A statement that I have often used to describe my state of
mind is, “the next few days/weeks/months will bear fruit”. Time and again, I’ve
found myself in a situation where I’ve taken a leap of faith. Not always has
the change paid off the way I wanted, but it has always led to learning new
things and discovering various possibilities in life.

Growing up watching my father who happens to be an
exceptional engineer in his field, I developed a fascination to probe into the
arena of science and technology. Observing and taking lessons from him
eventually made me realize that engineers make life easy by making something
unsatisfactory satisfactory. I continued studying and learning and it got me
hooked on creating and expressing myself in a unique way. So when it came to
picking a subject for my undergraduate studies, I wanted to take up electronics
and communication engineering.    

At the university, I built a strong engineering foundation.
Accomplishing A/A+ grades throughout in projects on subjects such as
Microprocessors and Controllers, Signal Processing, Antenna Theory and VLSI
allowed me to explore my technical side. Through these projects, I realized
that there was a lot more to creation than conceptual construction. The
construction had to be manifested in a tangible form, i.e. the knowledge to be
gained and subsequent product development to happen in sync with both software
and hardware paradigms.

My knowledge in science was not limited to the electronics
and communication domain but also towards computer science which I attained by
self-learning process and by taking up electives when given a chance by the
university. Right from my school-life, I’ve followed up my passion for computers.
Apart from academics, I have been active in extra-curricular activities and
even acquired project management skills. To start with I’ve been an executive
board member of model united nations simulating leading news agencies and UN
committees, both at national and international level. Apart from achievements
and awards, my greatest honor in the Indian MUN circuit was to lead north
India’s best conference in the capacity of the General Secretary.  I have played an important role at school as
the cultural caption, head of design and innovation club and even the editor of
the annual magazine. Never did I imagine that this would groom me up and help
me become the student leader of the university student council. The team and I
worked together to pull off biggest cultural and technical festivals in the
country.

The challenges faced have always strengthened my leadership
foundations and helped me develop a broader vision. The exposure I gained from
these experiences enabled me to network and realize that I have to do more. I
opened up a studio with my friend during my sophomore year and started engaging
myself in real-time web development and branding projects. Having completed a
number of projects, I realized that the learning curve has started to flatten
up hence, I took to another venture of opening up an online store during the
time when Indian market was moving towards e-commerce industry. With no store
that offered ethnic fashion, I took the responsibility of creating an ethnic
fashion store with my uncle who deals in the textile business in India. The
success and knowledge gained from the same project helped me bag an internship
opportunity to work on an international project under the banner of Medicozy.
Simultaneously, I stayed in contact with creative construction through
freelance coding and photography training.

After four years at the engineering school, I looked for
opportunities that would let me continue learning. I got selected in Infosys, a
global leader in technology design, services & consulting. I saw this as an
opportunity to bring together everything I had learned and explored
perspectives across different technologies. So, I eagerly took the offer and
packed my bags for India’s Silicon Valley. The learning was phenomenal. With
the advanced and renowned learning infrastructure that was put to place, I
built my relevance by achieving the top performer tag in the training program.
I made an extra effort to learn from my seniors and read as many books as I
could to cement my concepts. Leap. Backflip. Perfect landing. I was moved to
the product team of FINACLE, a core banking suite developed by and marketed by
Edgeverve, an Infosys subsidiary. The role put me at the heart of the product
suite and I worked with different departments and teams across 26 countries.
The exposure I gained from networking on this international forum helped me
realize that we’re at an important juncture – of transformational technology
and software. But it isn’t just software that is changing the world. It’s
software plus hardware. As the Industry that has already started working on
what the future holds, by focusing on automation, piloting on computer
networks, advancements in ESL design and so much more, I have the opportunity
to make this my sweet spot. To achieve this, there are some things that I need
to do. At the top of the list is education. Keen on learning more and exploring
the uncharted territories, I decided to pursue my masters in computer
engineering.

I intend to use the computer engineering education to propel
my transformational ideas. Everything I have done has made me realize the
mammoth potential of knowledge waiting to be tapped and the need to believe in
myself. With a structured computer engineering education ushered in by the SJSU
ecosystem and culture, I hope to build a 360-degree understanding to equip me
with the tools to continue striding in the direction I believe in. I know the
journey is one full of unexpected twists and turns, but as always, I believe
the next few days/weeks/months will bear fruit.