical engineering go together, that’s true throughout the world. No matter how safety conscious the company you’re working for is, the risk factor is there all along. In Pakistan it is all the more relevant, it being a Third World country and all; where the human life isn’t worth a penny. Well, that’s true anywhere in the world, but the Western world at least tries to pretend being concerned about these matters and act towards that end. But in the third world, there’s no such pretense and hence no need to do something about it. Which brings us back to the adverse conditions factor and the lack of effort to do something about it. The biggest culprit which I’ve come across is the Textiler which a few paragraphs ago I had praised. Complications relating to sinus are an eminent danger due to the presence of fumes and what not in that factory. But since they are offering relatively good wages, not many seem to mind; others who have trouble breathing in that environment just pack up and leave.

But the biggest disadvantage that everyone unanimously agrees upon is the distant work places. If you want to be a real engineer, the only working place to learn the tricks of the trade is the industry, which is as far removed from the city as possible. Commuting back and forth from the workplace drains half the energy from you. And then if you’re working in a hazardous factory, it’s not really what you had in mind when you opted for this field, is it? Even Electrical and sometimes Electronics engineers have to face this dilemma, but let’s just focus on the M one. Take the case of Beltex which is located even further than Landhi, almost a 2- hour journey, and they are making you work for 12 hour shifts. So now consider this scenario. You leave your house for the 8 O’ clock nightshift by 5.45 pm. Spend the night there, return home by about 10:30 am, have breakfast, go to sleep, wake up by 4.30 pm and then prepare for leaving again! A shift lasts a week. Pretty dismal, isn’t it? Imagine working that way for the rest of your life! Even when the monetary rewards are good (not great), it doesn’t leave you much else to do with your life, does it? So you have to be darn motivated to cope with such monotonous, debilitating rigorous work schedule. But you can’t really complain once you have entered this field. You should have thought twice about venturing into this field if you think you can’t undergo this routine. Things, however, need not remain the same. It’s just the initial 3-5 years that are such energy sapping. Once you’ve got adequate experience, you can really come into your own if you plan carefully. You can enjoy a consultant position within the soothing confines of the city, or you can climb to a senior position even at the site, so that you don’t have to work your ass off every single day. If you can get through the initial crunching period with your wits intact, you can very well lead a relatively satisfying life.

But then you are likely to face hardships in any profession you choose. That’s the reason I’ve time and again emphasized on the point that you should choose something you are likely to enjoy doing. Otherwise you’re going to end up making your life as well as the lives of your wife and children miserable. Be bold enough to take up an obscure profession if that’s where your passion lies.

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LOVE YOUR JOB, OR LEAVE IT!

A bomb ripped through a Honda civic killing two people. Hardly a breaking news in the present circumstances, though the fact that it happened in D.H.A, one of the posh areas of Karachi did raise a few eyebrows. But the news of the day was that Ramiz Hasan Raja had resigned as CEO of Pakistan Cricket Board. In spite of the fact that almost everyone believes this was a sacking disguised as resignation to save face; I would go along with the official version, largely because it makes sense. Ramiz was criticized viciously from all quarters, including the Pakistani public; the most ferocious of them all, for the humiliating test and one-day series defeat at the hands of the Indians on our own soil. He became the bane of every Pakistani, and any decision he made from then on would have been regarded with suspicion. So let the job go in favour of commentating for Ten Sports. On the face of it, it looks like a bad decision, leaving a position of immense power and privilege for a mere commentary job. If I were him, I would have done exactly the same thing. I saw on TV a Pakistan-India match in Sharjah where Geoffrey Boycott was commentating. Suddenly the camera zoomed in on him eating a pizza. He looked like he was having the time of his life. That moment is etched on to my mind; a man enjoying his work. If you ponder over it, a commentator is the one person (as far as cricket is concerned) who enjoys the sports the most. He has no worries, particularly if he does not belong to one of the countries playing, and there’s complete freedom of expression these days, so there’s no one holding a sword over his head. He literally get away with murder. On the other hand, a cricket administrator has all the tensions in the world, and when the team loses it is he who gets to get the blame even more so than the captain or coach who are the real culprits. No wonder he chose commentary. And it does look like he’s enjoying commentating going by his tone, choice of words and the fluency of his language, which wasn’t the case back in 99’ World Cup final when Pakistan was being thrashed by Australia and Ramiz looked like he himself was being thrashed by his fellow commentators. He’s come a long way since then. But why are talking about Ramiz or cricket and commentary at all? What’s the point?

