Aptitude (noun) – a natural ability to do something

Aptitude Test – a test designed to determine a person’s ability in a particular skill or field of knowledge.

Gut (noun) – *informal* used in reference to a feeling or reaction based on an instinctive emotional response rather than considered thought. 

Be it as students or as professionals, we’re subjected to a number of aptitude tests throughout our lives (or at least as long as we work for someone/intend to do so).

In simple words, an aptitude test tells you if you are eligible for/capable of pursuing a career in any particular field.

I’ve had my trysts with a few, and the first one was particularly testing. There were two reasons for this:

1. I didn’t agree with the result.
2. I couldn’t get myself to agree with the result.

Or you could say, I just didn’t want to. I had other plans you know.. Or I thought I did.

(Just to give you a quick background, it happened one fine day in school during my SSC and lasted 8 painful hours)

A week or so after the test, it was judgment day. It was my turn to meet the counselor.

Here’s how it all unfolded, and more..

During my counseling session –

1. You Are An IT Guy, They Said:

Would you believe that? A future Production Engineer was told he was meant to be an IT guy. Say that to me now, and it’s like hurling an abuse at me.

My first reaction: “No, thanks.”

2. You ARE AN IT GUY, They Said:
   They must have said that about 10 times, following which, I nodded my head so that I could walk out ASAP. I can recall how I was told that being good at Math meant I would make an excellent programmer. It took me a while to let the whole episode sink in.

 

After the session –

3. Convincing Myself:

Some disbelief and brainwashing later, I managed to convince myself that I was meant to spend my life coding. Consequently, I chose Computer Science in junior college and the rest is history.

Trust me, it really is. Everything I stuffed into my brain back then is history.

In Junior College –

4. They Laughed At Me:

Visual Basic, followed by C++ and those endless microprocessor codes – I could hear them all laugh at me hysterically for every attempt I made towards answering any questions.

PS – Even getting a part of those things right was a challenge in itself.

 

5. Misunderstandings:

I vividly remember an episode wherein my professor declared that I was a great listener and therefore, a great student. Little did she know that my silence in class was testimony to the fact that much of the CS lingo was Hebrew to me.

6. Pretension Aplenty:

Those were the days when most of us were heavy on pretension. Sure, we knew nothing. But we were vocational science students, the so-called elites. Needless to say, we were exuding swag at all times.

7. Comedy Classes:

We were lucky enough to also have a tutor in one of our college professors. He did his best to turn us into coders, but he always knew most of us were just hopeless. He was kind enough to never mention that to us directly though.

More than the CS, it was his sense of humour that kept us hooked. I can recall all of the laughter and none of the CS.

After Junior College –

My gut always said I needed to do something else. So I tried my hand at Engineering. Went along pretty well – but then, I stumbled upon something that influenced me unlike anything ever had.

Building a vehicle from scratch and watching it run is a joy that remains unparalleled to this day.

I dream of a day when I can design and build one from scratch. (That’s a minimum. If I get to several, nothing like it.)

As a result, a Transportation Designer is now in the making.

Final Score: Gut – 1 Aptitude Test – 0