Amith Narayan, Knoxville, TN (2024)

04/06/2023

I have reached 100 followers! Thank you for your continued support. I could not have done it without each of you. 🙏🤗🎉

01/11/2023

The story of Michael Oher is the most bizarre in many ways. Forget a career; he didn't even have hopes to lead a decent life until the Touhys came around.

When Tom Lemming (the guy who identified most professional football players during their high school) interviewed him, he didn't know or seem to care who he was. He had no particular interest in anything, including football.

Initially, he played basketball in all the wrong positions and pi**ed off the coaches, threw discus and won it crudely, and never understood his role on the football ground initially.

But the one-on-one drills and a few good plays put him on the map through Tom Lemming's recommendation in his newsletter. Everybody believed he would be the most outstanding left tackle ever, even before he amounted to much.

He grew accustomed to the idea that he was a football star and then went on to become one. He turned around his academic career from a 0.76 GPA to a 2.52 GPA with the support of Touhys (who adopted him legally).

He was eligible for a division I football scholarship and went to the University of Mississippi. After earning the All-American honors unanimously, Michael Oher was picked in the first round by the Ravens in the 2009 NFL Draft. His life and career are the subjects of another Michael Lewis book called The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game.

Excerpt from my article: On Career Choices: The Stories of Three Men!

Link to article: https://www.amithnarayan.org/on-career-choices-three-men/

01/10/2023

Billy Beane had a more challenging choice because he needed to figure out what he wanted. He had a full scholarship to Stanford and was also drafted for professional baseball. He had to make a choice that would automatically exclude the other.

Billy Beane says the money offered significantly influenced his decision, and he took up baseball. Enamored by his raw talent and charm, scouts and coaches win him over with money and the glitz of professional baseball. They take him to see the New York Mets clubhouse, show him a Mets uniform with his name on the back waiting for him, and a receiving party of players.

Billy bites the bullet and chooses baseball over college. It turns out that wasn't his best decision. He had a mediocre career playing professional baseball.

Five years later, after an unsuccessful career as a professional baseball player, Billy chooses to become an advanced scout for Oakland Athletics. Change in ownership of the team and payroll slashes leave him with a team whose players' salaries are among the lowest in major leagues.

As the GM of the Oakland Athletics, Billy, with the help of Pual DePodesta, uses sabermetric principles to field a winning team despite a meager payroll. Oakland Athletics reached playoffs four years in a row and became the first team in 100+ years to win 20 games back-to-back. His strategic approach to finding undervalued players revolutionized how professional baseball was managed for the better.

Billy Beane decided early in his life to pursue a career he was unsure of. He had an unsuccessful stint and then decided to pursue something he liked. He found success in his latter career, but his initial choice cost him several years.

Excerpt from my article: On Career Choices: The Stories of Three Men!

Link to article: https://www.amithnarayan.org/on-career-choices-three-men/

01/06/2023

Two weeks after enrolling in Harvard Medical School, Michael Crichton hated it.

According to the New York Times, he goes to the Dean after four years of Med school. He asks, "Why should I spend the last half of my last year at medical school learning to read electrocardiograms when I never intend to practice? Why shouldn't I spend the spring term around the hospital and write a book about it?"

The Dean paternalistically warned Crichton that writing a book was more challenging an endeavor. At which point, Crichton assured the Dean that he had some experience: he had written five potboilers all along medical school to help with expenses.

Michael Crichton always knew he wanted to be a writer. He studied literature during his undergraduate days to that end. Even with a professor's criticism of his literary style, he changed his major to biological anthropology but kept pursuing his dream of writing.

He created Jurrasic Park & Westworld, authored more than 30 novels, sold more than 200 million copies worldwide, and finally wrote and directed at least ten movies.

Excerpt from my article: On Career Choices: The Stories of Three Men!

Link to article: https://www.amithnarayan.org/on-career-choices-three-men/

Happy New Year! I hope the new year brings happiness and joy to you and your family. Every new year is the beginning of new dreams, goals, and aspirations.

01/04/2023

My next article is out: It is about making career choices. Do read and let me know what you think. 😊

Excerpt from the article:
Every new year is the beginning of new dreams, goals, and aspirations. To some, it is an opportunity to begin a new pursuit. For a few years now, I have struggled with the question of how to pick a career and what is worth pursuing. Having pursued several disconnected career choices, I always wondered if I could amount to anything worthwhile. Thanks to some excellent books, I always found somebody to look up to and push forward. While unsure how to make the appropriate career choice, I share three stories that tell you whichever path you choose; you can succeed if you are willing to keep trying.

