Once there lived a grasshopper in a meadow. Everything was green and the scene was very lovely. The grasshopper was very fond of dancing and singing. He danced and sang at all times. He had nothing to do. He did not think that there was anything else worth doing at all.
He never cared to do any work while it was time to work. He kept singing and dancing throughout the spring and the summer.
When winter came, it began to snow. It was snow everywhere. There was snow on hills and snow on plains. No flower or leaf was visible. The once-happy grasshopper was now very unhappy. He had nothing to eat. He felt very miserable. He looked for his friends to help him in his time of trouble.
The grasshopper went to his friend, the ant. The grasshopper said to the ant, “Please give me something to eat. I am dying of hunger at the moment. You alone can help me in my hour of need.”?
The ant said to him, “We ants work hard during summer. We store food for winter. But what were you doing during summer?”
The grasshopper replied, “I sang through summer, the time was so happy. Everything was beautiful and lovely.”
The ant was angry and said to him, “Then you should dance winter away as well.”
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Can you relate to this story?
When you join a college, everything looks beautiful and lovely. We have new friends, new world, new life.
Due to our natural urge for enjoyment, we waste time partying, watching movies, playing computer games, wandering aimlessly around the town, trekking, watching TV, picnicking and hanging around with friends, gossiping and having fun.
Like the grasshopper, we don’t see any immediate need for doing anything else at all. We mock at people like the wise ants to get a life. Wise students invest their time in scoring better marks, bettering their technical skills, learning foreign languages, improving their written and spoken communication, participating in events that add value to resume.
The first two and half years of engineering are like Spring and Summer. Everything will look rosy and comfortable. The last two years of college are like Winter and Autumn.
Once on-campus placements start in third year, we start feeling uncomfortable. It feels very painful to know that we don’t qualify for a campus placement interview due to poor grades or due to backlogs in college. It feels like chilling winter, when others secure jobs well ahead of graduation from college, while we don’t manage to impress the interviewer in the job interview.
As a reaction to our failures, we stop partying, and start grieving. We start losing our self confidence and stop believing in ourselves. This makes the tough task of getting a job look tougher. Job search becomes a depressing task.
Avoid all this. Learn from the wise ant and lazy grasshopper. Don’t waste your time in enjoyment. Balance your fun activities with useful and recreational activities that benefit your job search activity.
Are you an ant or a grasshopper?
About the Author: Sridhar Jammalamadaka is the Editor of Interview Mantra. He's a typically non-typical Software Engineer from Pune, India. He likes entrepreneurship, web technologies and Micro Controller programming. He enjoys playing cricket and piano (but rarely does these activities). Through this website, he wishes to gather a large community of aspiring engineers, entrepreneurs and professionals from all parts of the globe. You can connect with him on Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/sridhar.j 
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