Getting into one of the premier B-Schools in India, when I stop and look back, I can see a straight road, no diversions, no U-turns, no confusions. I always wanted to become an engineer. I grew up watching movies like Ironman and foolishly thought that one day even I could conjure such cool gadgets (spoiler alert, I couldn’t). Well, I did become a Mechanical engineer, got placed into a reputed automobile firm. But, there was a twist. I was placed in the electrical R&D department due to my interdisciplinary background. However, I didn’t have any expertise in electrical components and let my manager and HR know about this. They assured that I will be getting relevant work and also get to learn new technologies.
I chose to stay in the department and was given key responsibility related migration to the eminent BSVI emission norms. The bulk of responsibilities was overwhelming, and my limited knowledge of electrical systems was adding to the problems. I was feeling like a child who doesn’t know how to swim thrown in the swimming pool. I was lagging behind in my projects, chasing the deadlines to the last second and was not able to contribute as much as I wanted to. But then I realized, this is exactly how you learn to swim, by getting into the water. Yes, I fumbled. Yes, there was water over my head. But I got back to basics. I started studying electrical engineering. Attended almost every knowledge transfer session in the division. Learnt how to manage my time and work more productively. Fast forward, two years later I was senior manager in the same department I once wanted to leave. My performance letters of the first year and last year were contrasting like night and day. One really dull and one filled with paragraphs of appreciation. Apart from this failure, I also tried to learn swimming actually, and failed, but that’s fine with me.