Share and subscribe if you like what you read 😊

Having pursued several disconnected career choices, I always wondered if I could amount to anything worthwhile. While unsure how to make the appropriate career choice, I share three stories that tell you whichever path you choose; you can succeed if you are willing to keep trying.

11/20/2022

My article was shared by Srushti Montessori on World Premie Day😊

Our baby was 39 cm tall at birth and weighed 1.25 kg. On the growth chart published by WHO, he was well below the 3rd percentile. A year later, he is 77.5 cm tall and weighs 10.7 kg. On the growth chart, he is at the 53rd percentile in height and the 74th percentile in weight.

11/04/2022

Undoubtedly handholding is the most essential yet vilified trait to succeed as a Teaching Assistant. As universities across the country are disincentivizing teaching systematically, everybody expects young freshman and sophomore students to be independent thinkers from the get-go. In my experience, a good majority of the students need help figuring out where to start. Professors don’t have the time, and private tutors are added financial burden. TAs are in a perfect position to bridge the gap. Handhold the students in the beginning by being pretty hands-on.

Excerpt from my article: Navigating Grad School: I won the Best Teaching Assistant Award, and here's how you can do it too.

Link to article: https://lnkd.in/gUMmiiv3

University of Maryland ECE UMD

11/02/2022

My latest article is on my podcast, 'Figuring it Out!'. It's available both on Spotify and Apple. Check out the link to my latest episode below 👇👇👇👇
Apple Podcast: https://lnkd.in/guVzG_sh
Spotify: https://lnkd.in/gth9-A-T

University of Maryland

Listen to this episode from Figuring it Out! on Spotify. Being a Teaching Assistant (TA) is inevitable for most Ph.D. students during graduate school. Some students find it as an opportunity when the research funds are exhausted. For other students, it’s a stopgap before identifying a research adv...

11/01/2022

My next article is out: It is a guide to being an effective Teaching Assistant during grad school. Do read and let me know what you think. 😊

Excerpt from the article:
Being a Teaching Assistant (TA) is inevitable for most Ph.D. students during graduate school. Some students find it as an opportunity when the research funds are exhausted. For other students, it’s a stopgap before identifying a research advisor. Being an effective TA is vital to navigating grad school successfully and pursuing a career in academia. I was a TA during the last year of my Ph.D. I led the discussion sessions on Electromagnetics-I & II, considered the most challenging courses in Electrical Engineering (I ran a poll to be sure!), and won the Best TA award. I have shared my learnings and hope new graduate students find it useful. To the regular reader, this might be an exercise in lateral thinking.

Share and subscribe if you like what you read 😊
ECE Graduate Student Association, UMD, College Park, University of Maryland, A. James Clark School of Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, UMD

Being a Teaching Assistant (TA) is inevitable for most Ph.D. students during graduate school. Being an effective TA is vital to navigating grad school successfully and pursuing a career in academia. I was a TA for the most challenging courses in Electrical Engineering and won the Best TA award.

10/25/2022

My next article is out: It is about our home buying experience and some valuable tips and tools that we used to make our purchase. Do read, and let me know what you think.

If you google 'How to buy a House?', you will find a hundred step-by-step guides at your disposal. Real estate listing websites, mortgage banks, or brokerage firms write these articles to emphasize different things and collectively provide a perspective on home buying. Yet, almost all of them only prepared me partially for my home-buying experience. I have elucidated the home-buying process with my personal experience. They can offer practical & valuable suggestions to prospective homebuyers. To the general reader, the analytical approach to solving any real-life problem using excel sheets might come in handy in dealing with other situations.

Share and subscribe if you like what you read!

If you google 'How to buy a House?', you will find a hundred step-by-step guides at your disposal. Yet, almost all of them only prepared me partially for my home-buying experience. I have elucidated the process with my personal experience. They can offer practical suggestions to new homebuyers.

10/10/2022

The audio version of the article 'Raising a Premature Baby: Five Life Lessons' is now available on SoundCloud.

Do share & subscribe if you like what you hear.

Listen to Raising A Premature Baby: Five Life Lessons by Amith Narayan on

10/09/2022

Our baby was 39 cm tall at birth and weighed 1.25 kg. On the growth chart published by WHO, he was well below the 3rd percentile. A year later, he is 77.5 cm tall and weighs 10.7 kg. On the growth chart, he is at the 53rd percentile in height and the 74th percentile in weight.

