Get on with projects
If you are looking for a good job placement at the end of your college session then start building projects from the first year itself. At the end of this article, I have given the way forward on how you could start building projects.
Your college project is one chance to change the world. But then what should be your project? How do you go about it? :
1. What an Idea!
The Idea is the Heart of the project. The reason why Facebook is a big hit is not that it has some complex technology but because it is based on an amazing Idea of connecting people. The features of status updates, Like, Comment, etc are part of an amazing Idea called Facebook. The part of developing the idea of the project is one of the best parts of the final year project however not many people spend enough time on it. Many times the ideas are just picked up from the net or students ask the faculty for their Idea. Don’t do that.
Do not refer to other sources for the Ideas of the project. The Idea should be yours. It should be a creation of your mind. The Idea of the project is the central theme of your project. Sometimes it takes even a year for a good Idea to develop and it undergoes major changes with time. e.g. in the case of one of my college projects, we started an Idea of creating a GPS controlled car and ended up creating an Internet controlled Robot. The final idea, though absolutely different from the starting Idea, did evolve from the original one. This process of evolution of Ideas is something inevitable and very exciting. Come up with an Idea, Check its FEASIBILITY, See if someone else has already created it, and then spend time and your Idea will metamorphosis from a caterpillar into a beautiful butterfly.
2. Create stuff that Amazes you.
You need to remember that at the end of the day the project is your baby. It has to be something that you would love to show off. It has to be something that will be proud of. The best project is when you create something that others thought was impossible and still, you managed to create it. And even if you are not able to get the final output I am sure you will be satisfied with your work.
3. Keep it Simple.
Which is a bigger invention? A bipedal robot or a stapler? I feel a stapler is more important as it has influenced my life a lot more than a Bipedal Robot. A stapler is such a simple device yet so awesome as I am sure you use it so frequently in your life (People who take lots of supplements during exams are eternally grateful to this device :-)). What makes it so great is the simplicity. Simple to create yet so revolutionary. Remember the simple things influence our life a lot more. So keep your project simple on technology and focus on application. The project should be simple to create but should have a profound impact on human life just like simple machines.
4. Focus on application
To have a great impact, the focus of your project should be on the application. By application, I mean what the project is providing/giving you. e.g The application of a bed mattress is to provide comfort while sleeping. The application should come first then the simplest possible technology to achieve this application should be used. However, most of the students follow exactly the opposite process. They pick up the technology and then somehow try to fit it into some application. I am sure all (almost all :-) ) of the students will be able to create a website to update a database entry when a button is clicked. However, it is the right application of this simple technology that created the awesome ‘Like Button’ on Facebook. Remember that if your project becomes available for the general public to use (and this has to be your final aim) then the public is going to choose to use it based on the application not on the technology used.
5. Create something that YOU would use
Forget if others like your creation or not. Don’t think if others will use it or not. Make a point to create something that you will not only like but also you would love to use. Create something that has the capability to become part of YOUR life. After all, this is your ‘chance to change’ the world and most importantly change YOUR own world.
6. Do what you love
The most important factor in selecting the project is to work with a technology that you love to work with. By the time we reach the final year of graduation we all have a favorite field of graduation we are sure we can spend hours on. For me it was Robotics and the Internet hence I worked on a combination of the two.
To sum it up there is a beautiful quote by Steve Jobs:
“ You’ve got to find what you love, and that is as true for work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work, and the only way to do great work is to love what you do.”