The point I want to drive at is; what makes a man do his job diligently? What’s the difference between a winner and loser? The answer is simple: it’s his interest in his job. The more interest he has in his job, the more successful he will be at it. Sometimes the interest isn’t there naturally, but people through sheer motivation are able to achieve that level of interest which gets them doing. The motivation can be induced by any number of reason; love of money, power or anything else, but the love factor is there all along. Sometimes people choose a profession simply because it themselves instead of indirect love of some other material gain. These are the people that make history. You can pick up any profession and you’ll find that all the people in its hall of fame were in love with it.

That’s how crucial it is to choose a career you feel you can love whole heartedly. When I was standing at the crossroad of choosing a career, which was pre-9/11, every other Pakistani was jumping on to the IT bandwagon. Leave aptitude aside, these people didn’t even know if they were interested in it or not. Some of them had not touched a keyboard ever in their life and were ready to dive into this pit. Their motto: show me the money! It was hard even for me to ignore all this commotion. It was December 1999, I had given the Karachi University B.S(Computer Science) aptitude and had bagged the fifth position among a total 2,000 entrants. I had also managed to get accepted in the NED Mechanical Engineering Department at the same time. My dilemma; I didn’t love either of the professions, or if I did, I didn’t know at the time. I applied for Mechanical Engineering because I had always been fascinated by cars and planes since childhood; dissecting my toys feverishly just to make sense of how the heck they worked. But then this is a common trait of every little boy. So can you base your career on this childhood fantasy? I had my doubts. Why Computer Science? Well, that’s where the gold rush was at that time. But since I didn’t own a computer at that time, and was dying to get one, I wasn’t sure my enthusiasm was either for this field or just for owning a PC. In the end I went with my gut instincts, supplemented by a bit of advice from my teachers and parents. I didn’t do that well at engineering as I would have liked, but even then I have no regrets about opting for this field. And not particularly because the software industry has been still reeling from the after-effects of 9/11, but because I thoroughly enjoyed learning about how the entire world depends on this field, rightly named as the ‘Mother of Engineering’. Friends of mine still call me a fool for what they considered to be a golden opportunity i.e. the B.S. program at KU. What can I say? Everyone has to lead his own life, and you can’t base your life’s decisions on someone else’s perception of what is good or bad, for it’s you who has to face the consequences of your actions. Might as well make your own decisions, so if things don’t turn out right, at least you’ll have the satisfaction of being bold enough to make and stand up for your decision.

Coming back to the topic at hand, how important it is to love your job? Well, consider this. Once you enter the ‘job stage’ of your life, you’re going to spend a hell of a time of your life on it. So if you don’t love your job or worse; hate it, then your life is wasted away buddy. You only get one shot at living, and the only way to live it up to the max is spend it doing something you love. Your job or profession may look rotten to others, if you feel this is it for you, go for it. You’ll be surprised how far you can make it. Consider Muhammad Ali (whose autobiography I happen to be reading these days), he underwent swollen ribs, broken jaws, puffy eyes and God knows what physical agony during his career as a boxer. But he loved it, and not only that kept him going, but excel in his trade so much so to be unanimously acclaimed as the greatest of all time. That’s the sort of enthusiasm I’m talking about. No matter how much you love your profession, the first job is always going to be the toughest, and its this enthusiasm which is going to keep you afloat in that tumultuous time.


