Upgrade yourself at Sapient!

DISCLAIMER : The following article was printed in a series called "Sapient Story" at Sapient Corporation. I wrote this article way back in July 2013 and was penned with an intention to get it approved and printed for the Sapient wide audience. These are my personal views.

July - August is an exciting period for fresh graduates in India. It's the time when most colleges end their courses & students begin their careers at their very first work place. It is also a time for anniversary celebrations for erstwhile students at their current jobs. One often sees posts on FB or LI like “completed 2 years at so-and-so company”. I enjoy seeing people celebrating their milestone with gusto & getting a good number of likes and comments.

I began my career with Sapient on 01 August 2011 and as I complete 2+ years here, I have a completely different perspective about these 2 years. Rather than just completing years and earning my salary, I feel happier about the people I met, the knowledge that I acquired here and the attitude and aptitude that I developed towards my work and my life. And all of it continues to this day. Sapient has indeed proven to be a great source of learning for me. To everyone who asks for my views about Sapient, my exact words are “Boss! This is the place to be!!”.

I firmly believe that every day I have spent here has taught me something fruitful. I am sure I would reap its benefits in the long run too, in my professional career. Being a fresh college graduate, Sapient has helped me mould myself in a way that would guarantee me professionalism and the right attitude. It has imbibed in me the confidence that helps me succeed. It gears me for the next challenge. Growth just happens here. Personally experienced! In short, I have upgraded myself.

I feel that there are a couple of things which make Sapient extraordinary; first is the people and second their attitude. People here are very learned and skilled, with right level of experience and expertise at the right position. But would their mere presence be enough? No, not at all. It is their willingness to impart knowledge and enable others that makes Sapient what it is. I feel lucky to have the opportunity to work with some of the best minds in industry.

I ask you young beginners. Just try to memorize the draft of your first resume and its 'Career Objective/Aim' section. Mine read “To work in an innovative, challenging and global environment so as to contribute effectively towards the overall growth of self and the organization”. At that time, I could not think of this by myself and hence had to "google" it up before putting down that fancy line on my resume. I today realize that what was once a dream has actually become my reality and I feel so good about it. Have you too realized you dream?

I perceive Sapient as an Institute, an institute with a plethora of opportunities for everyone. It has a perfect blend that suits everyone’s taste. Sapient is definitely unique and that too in a lot of ways. In other companies, you won’t find the leadership team looking for a Phunshuk Wangdu among you or planning a trip for you to Bermuda. If you are outside Sapient and reading this, believe me, a lot of us sit beside the people you would aspire to be. Or if you want to resume your interest in basketball, cricket, football or whatever it is, Sapient is the right place to be. All of this results in the holistic improvement of an individual. I hereby thank Sapient and its people for the fantastic kick start to my career. I am not sure about how long I will continue to work here but yes, for now, I feel satisfied and I take pride in working here and express the same around.

Branding AIT

Hello AIT

I hope you are in the pink of your health. Me?? ahhhhh....I am doing great as always. It has been long since we last met. The last time we met was when I had to appear for two backlog exams. To be honest, while leaving college I expected that I'll be back soon to meet you, but to clear backlogs, nahhhhh, never. I always dream of our meeting being a grand one, like what it would be like when Sachin Tendulkar or Mark Zuckerberg  would visit their respective school. I truly aspire to become a successful professional in life. A person whom you can actually feel proud of and whose name can be called out in public for setting an example. But, have I made it large? No, not yet. I am far far away for being one of such kind. But, I am very sure that one day this dream would eventually come true.

To those, who do not know much about my profession, I work with Sapient as an Associate. My life's pretty smooth here and luckily I have not been through those horrifying experiences that people share on Facebook ("It's 3 am and still in office"). Yesterday evening, when I finished my work at 5:30 pm, I went back to my flat, changed my clothes, and lay down on my bed with my eyes closed, a breeze just passed by. The same breeze that used to refresh my room (315 G) and made everything look fresh and beautiful. I then asked myself that am I really making you feel proud? Am I really giving my best that people around me ask me my alma mater? Do I really give them a hint that I have been staying with some of the brightest minds of India? Because, in the end I really want people to ask me that. I feel proud in telling them your name. It might be obscure to some of them, but one day it'll shine and will shine bright. I hope that everyone reading this shares the same feeling for his/her alma mater.

