IIT — The dream and beyond | Part — 2
This is the second part of the series where I attempt to document my learnings and experiences from the close to three years I’ve spent in IIT (BHU). If you haven’t read it, you might want to check it out.
Life at IIT (BHU) has been similar to drinking water from a firehose. I had more opportunities and faced more challenges than anything I could fathom.
College life is a gift. Learning what to chase and what to ignore, however, is an art.
I’m incredibly grateful to have had the privilege to join the long lineage of eminent personalities that my college has produced over the decades. In the hopes of making the journey easier for those of you that will be enrolling/are enrolled in an engineering college shortly, these are my key takeaways.
If the first part was about episodes, the second part would be about chapters.
Chapter 1: About Passion, Purpose, and Persistence
I’ll be graduating with an engineering degree majoring in Biomedical Engineering. Yet, I never considered a career in engineering/research seriously. I was never a voracious reader although I would stay up all night to read about topics that interest me (business strategies of Amazon for example).
I spent the freshman summer studying a lot of books on business and leadership, and in doing so, confirmed my interest in Business/Management. I completed numerous internships — some at international B schools remotely, some at Corporates in cross-functional roles. The goal was to experience how a business is built/run firsthand. My interest in science and technology was enduring, but my ability to understand and tinker around business strategies formulated by top executives was an asset I didn’t want to waste.
Towards the end of my sophomore year, I had to make an important decision: Should I read up a bunch of research papers centered around Biomedical Engineering, or seize my chance to discuss/debate with some of the finest exponents in the world of business/management by blogging about it? I opted for the latter. Life was too short to let such chances pass me by.
Thanks to the incredible power of social media, I’ve had the chance to debate on, but not limited to —
- Why Netflix have its data centers in the AWS cloud? and Why its move of entering into Hyperlocal delivery is Swiggy biting off more than what it can chew? with the Product Marketing Head of JioChat.
- Why it makes sense for Amazon to acquire Lyft? with a Product Manager at Facebook.
- What could be the potential strategies for monetizing Voice? with the Director of Strategy&.
This was not just restricted to me finding my calling and working tirelessly on honing my skills further. It was (and still is) satisfying to see the numerous thank-you notes people send me over personal messages — my writing wasn’t just me practicing my art but was also bringing a lot of value to my readers.
It was how I found my passion and purpose. That being said, passion with purpose is only half the job done. You must be relentless in the pursuit of your passion. They said, “Extra-ordinary results don’t require extraordinary abilities but rather ordinary abilities applied with extraordinary persistence.”, well said.
As I aspire to be a Product Manager sometime soon, I am learning about metrics to gauge the success/failure of almost anything. I’ll like to close this chapter with this one simple, yet powerful metric —
When you’re struggling to find your true calling, pick something and rate it on a scale of 10 based on how passionate you think you are about it with 10 being the best (this is often the harder step) — call this A. Then try to find some purpose (relatively easier) you could associate with that passion (can be anything — money, fame etc) and rate it again from 1 to 10 — call this B.
Now divide A/B (not A/B testing). If the ratio is less than 1, it is worth being persistent with it. If the ratio exceeds 1, you might want to reconsider your “A”.
Explanation: If you think you’re very passionate about Software engineering and its purpose being higher entry-level salaries, you should definitely be persistent while you’re at it. There’s a higher probability of you finding what you seek.
“Listen to noone. Chase your most obsessed obsessions, mercilessly.” — Anonymous
Chapter 2: Vision, Motivation, Execution
I like to believe life is very simple and we have a habit of making it complicated. Every human’s action is (maybe should be) governed by three things — Vision, Motivation, Execution.
- Vision — During my stay in college, my vision was (and still is) acquiring generalist skills and specializing in one if time permits.
- Motivation — I always like to have things in my control. I like to lead and I wouldn’t be an effective leader if I am not a jack of all trades and a master of one.
- Execution — I reverse engineered an approach (hopefully it’ll work out in the end). I started by building skills around things I love — reading and understanding about businesses. I knew it was a low hanging fruit and I wanted to ensure I kill it. Once I was able to understand businesses better, I tried tying it up with technology. Much of what I write /blog/read about is centered around technology. While the final destination is still a long way to go, I’ve laid a foundation for my profile, versatile enough for higher studies (MBA) and Business Analyst/Consulting/Product Management/Operations roles offered in Campus Placements.
It’s the thoughts that govern an individual’s actions. Positive and well-rounded thoughts almost always yield positive results.
“I’ve never played for a “draw” in my life.” — Sir Alex Ferguson, Former Manager, Manchester United Football Club.
Chapter 3: Become a master at something.