I still remember when I was starting out as a freelance writer (for the second time in my life). The very first assignment that I got was to review the movie The Hours. Talk about tough luck. That movie is as complex as they get. Needless to say, it got the butterflies in my tummy playing around. To my own credit, I did not procrastinate much. Just went out and rented the movie, saw it, immediately jotted down the first impression while they were afresh. Then went online to do some background check on the movie. In short, I was able to put together the first draft of the review on the same day as I got the assignment. Taking early action is always the best policy. Since then I’ve been able to tackle reviews of all kinds, and the reason I’ve been able to do that has been my enthusiasm rather than any ability. I had some rough seas steer past but I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it, and that’s the attitude you’ve got to have to sail through life. As Colin Powell said:

"There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work and learning from failure."

When I first started as an engineering student in NED mechanical department. I faced the toughest six months of my life. I felt I had made the wrong decision, and that I should have chosen software engineering. Fortunately, common sense prevailed. But it was not before I did my internship at Pakistan International Airlines(P.I.A), or more specifically, at the Jinnah Terminal; that I really got into this field mentally. It was an overwhelming experience, and all the while I was there, I was besieged by awe and wonder by these mechanical birds. I had flown a zillion times in them before then, but never before had I looked at them with such admiration. It was then that I realized without this field, we would still be in the Stone Age. Not even computer science would have been possible without it. Remember, the very first computer was merely a mechanical machine invented by Charles Babbage in the late 19th century. So yeah, mechanical engineers rule!

Having earlier confessed to my not having any innate infatuation with the mechanical field, I can’t advertise to the prospective employers, “I’m the Greatest” ala Muhammad Ali, or even feebly pretend to sneak into the mechanical hall of fame. However, the world is abundant in exceptions, so you never know, I may be that exception that disproves the rule. In short, grab me before anyone else makes a beeline for me and gets hold of all that gold I’m worth (maybe).

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THE STIGMA OF ‘JUGAAR’ (SOURCE)

Rizwan gave the test conducted by PSO for recruitment a few days ago. I asked afterwards how it went and he replied that it was a difficult test and that he didn’t do that well. He further added even if he had done exceptionally well at it, he wouldn’t be optimistic. Why? Because PSO is government owned, and that in order to get in a government organization, you need to have the source, a theory which is unanimously accepted by all and sundry.

The word ‘source’ holds a very important place in the Pakistani mindset. Its meaning is a bit different in our culture. It is considered ‘positive’ by those who have it and ‘negative’ by those who haven’t. This bipolar term is called ‘Jugaar’ in Pakistan. Mostly the illiterate types used to use this term, but these days everyone uses willfully.

But why is the term ‘source’ so much synonymous with ‘job’ in Pakistan? Well, if you look at the broader picture, this phenomenon is common throughout the world, but more so in Third World countries.

Let’s just consider my batch (1999-2000) and how this phenomenon has affected us all. Even before we had passed out, it was at the back of everybody’s mind that in order to get the dream job, they had to make contacts with influential people; those firmly entrenched in the big shots of Pakistani industry. But we are all taken aback by what we have seen and observed over the past few months. Your percentage does not hold much ground if you are after a really good job. To an extent it does, but only if you are in the top 10. You go any further down than that, and it begins to lose any relevance. The notion that government-owned companies are biased in their recruitment process began to take solid form when Suparco, the sole Pakistan space agency went and selected Asma and Afaaque for the job. Now these were the position holders of our batch and no doubt they deserved that job. But they both had failed the written test which our entire batch plus a couple hundred other had given. Many passed the initial test but were shot out in the interview following the test. So when they heard that these two had been given the job, naturally the entire batch got infuriated. And their grievances were genuine. They argued that if Suparco had wanted to employ the position holders in the first place, why did they waste others students’ money (the test cost about Rs.500-600)? A couple of other students were also employed who had passed the test, but ‘coincidentally’, even they were position holders; falling in the top 10 slot. Then PIA gave their advertisement, for which you had dish out Rs. 500 again. Candidates cried fowl even in their selection procedure. In short, the government-owned companies’ reputation was never great amongst these people, but now it is dead and buried.

