Why I meditate and you should too : An outlook that helped me stick for over two years and would fire you up too

A lot of people try and fail with meditation. Most likely at some point.. you have tried it too. When you read an article about meditation practices of famous entrepreneurs and leaders or maybe some 100 proven scientific benefits of meditation like -

1. Curing depression
2. Regulates moods and anxiety disorders
3. Manage stress
4. Better concentration
5. Improved brain function
6. Better sleep (Apparently a lot of people can’t sleep peacefully at night)
7. Fostering creativity
8. Become peaceful and happy
9. Better health and immunity
10. Better decision making

Sounded enticing. So you did wake up early, sat quietly.. focusing on your breath, chanting a mantra or imagining a happy peaceful place. This went on for a few days with you feeling spiritual and aware. Aware of the restlessness in your body, the anxiety built up over years and uncontrollable thought patterns.. And that practising it daily would change your life as promised. But you couldn’t continue on for more than a week or a month. I have seen this happen with most of my friends.

I don’t blame you. There are quicker and easier ways to de-stress, mood uplifting, harbouring creativity  like good music, inspiring movies or an evening spent with friends.. Your health would be good if you exercise and stretch regularly. Better concentration, decision making and brain function improvement definitely takes a lot of time for noticeable differences. (Although listening to music mindlessly for hours creates a lot of restlessness.)

Basically none of the above listed reasons excite me enough to stick to my practice of meditation. I want bigger returns. I have a different perspective, some bigger reasons that fire me up.

Meditation does to me what science does to Stephen Hawkins. Its a means of exploration, means to understand the mystery of life (and death!). Instead of the scientifically proven benefits over body and mind, I aim for the spiritual ones which are beyond our natural understanding.

For example: Looking up at the night sky.. The innumerable stars.. the thought of space, galaxies, the universe.. Its all so exciting but there are no means to explore it fully!

The mystery of time and space

This view to the outer space is breathless !

In my lifetime, it seems impossible for mankind to unravel the mysteries of the universe.. But Gurunanak Devji in one of his discourses talks about how there are other planets, huge stars and galaxies and other universes and how if we are realized, we can find it all inside ourselves. That too at a time when we didn’t have any technology to look beyond the night sky.

Similarly there are numerous other saints who have talked on such in-comprehensive subjects.

Death

Yes death. We all will die. Just like that. Even if we stay calm, healthy, happy, do everything morally.. We all die. There’s no escape. That’s another mystery. And as I grow older, I regularly see a lot of people setting sails for the heaven. It stumps me (and everyone) every time. But apparently we can’t do anything about it. And we accept/ignore it.

I believe investing time in meditation to know about death is definitely worth it. I might sound crazy here but so does Elon Musk when he talks about colonizing Mars.

Detachment

I have been fortunate enough to be living a healthy and a comfortable life since my childhood. I see people wanting to be something, leave a name, investment banking, entrepreneurs etc etc.. Umm.. That’s aiming too low. There are lakhs of investment bankers in the world. Watch Wolf of wall street to get dis-illusioned. I am not against having career goals, but devoting all your life just to your career is a bad move in my opinion. Because in the end, you are going to die.

We can only be happy with material success for a while until something in the form of wealth, health or our loved ones are taken away.

Meditation helps me see through this. I do get involved and that’s why I try to be regular with meditation. To remember that this all is not worth stressing over.

A general happy living

Since you learn to detach yourself.. You can work better. Just like a doctor can perform an operation on his patient (who’s not family) without attachment. Similarly, the relationship management, work management and over-all well being improves. You do what’s required instead of being overly invested and thus taking the wrong moves becoming overly emotional.

This is not possible with movies and music. Because they have a short term effect over our emotional state of being. Meditation provides with a new perspective.

GOD

It all essentially comes down to the realization of God. In whichever way you understand GOD. I have realized that surrender comes easy with meditation. When you are not breathing, digesting your food and you don’t own your thoughts.. A sense of surrender comes. Then you want to know how this happens. What’s the cause. And meditation looks like the only way available.

And there’s a lot of other mysterious unraveling about GOD that might sound crazy. But if you like you can read about it in The Autobiography of a Yogi. Its a beautiful book for anyone who wants more profound reasons for meditation and spirituality.

The 10 points listed about are bonus. It doesn’t hurt to have them. :)

They say that Indian engineers are not industry ready! What does it mean to be industry ready?

IIT Roorkee graduates.
Ready to take over the industry?

There are so many reports yelling out that Indian engineers are not industry ready. A lot of companies complain about huge training costs(and time) required without much return on investments as people leave by the time they start contributing effectively. What does it mean to be industry ready? Are we missing something? How can the bright minds of India with all the willingness to work be not ready?

We cruised through the school getting good awesome grades.. Got into a good college cracking one of the very examination in the country.. Cleared college managing good grades. We cleared the aptitude tests and eventually the interview.. Still not ready? The smartest minds of India. Is this gap real? The gap between the expectations of an employer and the skill set of even the smartest students from the country’s tier I and II college?

Lets look closely.

What was success in school? Your grades or the percentage.

Skill-set needed to get good grades? Understand/cram 80% of what you are taught.. write enough to score 8 out of 10.. 