Much against the preachings of the popular Bollywood blockbuster, “3 Idiots”, Indian students are always criticized for not chasing excellence, wanting to be a master of their craft. College students confuse being a master with being a guide.
When you help your juniors with tips and tricks for cracking that job interview or securing an admit into their dream college, you’re a ‘guide’.
I was fortunate to have interacted with the CTO of Wipro during Technex ’18 (the annual techno-management fest of IIT (BHU). He shared the lens which he uses to evaluate mastery over a thing, especially in the Indian context. He stressed on the importance of associating money with mastery.
You can truly say that you’ve mastered something with a considerable degree of success when people are willing to compensate for your time. You can easily get a pat on your back because of the kind of efforts you put in but rarely, rarely is that the case with money. If people are paying you for something you’re doing, you’re close to being the master you had set out to become.
If you’re a college student and a professor from a reputed university selects you as a Summer Research Associate in his lab agreeing to fund you out of the lab’s budget or someone offers you paid freelance gigs without you asking for it is when you can consider yourself a master of some sorts.
Aim high and strive for that level of excellence for its definitely worth the efforts. Being in a top college will propel you towards it in more ways than you could ever imagine.
“I am the greatest, I said that even before I knew I was.” — Muhammad Ali.
Chapter 4: Your Network is Networth
In the age of information, you would be a fool to not leverage the efforts of someone else. Networking is one of the most underrated skills an individual can possess. Networking is about connecting with individuals on a human level and learning from their experience and expertise. Therefore, the more you network with experienced people, the more wisdom and value you derive from your interactions.
Networking gives you access to information, tacit knowledge, people. There’s no way around networking if you want these three things. I bore testimony to the fact while I was interning in Pfizer Inc. It’s a personal observation that most people will never say things on the phone, emails, or social media that they’ll share in a real conversation.
Almost every CXO level executive I’ve interacted (or networked?) with mentions their network as one of the key reasons for their success.
It’s important to recognize there’s no lay of the land when it comes to networking. The manner in which you interact with a professional is very subjective and there’s no one size that fits all too. However, it is my cautious efforts to share some pointers —
- If you’re in a city like Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai among others, try to Google up local events that happen around the city. They can be startup conclaves or panel discussions or corporate workshops. It’s the Raisonn d’etre for most of the VCs, CXO executives, and entrepreneurs in the town. Make sure you dress well for the occasion, show up and make notes. Build on your notes to have intellectual conversations with the panelists/speakers once the event is over and definitely ask how you could contact them in the future.
I met the Chief HRO of Unilever, COO of Microsoft India, and the Managing Partner of a $1 billion VC fund following the cues.
- If you happen to be in a city that has Starbucks, grab a book, a laptop, and visit the place on a weekend. Most management consultants, investment bankers, and VCs flock there on weekends to work from home with a book in their hand and coffee in the other. As soon as you identify a prospect, try breaking the ice (it helps if you’ve read/are reading the book they’re reading or have a book from the same genre). Try having a meaningful conversation with them. You might feel awkward at first but you will be pleasantly surprised when the other person offers you lunch/brunch, provided you impress them with your personality.
Following the cues mentioned above, I’ve met numerous Management Consultants from Mckinsey, BCG, and Bain, and Investment Bankers from Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan.
- If the aforementioned bullets don’t apply to you, your best bet is social media. Try to engage with the content they share on the platforms. Try to have constructive discussions with them. The conversion rate is low but it’s definitely worth a try. Remember, thought leaders are really accessible to students. Therefore, keep looking for something that you could leverage to initiate a conversation.
On 5th Feb ’19, Satya Nadella completed 5 years as the CEO of Microsoft and on the very day, I was fortunate enought to receive a note from him and his office. It is one of the most cherished moments of my life and it was possible with the aforementioned old-fashioned networking tricks. Thus, dare I say, take a leap of faith and pursue the trail. You never know what you might get at the end of it.
There lie vast stretches of opportunity around us and unfortunately, we fill them with lethargy. Alumni from top colleges always want to give back to their alma mater because of the time they’ve spent there. If you’re not reaching out to them, you’re under-utilizing an asset you are entitled to by the virtue of being a student of the same college. Think it over.
“People (wrongly) believe that their brightest friends or their most skilled peers are the ones who’ll be the most successful. Effort, hunger, and Networking is all you need.” — Vish Iyer, VP (Architecture and Sales) APAC region Cisco.
It’s not common for me to be sharing my personal anecdotes here. A lot of people request me to help them but since I only have 24 hours a day and blogging offers a lot of flexibility, I decided to type down this article. I hope it helped.
I had a lovely time writing this. Keeping the length of it readable, I decided to split it into parts. The third and final part is in the pipeline and will be out soon. Watch this space to find out if I actually become something worthwhile. If not, at least you had fun.
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