But this shady selection procedure is not limited to the government institutes, but even the private firms, in fact even the multi-nationals operating in Pakistan are not immune to this epidemic. People even allege they ( the multi-nationals) are the biggest culprits. Sometime back, a friend of mine who had done his MBA from the IBA, told me that almost all the companies in Pakistan employed people who had clout within the company. The Ad was published in the classified merely to give an impression that they were fair in their dealings and employed people on merit. Who would want to deal with a company who didn’t even induct fairly? So in order to uphold a spotless image, they go through all the trouble of conducting written tests and interview after interview while they have selected the ‘desirable’ candidates long before hand. Sometimes they go for a mixture; selecting one meritorious person from this process, while inducting a dozen others merely on Jugaar. So according to him, this whole fanfare is a sham. I don’t blame him for this theory though. This guy had done his Masters in Banking and Finance from IBA, the most reputed business school in Karachi, if not in the entire country. Not even that, he received an award from the then governor Moinuddin Haider for some exceptional work he had carried out. In spite of all these credentials, he had to sweat it out for almost six months before he got a job! And people say that IBA graduates get recruited even before they have graduated. So much for that. This guy really has some dirt on many firms to go along with his theories. And if you reflect on your observations of the job market, you’ll realize that his allegations do hold good. For instance, he alleges that rarely a multi-national bank goes through a recruitment process advertised in the media. That should mean they seldom hire new hands, right? Wrong! Just sift through your relatives, friends and contact you may have made in your life, you’ll soon come up with a person recently employed by so and so bank. Just like that. Sometimes the candidate is not even an MBA; just plain B.Com and yet he gets a lucrative job in a grandeur bank.
I didn’t give much thought to this conspiracy theory but it was there with me subconsciously, so when the Suparco people came with all that sweet talk, I immediately sensed something fishy. I had rational reasons as well. It so happened that two weeks before these people came, an anonymous ad appeared in the local classifieds with the application form printed there as well along with a demand for Rs.500. So when these Suparco guys showed up and started to build up a hype with their sugar-coated sweet talk, I knew they were just here to extort money by fooling all these fresh graduates. Then when I looked at their application forms, they were the same from the classifieds, and my suspicion was confirmed. Naturally I didn’t apply and exhorted others also to avoid it, since these people didn’t look likely to pick candidates purely on merit. No one listened and the rest is history.

Our batch although comprised of 150 students divided into two sections, and yet for some inexplicable reason in this big lot also, everyone knows where each person belonging to the batch is employed, how he got the job, how much he’s being paid, etc. It’s the biggest gossip network I’ve come across, which should make CNN and Fox TV proud. So no one is immune to harsh criticism if he gets the job by Jugaar. He may be the nicest person in the world, but once he gets in a company by foul means, he gets tainted as the bad guy. The better the job, the more scathing criticism he’s prone to by this amazing network. Quite a few people have been awarded the best villain titles up till now. Let me retract a bit. People getting inconsequential jobs through contacts are spared this attack. It’s mostly those that get the high-flying jobs that have to face the wrath of this network.

The very first to get this ‘honor’ was Umair who got in Engro. Although he droned on about how he had to go through five grueling interviews before they finally decided on him, no one believed, in spite of the fact that he’s a top notch student and probably deserved what he got. But the thing people focused on was that he’s a Punjabi ( Karachiites have a disdain ranging from minor to extreme for Punjabis on the pretext that they rule the entire Pakistan by proxy). Then the fact that his father holds a high-profile position in the industry didn’t help his matters. But the reason that pissed everyone off was the fact that Engro didn’t go through even a farce selection procedure which other companies do to save face. They just went ahead and picked this guy who, no doubt, was deserving, but may not have been the most deserving one. And Engro didn’t give much of a chance to anybody else to find that out.

