I am writing this post not for the members on this site but for the broader community including friends, relatives, and villagers the members may need/want to advice. The suggestions provided here are not just theoretical ideas but are the ones I have used to help a large number of younger people (mostly immigrants of Indian origin in Canada) over the past 30 years, and the success rate has been extremely good.
One of the major problem in our community from my observations is that we all want our children to become doctors or get into an IIT (I belong to the same category as I entered IIT Bombay in 1960, and my both children became medical doctors in Canada), and in the process, sometimes do a long term harm to our children because there are many other paths to a successful career which we overlook.
The main cause of this problem is due to the shortcoming of the accepted Indian education system where you really get only one chance to succeed. Just because a child does not get in to IIT or Medicine does not mean that he/she is lacking potential. In fact, most people go through one or more downturns in their life and unfortunately, if that happens to you at the age 16-18 then the damage in the Indian system is too severe.
Things are quite different in North America where you can put up your act together at a later age and in fact, come out at the top. The most startling example that comes to mind is of Sanjay Kumar (founder of Computer Associates, one of the largest software company in the world), a young billionnaire, who was forced to go to a premedical program by his immigrant parents and flunked out. It was his high school math teacher who told him that he should have gone to computer science in the first place and it is never too late to change field of study in North America, and of course, Kumar did just that and became so successful.
On the other side of the coin, I relate here a personal experience from about 20 years ago in Edmonton, Canada. There were very few Jat families and we were always eager to meet any new Jat in town. One Ja family moved from central Canada and their daughter was a nurse, which is a very decent job in Canada. After knowing them for a few weeks I realized that the girl was very smart and became a nurse because of lack of guidance. I told them that there is nothing wrong in being a nurse but it is not good to shortchange oneself and she should become a doctor. By chance, my daughter had just finished highschool and joined premed program so all the books were there. Because of our encouragement the girl took a leave of absence from her job and went took premed courses and became a doctor at the age of 35 and is now a very successful physician in Canada.
Those who can not get into Engineering programs sometimes go to Polytechnics in India or Community Colleges in Canada/USA to get a Diploma and often work in subservient positions to Engineers. But it does not have to be that way. There are a few universities lik the one I teach that give credit for such studies and let the students have a chance for an Engineering degree. In the past 17 years I have guided about 100 students ( mainly Jat Sikhs, and Sri Lankan Tamils) with Diploma from India to an Engineering Degree and each of them has a good career. One of my Sri Lankan student is now a Senior Manager of a large company in New Jersey and each time he gets a promotion he calls me first before calling his parents and tells me he could have never imagined in his dreams that he could be an engineer from Canada and that he now supervises people who have degree from Princeton.
I have seen people paying several lacs of Rupees to get into some semifraudulent Engineering colleges in India. It is better to go to a polytechnic at very little expense and then get a degree from here in 2 years ( at about 5 lacs per year), but pay for the education by taking a coop job in the summer.
The job of a school teacher is unfortunately, not looked with great respect in India. But as many of you might know there is a tremendous shortage of math and science teachers in Canada/USA in some areas. Again, in North America, if you are a school teacher with ambition and potential, you do not have to stay as a school teacher. You can go on to do a Ph.D. in Education and become a professor. all professors of Education in North America have to have experience as school teachers. An example of one of my good friends is Dr. Raj Pannu (a Jat Sikh) who came to Canada as a school teacher long time ago, became a professor at the University of Alberta and won election to become an MLA and leader of opposition in Alberta assembly after retirement as a professor.
Another area completely overlooked by most Indians is th broader field of health care. One can have good career as physiotherapist, respiratory technologist, radiology technologist etc. Few years ago I met one Jat family and their son was an Ayurvedic doctor from India. I told them it is true a guy like Deepak Chopra can make it big as an Ayurvedic doctor but he is a very well qualified physician to begin with. So, I advised him to become a Respiratory Technologist and now he is doing very well as a Respiratory Tech and an Ayurvedic doctor on the side.
So, in conclusion, I reiterate that there are lot of career options other than doctors or engineers and that one should not give up if success does not come in the first attempt.