How To Pursue Your Passion After BTech?

Do you want to pursue your passion after BTech? Maybe when you got into the course, you didn’t know what you liked or you were forced to take up engineering. But now, you know what you really like to do and you need a way to do it.

That’s one question I was asked recently.

“I am a B.Tech. ECE student. I love painting. How can I pursue my passion?”

Who am I? Think of an engineering student who finished the engineering degree with 83% overall marks and got five placement offers during campus placements in MNCs with handsome pay packages. But she ends up going for none of them and now, works from home, writes articles, does marketing and makes YouTube videos. That’s me!

Over years, people have asked me for advice on BTech and I try to help whenever I can. So, you want to pursue your passion after Btech? Here are some things you need to know!

1. Decide if you want your passion to become your profession.

It sounds flashy but it isn’t always. The pressure to financially support yourself and succeed gets too much. And after a few months, you may realize that you don’t even enjoy your passion anymore.

So, clear your mind right now and think if you’re ready to do this thing (let’s say painting) for your entire life. 

Would you be able to paint when you don’t want to?

Would you be able to paint just to earn your daily bread, especially on days when you don’t feel the creative urge to paint?

Would you be able to take in the criticism and still continue doing it?

Would you be able to live with this profession forever?

If the answer is a strong yes, it’s great. But if you have even a slight doubt in your mind, you need to follow the second point.

2. Test the waters

Many times it happens that we just love the idea of something but when we have to do that thing over and over again, it becomes a chore.

So, when I asked you all those questions in the previous point, I needed you to look inside yourself and see if you will ever be disheartened when your passion feels like a chore. When painting feels just like work!

What would you do then?

Would you still be able to do it?

I have had the teenager blood in me and if I would have been asked such a question then, I would have said a ‘yes’ without even deeply thinking about it. But that’s not a practical way to answer a question. So, here’s what you need to do.

Take up your hobby as a part-time profession. Start painting and start trying to sell your paintings. I know, you may say college doesn’t leave you with enough time to work on it. It’s a stupid argument.

Do you watch T.V.?

Do you use the internet?

Do you use social media?

Do you hang out with your friends?

If answers to any of these is a ‘yes’, you certainly have more than enough time to paint and try and sell your paintings.

Once you actually get into the profession this way, you will be able to find out if you really have it in you. It’s truly important to introduce yourself to the truth.

3. Sort out the finances

The biggest problem with following unconventional dreams is the finances. You’re doing engineering right now and you want to pursue your passion after BTech. It’ll need money. Whether you want to be a photographer or a painter, you will need to invest in the equipment.

Then you’ll also need to earn through it because that’s what pursuing your passion is truly like. You need to be able to make a living out of it.

Here you need to think if you need to financially support somebody in your near future.

Are your parents dependent on what you will earn?

Are you planning to get married soon and need to support your new family?

If yes, you need to plan for a reliable financial income source. I am not asking you to take up a job related to engineering but if you think you need it, you will have to take it and pursue your passion as a part-time job until you have the financial means to go full-time with it.

If no, you can jump right in and spend your years of struggle until you succeed.You’re lucky! But don’t forget that you will still need to bear those failures and criticism. Be strong enough for that.

4. Get ready to learn and fail

We often depend on hearsay. People keep telling you that you sing well and you tend to think you can be a great singer. People say you paint well and you tend to think you can be a great painter. But can you?

Every profession takes much more than the art. And even with the art, you need true practice. You need to learn the real techniques and master them. You need to put your work out in the world and take criticism to learn and grow. 

How many brushing techniques you know right now? How many art galleries you know that will be ready to sell your work? How much you know about the history of painting?

If you don’t know your field in depth, you need to first start learning about it and then think of pursuing your passion.

It’s a misconception among the engineering students. They think any artistic course doesn’t need research and learning. It’s 100 times tougher than what you’ll do in four years of engineering. So, keep that in mind and get ready to hustle.

That’s how you pursue your passion after Btech. Clarity of your preferences, thoughts, and path are a must. You need research. You need to study. You need to talk to people in the filed to know the ground realities. You need to pursue it in a planned and sensible manner. That’s how you do it. I hope my answer helps you get some direction on what you need to do next.