News Pick
Choosing A Path: What matters more than the trend
An alumnus from Apeejay School, Noida shares that failure is not to be avoided, but worked through
Students today begin thinking about careers much earlier than before. Conversations around start-ups, freelancing, and digital work often begin within school itself. While these options feel exciting, they also create pressure to choose quickly, often without fully understanding what each path demands.
According to Prateek Shah, batch of 2003 at Apeejay School, Noida, entrepreneurship is not for everyone. “A job or any other career path can be deeply fulfilling. Many people will do far better in structured roles than in entrepreneurship. This path is for those who are extremely driven, people who feel strongly about doing things their way, even if it comes at a cost. You have to be willing to give up a lot, whether it is comfort, time, relationships, or even financial stability, in pursuit of something you care about deeply. It is the intensity that matters,” he said.
This point is simple but often overlooked. Not every student needs to build something of their own. A structured role can offer clarity, stability, and steady growth. Entrepreneurship asks for something else entirely, and that difference is easy to underestimate.
At the same time, how students learn is starting to matter as much as what they learn. For those interested in digital careers, the ability to work without constant direction is becoming essential.
“The most important one is the ability to learn without structure. No syllabus, no prescribed book, no external pressure. Just the curiosity to pick something up because you want to understand it or build something. That mindset is fading because people are already overwhelmed with structured work,” he shared.
As a child, he said, he spent a lot of time doing random projects, or even doing nothing. That space allowed me to explore, experiment, fail, and figure things out. So two things matter. Learn how to learn. And learn how to fail. Failure should not be something to avoid. It is something to understand and work through,” he explained.
Students are used to direction. Clear instructions. Defined outcomes. Outside that, things feel uncertain. But that is also where real learning begins. What stays with them is not just what they studied, but how they figured things out when there was no clear path.