By the way, I would like to compliment you that you look better than before. I got to see a picture of the grand entrance a few days back, it looks amazing. Standing tall amid Dighi Hills, you are really a grand structure. As years pass by, more and more people pass out to spread your name. Companies from various industries and sectors now visit you which is definitely helping you spread your wings wide. But, the question is, are 'we' really doing justice to brand AIT? Do we really give our actions a thought that they leave an imprint of our parents, our friends, our college? This blog comes in the awake of some recent activities that I noticed which really makes me doubt if people think that their activities might hamper your reputation.

Let me start with myself, I believe that I am doing a commendable job at my workplace. I don't know exactly but I have acquired something while I strolled in your premises which can not be put in words but it was something, something that makes me feel confident, energetic and something that has definitely helped me in my career. I never scored above 55% but still, I managed to pull off a Bachelor of Engineering degree from University of Pune. Everyone around me here knows that I am honest and committed to my work. But then there are some who are too selfish to think that what their actions might lead to or how does their actions affect your image?. I do commit mistakes but then that does not tarnish your image. To err is human and no one is perfect.

"One will never go to a restaurant again, once he/she sees a cockroach in their food."

I hope the statement made above has made it clear enough about the message that I am trying to convey here. My dear juniors, colleagues and seniors, it's not the building, the gate, the library, the red bold AIT or the cricket ground that forms the Army Institute of Technology, these materialistic stuff is just a small portion. It is us, the students who complete it.

While it is falsely assumed that only IITans can deliver the best, NITs the better and other colleges just the good degree of work, we can actually justify you (AIT) by adding brand value to your name. Dear reader, whoever you are, wherever you are, I beg of you to please reconsider you actions if that tarnishes the image of my college, because one day when I would be on the verge of becoming as famous as Sachin Tendulkar/Mark Zuckenberg and planning my grand trip to AIT, I would not want my evaluator to be someone who judges me seeing my alma mater and it turns out that he once got pissed off by some stupid's sheer stupidity. Instead, I would want you to impress him today so that I can reap the fruits tomorrow. ;) I repeat , do not be so mean that you forget that what you do is a reflection of your parents, friends and your alma mater. 

Thanks and Regards

Nitish Kumar

Computers (2007-2011)

Life's good

Time has passed by so quickly. It has been eons since I updated this blog. Life has changed. Now, I am a graduate. :) I think that I am a very different person now. Not the one you knew 2 years back in college. The one who use to laze around doing nothing, sit on the benches of the football ground with his friends or sleep till 12 in the afternoons. Life is more scheduled now. I get up at 7 am , get ready by 8, reach office by 8:30, sit down on my desk, plan my day and start the execution. Everything is planned and scheduled. Believe it or not, i kind'a like it.

Journey with Sapient has been a roller coaster ride for me. There has been good, bad and the ugly. I am not sure how many of you will agree with me on this, but I would blame my army background for the 'ugly' part. An Army brat is probably too open or honest than expected and accepted by others.  But, the life has been more of good. :) I have learnt a lot,changed myself to adapt to situations, be a bit diplomatic, sugarcoat my words and try to be dear to the biggest of biggest jerks. All this has become a part of my daily takeaways from 8 hours of work in office.

In Sapient, my role is that of a business analyst with the Delivery Operations team. I delve deep into numbers, subtract, add, divide and multiply them and report them to the concerned stakeholders. I have to full extend exploited my mathematical aptitude and used it here at my job. My sluggish preparation for CAT did not fetch me a college, but it has definitely helped me to do better here at Sapient. I have come to a recommendation for the children who fear subject Mathematics, there is not substitute to it, it will haunt you for whole of your life. Master it or you are screwed.

Just to set the context, I never thought of writing all this until a very good friend of mine, Manjit sent me an article which mentioned the benefits of writing. I'll close this article for now as there is too much that I have written about myself and there is no point beating the dead horse. I am sorry friend that I could not manage expectations (writing everyday, as I was short of bandwidth), but yes, I'll definitely try to be more frequent about writing stuff on my blog. I'll keep you in loop about all my articles. Please revert in case you have any issues around them.


PS : The paragraph above was pure shit (except Manjit of course), and was meant just to flaunt my vocabulary and the style of writing. By the way, it has got nothing to do with my CAT preparation, it is just the daily jargon, you'll get to listen if you get into a role (in Sapient) that I am in. Thank you Manjit. Thank you all. Hope you enjoy this !!!