Then there’s the case of Honda Atlas owned by the Sherwani group, one of the most influential and successful groups here. Their selection process was a huge fanfare with expectations running high for all the participants. And it looked to be pretty fair as well till the very end. It was only later a guy whose father knows people around Honda disclosed that two out of the three trainee engineers selected by them were done so through Jugaar. The three were Ahmed, Mohtashim and Furrukh. The grapevine has it that the father of either of the two had known people in there, who got both of them in. Arslan and Noman were two people who were most disappointed by this, since they were their till the very end of the selection process. Noman was shown the door in the fourth interview whereas Arslan was cut out in the fifth and final interview. There were only five people left in the last interview and Arslan was pretty confident that this was going to be pretty much a formality and that they had selected the five of them. Suffice to say he was devastated when he wasn’t offered the job. And who wouldn’t be? Honda is located in Shershah, and this guy had to go there by bus five times with God know how high expectations. And what does he get? Not even a phone call to say that they couldn’t offer him the job. He found out about it from the chosen ones. How cruel can you get? There’s a serious lack of courtesy in Pakistan, and the multi-nationals landing here adopt the same callous attitude. Tell me honestly, don’t you think you owe a guy a response after having taking him for not one but five ‘roller-coaster rides’?

These were some of the high-profile cases. Then there are some minor ones as well, such as Danish and Fahad getting into Dewan Farooque industry in Sajaawal. Asad getting into Air Blue, a new local airline. Not many people knew about this asad Jugaar, it was Bilal who told me that they accepting only licensed aviation engineers, so Asad couldn’t have got in without the ‘help’.

Recently, Faisal got into PRL (Pakistan Refinery Ltd.) and this seems to have irked a lot of people. The thing is, PRL only called candidates with percentage above 70%, but Faisal has got 63%, so this was a dead giveaway. Then the fact that they actually selected him overlooking most of the 70%s was ample proof it wasn’t a ‘clean selection’. PRL isn’t offering a lucrative package or anything, but the fact that it’s a petroleum job is mouth-watering enough for the people. The job market in petroleum industry in Pakistan is considered saturated, so you can well imagine people’s indignation when a less deserving candidate slips in. Faisal was working before in Pak Suzuki and people even consider that job now Jugaar. That’s what a Jugaaro job does for you; strips off your credibility. Faisal may make great strides in PRL on the basis of his own abilities, but people will only remember that this guy had the source, and that any achievement he pulls off isn’t his doing but the work of his ‘source’.

What all this does is make people lose faith in the system. Arslan has been bickering since that bitter experience that your marks don’t amount to shit when searching for a good job. Many people have developed this perception over the past few months, that getting a satisfactory job in the Pakistani market is as dirty a game as politics.

In the end, all I would like to say is that this gossip networks is nothing but a bunch of hypocrites. They may shred a person to pieces with their venomous mouth, but give them a Jugaaro job and they will grab it with both hands without a second thought about the very stigma they righteously loathed. But then, that’s no big deal, since we as a nation thrive on hypocrisy. It makes the world go round for us.

And I’m no different. The only thing to my credit is that I refused to work for PIA when my father could have easily got me in, a job most people would die for. But now give me a job through foul means, and I will not hesitate for a second.

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The Big Breakthrough?

My sole goal after graduation has been to land a job with a multinational firm. It has been my belief from day one that if you work your hard enough for them, they’re going to notice you at some point or the other. Working for the local ones which are owned by either semi-literate or utterly illiterate ‘Seths’, is like banging your head against the wall. And this belief of mine has been further augmented by what I get to hear from acquaintances who are working in such places. It gives me great pleasure that I’ve been right all along, only for a split second, that is. The euphoria is almost instantaneously replaced by the growing concerned that I’m still unemployed. In the backdrop of this scenario, I was quite excited when the multinational giant Wartsila called me for an interview, and the excitement transformed into ecstasy when they short listed me for a second interview. I thought I was finally going to get that breakthrough which I had been yearning for all this time.

They called in the last week of June to inform me that I had been shortlisted for the second round and that I would be getting a call in the 2nd week of July, since the guy who was going to conduct the interview had gone for an Umrah. In the meantime I should polish my grey areas and wait for the call. I thanked the girl who had called me from the core of my heart for this courtesy call. How many companies are out there who inform the prospective interviewees well in advance about an interview? Not many, I’m sure. Needless to say, this simple act earned them my deepest respect and admiration. I was sure more than ever this was the company I would toil away for as long as it took.