10/04/2022

I am back...😊

Sorry for the long pause. We had an unexpected pleasant surprise back home. Entering 32 weeks of pregnancy, my wife and I visited our doctor for a regular check-up. My wife had abnormally high blood pressure, and the doctors admitted her right away to monitor her health and the baby's

06/18/2021

For those of you who love Medium, my article is live now on their platform… 😊

https://link.medium.com/voXtMopdbhb

I am 31 years old. I started making money at the age of 21. I got married at 27. It’s been a decade. When I look back, there have been a…

06/14/2021

My next article is out. It is about the money lessons I have picked up in the last decade.
A small excerpt from the article:
If there is one lesson I wish everybody takes home from this post, it would be to build an emergency fund. Every morning, I see several calls for help on LinkedIn and Facebook. Due to the pandemic, people have lost their job, met with unexpected medical complications that put their families on the brink of bankruptcy. While my heart goes out to them, I am constantly reminded of the need to build an emergency fund strictly for these circumstances.

https://www.amithnarayan.org/my-money-lessons/

If there is one lesson I wish everybody takes home from this post, it would be to build an emergency fund. Every morning, I see several calls for help on LinkedIn and Facebook.

06/01/2021

My next article is out. It is a two-part summary of the best-seller book The Unfair Advantage written by Ash Ali & Hasan Kubba. Do share and subscribe (it's free).

A small excerpt from the article:
During my bachelor's degree, I was broke for the most part. I didn't have enough money to pay for public transport to attend college. I would always hitchhike to college. My cousins and friends pondered my luck (how I found a ride almost always). I think I know the answer to that question now.

https://www.amithnarayan.org/the-unfair-advantage-book-review2/

During my bachelor's degree, I was broke for the most part. I didn't have enough money to pay for public transport to attend college. I would always hitchhike to college. My cousins and friends pondered my luck (how I found a ride almost always). I think I know the answer to that question now.

05/20/2021

My next article is out. How does one become an Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Narayan Murthy, Warren Buffet? What made them the people they are? Given the same opportunities, can anybody achieve the same things? Read on!

It is a two part summary of best-seller book The Unfair Advantage written by Ash Ali & Hasan Kuba. Do share and subscribe.

A relatively common set of questions that bothered me, a few of my friends, and a lot of my family members at various points in life can be paraphrased as below: Why do some students do spectacularly better than others despite going to the same school, getting the same education, having the same pri

05/10/2021

My next article is out. It is a sports analogy to life, based on Michael Jordan.
A small excerpt from the article:
Last week, I was watching The Last Dance on Netflix. For those of you who aren't familiar with the show, allow me to paint a picture. The Last Dance is a sports documentary that revolves around the career of Michael Jordan, with a particular focus on his final season with the Chicago Bulls. In my personal opinion, it is one of the greatest shows ever made. Why do I say that? Read on!

https://www.amithnarayan.org/be-the-michael-jordan-of-your-niche-a-sports-analogy-to-life/

I am 5 feet 11 inches tall and weigh 242 pounds. The CDC classifies me as obese. I never found the determination to do a workout despite it. But, the first time I watched The Last Dance, I ran 140 miles (225 km) in 15 days.

05/03/2021

My next article is on job hunting in the US after MS/PhD. Although the article is primarily focused on graduate students in the US, these suggestions should work well for any job aspirant in general. The only caveat to the above assertion is that the technological & cultural differences in different countries might hinder optimal results.

https://www.amithnarayan.org/job-hunting-in-the-us-after-ms-phd/

Having barely survived my PhD, I was extremely nervous about my future. I wasn't sure if anybody would hire me. I wasn't even sure if I was hireable in the first place. To make matters worse, as an international student, you have ninety days to find a job after graduation.

04/29/2021

I'm an RF Engineer at the Spallation Neutron Source in Oak Ridge National Laboratory (Tennessee, USA). In simple words, I design structures that go into a particle accelerator. Particle accelerators are used in research that lead to advances that can lower the cost, improve the efficiency, and improve the safety of products we use every day like cell phones, bridges, batteries, engines & life saving drugs. I graduated with a PhD in Electrical Engineering (RF & Electromagnetics) from the University of Maryland, College Park. On my website, I write about my work, higher education, job search, book reviews, & competitive exams. I occasionally dabble with fiction too. On my YouTube channel, I solve textbook problems in the undergraduate electrical engineering courses.

✍️ Visit my website and blog: https://amithnarayan.org/

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🎥 Check out my YouTube videos: https://www.youtube.com/c/AmithNarayan

This Channel is dedicated to solving problems in science, particularly in Electrodynamics and Computer Programming.

04/24/2021

The beginning of a new journey for me as a blogger. Do read, subscribe and send in your comments.
https://www.amithnarayan.org/phd-in-the-usa-my-journey/

In the summer of 2014, I arrived at the Baltimore Washington International Airport (BWI) to pursue my PhD at the University of Maryland, College Park. The funny thing about the BWI airport is that there is nothing international about it.