Raj De Datta is a businessman of Indian origin.
At age 20, what do you want to achieve at work?
Investing your time wisely in your 20s will help you spend the rest of your life doing what you love, not searching for it.
Raj De Datta (right) with BloomReach co-founder Ashutosh Garg (left).
Let’s start with what not to do first, which is joining a large technology company.
The problem is that your learning speed here will be very slow.
Will the business change at all because of your presence?
Service businesses like McKinsey or Goldman Sachs seem to open up a lot of opportunities.
Most consultants and bankers I know were vague about what they wanted to do in life when they decided to join these companies.
I worked for 2 years at a large service company (Lazard bank) and 3 years at a large technology company (Cisco) when I was in my 20s. But I learned 10 times more about myself.
It told me I really wanted to be an entrepreneur.
Working at a new company will speed up your learning curve significantly.
If you fail, don’t stress.