I got to work immediately, reminiscing about the blunders I had committed in the first interview and trying to come up with better response. I also started revising more vigorously whatever I’ve learned in the last four years of my life. The second week came and went; then the third and fourth. I’ve got to say that I wasn’t worried that much throughout this period. Problems can arise, delays can occur, and a multinational just doesn’t back itself out of a commitment. But my friend Fahad who was also shortlisted was getting restless; every other day he would call me and exhort me to call the company and ask them about the delay. The first time he pleaded, I called the company and they replied; when the time came they would call me myself; I need not worry. But Fahad was getting desperate and wanted me to call them up again and again. I told him to calm down and just be patient. What else could I say or do. I certainly didn’t want to piss them off by calling again. Once was enough, which by the way had also confirmed that I had indeed been short listed and wasn’t dreaming.
It was finally on 3rd August that they called to inform me that I had an interview the other day. The timing couldn’t have been more perfect. I had just recovered from illness and was prepared for whatever lay ahead.

My interview was to start at 10:20 and although I got lost a bit getting there, in the end I made it right on time. But when I reached there, three people were already there waiting; two of which were scheduled before me; 10:00 and 10:10. This baffled me a bit, considering that the first one had lasted well more than half an hour. Anyway, the interviews didn’t start well after 11, and they were quite brief. But before the interviews we (the interviewees) had an in-depth chat about the job. It so happened that a few of the second-round interviews had already been conducted before this day, and Fahad was one of them. He didn’t call me to tell about it, but Noman who was there now, had talked to him. The revelation by Fahad was really mind-boggling. According to him, they had told him that the salary was going to be a measly Rs.3000 which was going to remain that way for 2 years! This could mean quite a few things, either Fahad is lying about it, people at Wartsila are out of touch with reality, or they were just pulling his leg to see how he responds.

Now when our turn came, each one got an entirely different dose. To one person they said that this job was quite messy, to other that the work required was more strenuous than that of a car mechanic, that he would be required to fly to different locations throughout the country for this work, and that for 2 years this will remain as it is. After two years, they may think about inducting the workers in the company on a permanent basis. To me, the two people who were conducting the interview revealed that this sort of work doesn’t have scope anywhere in the world, let alone Pakistan. Diesel engines provide the function of an auxiliary power source in the industry and as such they are not deemed as important. Then they asked me what I have to say to that, to which I replied that you have to take calculated risks throughout your life. Even the aviation industry is going down the drain and yet people are still venturing into that hellhole. You have to carve out your own niche. And that was it. This reply was enough for them to come to some conclusion which I’m not aware of as yet.

Just now as I’m writing this down, Fahad calls and gives me his version. Noman was right. They had stated that amount to him which they say is a stipend for two years training. Apparently, they had cross-examined him the most; asking whether he had done any worthwhile work with his hands in his life, why did he want to leave his current job, why was he interested in diesel engines, and so on.

My enthusiasm for working for Wartsila has dampened to some extent after this experience, mostly because I’m unable to make out their intentions. Are they bluntly stating the nature of the job so that we don’t have any qualms about it when we get in the middle of the action, or are they just testing us? It’s hard to figure out from the different versions I’ve heard or the bland expressions of the two interviewers. They didn’t discuss the stipend part with most of us, so I can’t vouch for that. However if it is true, then I don’t think anyone in the right frame of mind is going to opt for this ridiculous package. It’s preposterous for them to think they can keep their employers motivated to deliver the goods on such debilitating pay for two long years. They did complain to one of the interviewees that people leave us in just 2-3 weeks, and then they have to start the recruitment process all over again. They should expect that without any reservations. Wartsila without doubt is one of the biggest suppliers of ship power in the entire world. It owns a Nordic steel company, manufactures, supplies and then services power plants all over the world. In short they have poked their nose in every business and that also very successfully. This Finnish company has been around since 1884 so there’s no question about it’s reputation. Obviously, anyone who applies for a post here expects at least a package at par with the local industry, if not better. So when people are going to be offered what I’ve heard they’re offering, then the reaction is going to be either of disbelief, anger or disappointment.

