Friday, February 19, 2010
On making things happen
This is just a quick thought that I wanted to capture. I just realized that there is not really much, of what I want to do, that I can do all by myself, but there is not much I cannot do with the help of others. It may sound trivial, but to me this is an epiphany. One does not have to be the master of all trades. One just has to be a master of solving the puzzle of putting together the right ideas, resources, and human talents. Mix them at the right proportions, add a lot passion as fuel, pack plenty of perseverance and ingenuity and hard work as a cushion for the bumpy ride and voila the magic happens. I have tried this recipe out before, and it does work. There is plenty of gratification in the achievement, but the company of those that made it happen makes it last longer and tastes better.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Working and Research Environment in Qatar
It has been few years since I was last in Qatar so I cannot really be too specific with my advice regarding jobs in Qatar. What I can give is an image of what I lived and what I have continued to witness after leaving Qatar.
Qatar is a small country with a lot of wealth and resources. They have realized the importance of research and development to their future and are injecting a lot of money into this arena. Qatar National Research Fund is well funded and is trying to recruit a lot of talent into Qatar. They have succeeded to some extent, but this has not come cheap. The competition with other countries in the region such as Saudi Arabia and UAE will not make it any easier, in the future. An important point to make here is that although there is no doubt that recruiting scientists from outside into Qatar is a quick way to increase research productivity, the model is quite different from that in the US and Canada.
These scientists and researchers are there for earning wages and doing work in return of those wages. They do not have a pathway for becoming citizens of Qatar or any of the other countries in that region. The relationship is similar to a hired gun whose loyalty is simply for money. To some, this may be one of the main drawbacks of living in the Gulf. They may never feel like they belong. They may always feel as foreigner and be treated as foreigners for as long as they live in Qatar or any of the other Gulf areas. For others, however, the earning levels may well compensate for this drawback since there are no taxes on income compared to the US or Canada. I have known many who lived almost all their adult lives in the Gulf without any ill feelings and would choose that same career path again if given the chance.
Qatar is a small country with a lot of wealth and resources. They have realized the importance of research and development to their future and are injecting a lot of money into this arena. Qatar National Research Fund is well funded and is trying to recruit a lot of talent into Qatar. They have succeeded to some extent, but this has not come cheap. The competition with other countries in the region such as Saudi Arabia and UAE will not make it any easier, in the future. An important point to make here is that although there is no doubt that recruiting scientists from outside into Qatar is a quick way to increase research productivity, the model is quite different from that in the US and Canada.
These scientists and researchers are there for earning wages and doing work in return of those wages. They do not have a pathway for becoming citizens of Qatar or any of the other countries in that region. The relationship is similar to a hired gun whose loyalty is simply for money. To some, this may be one of the main drawbacks of living in the Gulf. They may never feel like they belong. They may always feel as foreigner and be treated as foreigners for as long as they live in Qatar or any of the other Gulf areas. For others, however, the earning levels may well compensate for this drawback since there are no taxes on income compared to the US or Canada. I have known many who lived almost all their adult lives in the Gulf without any ill feelings and would choose that same career path again if given the chance.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
This job should have been mine
How many times did you think to yourself:"I can really do this job", if I can just get a chance. Well, life does not always give a chance and we just have to accept the fact that the most qualified are not always the ones selected. If that was the only gauge, I do not believe many would remain where they are today. Our lives are more of a random set of movements than anyone would care to admit. Being born with an IQ of 180 is no guarantee that you will be more than a bum who happens to be too smart not to realize how miserable his or her live really is. Being as dumb as Forest Gump was is not in any way a sentence for leading a miserable life.
Many times we feel an entitlement to a certain position or job. We start touting to ourselves and most probably to others how qualified we are for the position. Our brain races ahead displaying in vivid details how wonderful we would do if we are just given that chance. If we are not given the chance, we feel as miserable as if we have been disinherited. How could this have happened? something smells fishy. This was my turn. Our brains are incapable of understanding that in real life things are not as simple as a game of checkers or chess. The rules of the game do not always favor the best, it sometimes just favors Joe or Mary. Joe or Mary may have just happen to utter the right words, know the right person, give the right impression or just be really the best qualified. It is part of the beauty of life, there are no guarantees, no blue print and no promise of fairness. If these guarantees do exist we would have been driven to death by boredom. A simple mathematical model would analyze your genes and family resources and figure out what will happen to you for the rest of your life.
I am not trying to convince you or myself to be passive, I am just stating some facts. If you did your best and came empty handed, it does not have to simply be because you were not good enough, it could just be the randomness in life that we call destiny, chance, probability, or just pure luck. Stand up, gather your thoughts, look at what you have and wait for the next opportunity. The pieces will align in the right direction someday, if you just keep trying.
Many times we feel an entitlement to a certain position or job. We start touting to ourselves and most probably to others how qualified we are for the position. Our brain races ahead displaying in vivid details how wonderful we would do if we are just given that chance. If we are not given the chance, we feel as miserable as if we have been disinherited. How could this have happened? something smells fishy. This was my turn. Our brains are incapable of understanding that in real life things are not as simple as a game of checkers or chess. The rules of the game do not always favor the best, it sometimes just favors Joe or Mary. Joe or Mary may have just happen to utter the right words, know the right person, give the right impression or just be really the best qualified. It is part of the beauty of life, there are no guarantees, no blue print and no promise of fairness. If these guarantees do exist we would have been driven to death by boredom. A simple mathematical model would analyze your genes and family resources and figure out what will happen to you for the rest of your life.
I am not trying to convince you or myself to be passive, I am just stating some facts. If you did your best and came empty handed, it does not have to simply be because you were not good enough, it could just be the randomness in life that we call destiny, chance, probability, or just pure luck. Stand up, gather your thoughts, look at what you have and wait for the next opportunity. The pieces will align in the right direction someday, if you just keep trying.
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