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In my first year of engineering, I was a part of Team Veloce racing, the formula student team of Vishwakarma Institute of Technology, Pune. Ten days before the annual competition SAE SUPRA 2017, the engine of our car failed. We had to work day and night and to get a new engine and make the necessary changes to the car. It was a miracle we pulled it off but it was too late and we could not achieve the podium place that we desired. Being a part of multiple SAE competitions we had to face a lot of disappointment after getting 17th position in the championship. We knew that we would get another chance and we wanted to be ready for it. We made sure that we do not make the same mistakes again. This time around we kept sufficient spares for safety and we had a plan B in place. After meticulous planning and efforts, we were able to secure the podium position we desired in SAE SUPRA 2018. This was the result of good planning, execution and great emphasis on design testing. All these learnings are now helpful to me in all the things that I do in my day-to-day life.
My parents come from a rural background and they had little access to education when they were young. My mother was able to study till 10th grade and my father has done a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree externally. Despite these limitations, they started a manufacturing business from scratch in 2002 which now employs more than 50 people. Right from my childhood, I have witnessed the business grow tremendously. Watching my parents working 15 hrs a day has made me the persevering and determined person that I am today. At some point, I realised that it will do justice to their story only if I give my best and achieve what they could not afford at the same age. The 4 years that I spent in a hostel from the age of 13 to 17 were one of the most enriching experiences of my life. I made friends for life there. It was a student-run hostel, hence being around a diverse set of people and organising multiple events has made me the outgoing person that I am today.
One of my greatest achievements till date is getting into MDI Gurgaon after 2 years of hard work. I have been dreaming about getting into a top b-school since the third year of engineering. In my first attempt at CAT when I scored an unsatisfactory percentile, I realised that it was not a true representation of my abilities. I had the self-confidence that I was. capable of much more. Being a persevering person, rather than fretting about the past I analysed what went wrong for me in that attempt. I understood that my verbal ability was not up to the mark and I started working day and night towards improving it. I inculcated a habit of consistency, consistently practising comprehension, reading diverse articles and giving my best at everything. There were some disappointments in the journey, but being a persevering person I took them as a learning opportunity. This attitude of mine helped me secure a top 0.5% rank in the CAT exam and secure a seat in one of the premium institutes of this country. Being the first person in our family to pursue an MBA, I believe this to be one of the greatest achievements in my life. Also after meticulously researching a topic for a year, I was able to publish an article in one of the most prestigious international journals in the field. I have published a research paper titled Experimental and Numerical Investigation of Out-of-Plane Crushing Behaviour of Aluminium Honeycomb Material in the international journal Materials Today: Proceedings Elsevier, ScienceDirect. I presented the research paper at the international conference FLAME 2020. I learned the importance of curiosity through this achievement and I applied that in my daily life.
Five years from now I see myself with a strong on-ground experience of sales and a clear understanding of the real-time challenges faced by the sales team. I would like to reach a position where I would be entrusted with the most important responsibilities of shaping a company's marketing strategy and execution plans. would also like to see myself working for the benefit of society. I would specifically like to work in the education sector. Its quite evident that there is inequality in the quality of education provided in India. I would like to give my best in bringing this gap down and providing the youth of this country with a shot at achieving their dreams.
The one characteristic that I possess and am most proud of is my networking skill. I am a very approachable person to people from any age group. I am very good at starting conversations and being an empathetic person. I am able to put myself in others' shoes easily. Whenever my friends are facing a problem, I am just one call away. I have a made. a network of very trustworthy friends and they deserve every bit of credit for my success. I hope to keep it up and make new friends every day.
One of the most important qualities a manager must possess is accepting and analysing constructive feedback. Managers today have great ideas, but not all of those ideas are a success. Looking from a single person's point of view, his or her idea may seem the best possible solution. But that's not the case every time, one needs to analyse feedback they have received and dissociate themselves from that idea and be as much critical about it as possible. his will always help the manager in the long term. As APJ Abdul Kalam once said that the leader must take all the blame in case of a failure and give all the credits to your team in case of success. Rather than a traditional approach to punishing employees, a positive work environment must be created by the manager.
When I was working in Team Veloce Racing, Formula Student team of Vishwakarma Institute of Technology, Pune. I was working as the Computer-Aided Engineering (CAE) lead of the team. My daily tasks included getting designs from suspension, transmission, steering, chassis and engine sub-systems and providing them with the proper analysis results on time. A friend and batchmate of mine was recruited in the Transmission sub-system of the team. He used to regularly default on the deadlines and the progress of our task used to get hindered. Though there was pressure on me to give the analysis on time, I could do nothing if I did not get the designs in hand on time. I was in a dilemma whether to report this behaviour to the team captain or not. On one hand, the delay in the process was making my life difficult as I had to convey the reason for the delay to the seniors. And on the other hand, if I did report him, I felt that he would get hurt and our friendship would go for a toss. That's when I decided to have a chat with him and I explained to him the consequences when he makes such delays. I also explained about the position he puts me in in front of the team lead. He understood what I was trying to say and he started submitting his designs on time the next time around. My honesty about the consequences I conveyed helped me to get through this dilemma and lead to a benefit for me as well as the team.