If you ask me, I think they may have been putting on an act. It was something which the older guy, the field engineer who had gone for Umrah and caused the delay, said. He said diesel power
plants do not represent much of a scope anywhere in the world. But just the other day I was surfing the net and came across an article which claimed that Wartsila-Sulzer had produced one of the biggest and most powerful diesel engines in the world. The RTA96-C turbo-charged two stroke diesel engine, which is actually manufactured for Wartsila by Aioi Works of Japan’s United Diesel Ltd.; is one of a kind. It is available in 6-14 cylinders configurations, all in-line. The engine produces an enormous 7780 horsepower and weighs a whopping 2300 tons( the crankshaft alone 300 tons)! An engine of such gigantic proportions is required by large container ships since ship owners prefer a single powerful engine over a number of small ones. Here a few snaps of it’s monstrous parts.

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The first completed 12 cylinder engine.

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some piston.

The crank sitting in the block (also known as a "gondola-style" bedplate). This is a 10 cylinder version.
Note the steps by each crank throw that lead down into the crankcase.

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A piston & piston rod assembly. The piston is at the top. The large square plate at the bottom is where the whole assembly attaches to the crosshead:


The engine is a bit different from the automobile engines. Notice that the connecting rod is not directly connected to the piston but to a crosshead which in turn is connected to the piston via a piston rod. This arrangement, I guess, is to avoid the sideway forces from impacting the cylinder. In the automobile, these forces and impact can change the cylinder into oval shape over time. Now multiply those forces manifold and you can appreciate why this arrangement is in place.


And once I was flipping through a Energy publication where it was claimed that Wartsila had got the biggest contract for a power plant to date worth over 230 million Euros. The order was placed by Duke Energy International based in San Jose, Guatemala.

So you can well gauge the scope of the things Wartsila is involved in. In the light of all this, I find his comments deviatory. But then again, you never know; he may after all be telling the truth.

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Water water everywhere, not a drop to drink

For the past six months, whenever you open the job opportunity section of the local classified, you get the feeling that mechanical engineering is the field to opt as a career, for every second job is for it. and yet, engineers like me have been waiting in the wings for this very period to get a job.

Is it a paradox? Not really. There are a few very valid reasons for it. First of all, I'm not looking for just any job, but THE job. Now that takes some doing, especially since Pakistani recruiters (most of them) look solely at your division and average, avoiding everything else on the resume. My division is as good as it gets, but the average is nothing to write home about.

Secondly, a good job in the Pakistani market means almost always a position in a multinational company. The local industry boys are themselves to blame for this perception. The only real exception that I know of which isn't subjected to this 'prejudice', is Engro. However, most people are not aware of the fact that even Engro was once a multi-national (back in 1965), owned 75% by Esso (now Exxon). After spending a good 20-25 years building up the reputation of Engro, they finally called it quits in 1991, selling it to the employees of Engro itself. These few chosen ones now make up its Board Of Directors, plus a few outsiders as well, namely Mr. Muhammad Ali, who has done his MBA from Karachi University fairly recently, and is also the CEO of Inbox Business Technologies, a fast growing computer hardware vendor.

Finally, the last factor is that most of the companies require experienced engineers; very few opt to try new hands. So we being new in the market, have no experience and hence less opportunities. Most of the guys have gone the apparently sensible way of getting whatever job they are offered, be it a nobody offering literally peanuts for salary. Their motto is to get the required 3-5 years experience which is the least requirement for most of the jobs as soon as possible. On the face of it, it’s a very logical and sensible way of going about building your career.

