Well, this topic throws me back many years back when I stepped into corporate world. It was the period, where as a fresher I was excited to see and experience the application of my technical expertise. As any fresher, I was very much thrilled to see what I will be tested against and I was fully prepared for it. It was a wonderful feeling to have your own corporate email id, phone extension number and a visiting card.

From very first day of induction, I was put on to do some research on forecasting models and start implementing them in parallel in my choice of language. Believe me guys, not many people get this type of kickstart and freedom of experimenting.

I was doing fairly well on this, however since the company had to manage the funds, I was put into some commercial projects. It was a real wonderful experience to learn and implement. It was challenging as well as we had to meet deadline also. 

At the same time, some of my friends who were employed in other companies were getting trained in technologies/ best practices and business flows of the products for their company.  This is when one starts questioning, am I really in correct job? 

Which is better option - learning proprietary technologies or exposure to generic technologies?

Usually this dilemma arises as most of the big product based companies have developed their own architecture layer as a result of many years of experience and use this for implementation. It gives you a feeling that if you keep working this way, your technical knowledge will diminish over a period of time.

This happened with many of us as well. I had been through this very shortly when I left my first job. Later on one realizes that both have their own importance 

·        Not everyone gets an opportunity to work with start-ups and explore all the skills he or she may have. It allows you to work on latest technologies, freedom to experiment and learn what’s new 

·        Working for proprietary business layer provides you better maintainability, limits your mistakes and also gives you insights into how enterprise grade products are developed

My simple advice to all young professionals starting their career is 

1. Believe in yourself 
2. Your hiring managers are looking to utilize your energy. Make sincere effort to learn the product and technology – irrespective of it being old, new, proprietary 
3. Be bold in asking questions, everyone knows that you may not know things 
4. Do not be afraid to look stupid. You won’t