I on the other hand, cater to a different school of thought. Get yourself geared up to meet the challenges on the horizon. Be prepared for the future before it hits you head on. And I can assure you only a handful of people subscribe to this approach.
The thing is, most of the engineers coming out of NED (or any other engineering institute in Pakistan for that matter) are extremely crude. You’ll say that’s to be expected from a new grad, and I don’t disagree with you. When it comes to operating machinery, I may be the crudest of them all. But that’s not what I’m talking about. By crude I mean a lot of other things. Firstly, these people don’t know the first thing about how to present themselves in front of the prospective employer, let alone tackling his volley of shots and impressing him. For instance, once I saw a friend of mine going for an interview in a half-sleeve shirt! Let alone a suit or even a tie, this guy doesn’t even bother donning a full sleeve shirt. If that was not enough, he wasn’t wearing a vest, and his whole shirt was drenched in sweat. And this was even before he had left for the interview, what the hell was he going to look like when he reached there? But the most preposterous thing for me was that he went in a bus! Everyone knows the dilapidated state our public transport is in. Once you board one of the buses, 9 out of 10 times you’re going to reach your destination in a dilapidated state yourself, with the clothes all crumpled up. It’s always better to either take your car or a cab when going for an interview. At least you’ll still be in the conditions you left home in. It’s more costly, but then you have to invest all that you can to get it. As the saying goes; to have what you never had, you must do what you have never done.

You never know. It may make all the difference between getting the desired job and losing it.
Clothes are a mere formality, but they do matter just the same. Every single tutorial on getting a job emphasizes on the need to be properly dressed. A tie is a must, a complete suit, all the better. But for some inexplicable reason it has got into the heads of most of the prospective engineers that since it is a mechanical job (read ‘getting all dirty’ job), you can just walk in wearing casual clothing. I’ll leave this debate up to you people.

Secondly, they don’t know about the world around them the inside scoop of the industry, who’s making strides, who’s going down the drain. You’ve got to know what the industry is up to, and how the world events are going to affect it. For instance, the free trade agreement which is going to come into effect from 1st January 2005. How’s that going to bear on the domestic market.

And lastly they are unable to speak or write English properly, which is a crucial point in the Pakistani market. The multi-nationals especially, consider this a very important factor, even when they are recruiting just engineers who mostly likely are not going to represent the company. Like most of the third world countries, here in Pakistan as well, a person not able to speak or write proper English is considered an illiterate. It’s the same discrimination as in Have and have-nots. And it’s no more evident than in the job-market.

A few months back I myself was as naïve as the next person. But I’ve come a long way since then. That does not mean I’m an epitome of finesse. The main point is that I have identified my shortcomings and limitations and am trying to cope with them. I tell you, that takes some doing. So while I wait for a job where I can showcase my talent, I’m grooming myself day in and day out, reading newspaper, biographies, autobiographies, anything I can lay my hands on. Knowledge is power, they say; and I intend to grasp as much of it as possible. But the job I’m going to most likely land will have to be that of strenuous physical exertion. So I’m trying to prepare for that as well; strength training and aerobic exercises on alternate days, as recommended by most fitness experts. And to go with that, I’m reading the autobiography of Muhammad Ali, just to keep myself motivated enough for the physical routine.

You have to be mentally tough as well to ward off the criticism of family and friends regarding why you’re not vying for a small job while waiting for the big one. It’s hard to get your viewpoint across to people who don’t cater to your school of thought or even aspirations. My ambition is simple enough. I want to save my energy and enthusiasm, with which everyone approaches the first job, for the job which I can truly relish. Most of my friends who are working in undesirable jobs are already burned out. They have entered the practical (read callous) stage of their life where one just dredges through life. I for one don’t want to dampen my enthusiasm by giving my all to some scumbag company. I want to peak at the right time and the right place. This simple desire is hard to fathom for my near and dear ones. It’s very idealistic, one may argue, but if you want to get ahead in life, you have to start off by reaching for the stars. If you don’t get them, at least you’ll still end up with something worth having.
I have kept my ambitions and goals simple, realistic and crystal clear. I don’t want to beat about the bush. My five-year plan is to earn a position in a growth-oriented company where I can actively participate in the advancement of that entity. I don’t want to stay dormant. My 10-year old maybe a bit over the moon; I want to become rich, powerful and influential. I want to be able to influence the masses. And for that, the foremost thing is an impeccable reputation for them to trust you. No one trusts politicians so that’s a definite no for me. I want to carve out my own niche. Bus itna sa Khwab hai.

I want to end this post with the following saying which should clear any doubts you may still have with my game plan:

“Success is what happens when preparation meets with opportunity.”

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