A good score! Colleges (IITs) with the relative grading magnify this. With a percentile system at work, its more about doing better than 90% of your class. Score a 75 when everyone is scoring a 65 and you’re a 9 pointer. A really good grade but its much difficult to be a 10. And mind you, one needs to study just three days before exams.. That’s what we all do.

This changes as you enter the industry. My experience of 5 months with a really patient manager and team mates has taught me a lot. I have had a habit of working hard in short spurts. Still do, to an extent. Working very hard for a day or two before deadlines. It does help me deliver a good 80% complete project. The problem? 80% in not usable. It looks good but can’t deliver the expected results because it leaks. Because no-one puts money in a product that won't stay for long. That's doesn't hold good against expected assumptions, let alone the unforeseen issues. Its not about passing a mid term. Real money.

Half-hearted efforts don’t sell. This is a major shift. An 80% complete answer gets you 80% grades but a project that doesn't reach deployment.. then stands the test of operational issues is a no good project. 0/100.

Another difference is that you no longer have a syllabus to keep to.. Yes, initially you will get instructions on what to do and maybe even how to do it. But each employer wants you to take initiatives.. to bring new projects, take up the pain to improve the processes around and actually care about the work that you do. Instead of just appearing in your final examinations, a job needs a long term constant involvement.. And learning all this takes time, experience and effort.

The best thing to do is try to create things that work. Projects that are usable, finished products. Become someone who has instead of being someone who can. For example, if you are interested in Strategy.. Learn and create working business models, proposals, pricing sheets..etc. Similarly for a developer. Create a program that works. Its much more difficult to complete a course than starting it.

 Another way is to do as many internships as early as possible to understand the kind of work you require to do. The expectations of the employer. The expectations of the industry. And if its suitable to the way you like to work. Work part time, work in winters and summers.. Whenever you can. You’ll learn the art of getting the work done. And its a much needed skill. Most important in my opinion.

That’s how you can differentiate yourself, very easily. You will know how to deliver on the promises that you make.

How I beat my sedentary lifestyle and started feeling good about my body and in my mind

Its been 4 months since I started my first job at a healthcare startup. Four months of learning new things, meeting new people, hustling.. Four months of creating valuable, not so valuable contributions.. Its also been four months of sitting around on a desk and working long hours..

Strategy room -
Before quarterly board meeting

Yes, four long months of sedentary living!! 

Its not very different for my friends. Some are too busy to eat, let alone exercise... others procrastinate. Some don’t care.

After hours in the office.

Life’s so different now, back in Roorkee.. we’d swim, play, wander about the campus.. walking for hours daily.. We’d travel to Rishikesh, himalayas.. Bike trips! These days, my travel consists of 2-3 hours spent in a metro commuting to office and back home. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love what I am doing.. Just that, it leaves little time for sports/active lifestyle.. You might have different reasons for being inactive.. These happen to be mine!

I did try going to the gym in the mornings.. Didn’t work out! I like my mornings really peaceful - deep breathing.. drinking lots of water, eating fruits, the sunrise and the calm cold wind! Gyms were exactly opposite. Pumping iron with loud music, not for me. In the evenings, I was too late to have dinner on time, let alone going to the gym.

This lead to a lot of postponing and procrastination. Couldn’t see a way out. Until recently. Just before my convocation in September (everybody looked bloated on the convocation btw), when I attempted my yoga test.

I’ll explain -
As a kid, I was fascinated with yoga. A small book with a flowery cover written by (infamous) Asaram bapu used to be the coffee table book lying around house with all the yogasanas explained. Then, I could easily do them all. Till college, every now and then, I used to test my flexibility through a few of these asanas. (Esp. Pashchimottanasana)

Why flexibility?

I associate flexibility with good health. Children have really flexible bodies. Women are generally more flexible than men (Women live longer with comparatively lower chances of hypertension or cardiovascular troubles).

As we age, our bodies stiffen.

(Remember what happens when someone dies? The body stiffens.)

The trendline clearly shows that flexibility goes down as you age! This anecdote works well for me.

So, just after 3 months of super sedentary lifestyle.. I could barely touch my hands with my toes when earlier I could touch easily my head to the knees. I went online to look for plausible reasons.. Sitting for longer duration leads to weakening of the lower back muscles.. leading to lower back troubles and eventually we become prone to problems like slip discs, chronic neck and back pain, sore shoulders etc etc.. Didn't like the sound of it.

Being overly sensitive about my spinal flexibility, I found a book from my father’s collection. The whole book is dedicated to just 9 asanas. The beauty of yoga asanas is that they are intimately connected with the spinal health. All the 9 asanas focus on stretching the spine. As a side gain, they are huge mood uplifters. You’ll notice that by the time you reach to the third asana, you’ll be breathing deeper.. Feel lighter, brighter and active. It only takes about 15 minutes of peaceful exercises. Full body stretch with overall well being. Indian saints were truly genius!

Please start slow. Flexibility improves with time.

One rule - Inhale as you open your body, hold. Exhale while compressing it. Hold.

Holding the position is important, very important.

My progress -

Pashchimottanasana
Elbows touch the ground, head touches the knees

Spinal Twist
Immediate deep breathing follows.

Halasana

“Yoga also builds cardiovascular health, increases lung capacity, and improves respiratory function and heart rate.”

I urge you to test it out. Take this challenge, do the asanas. Do them slowly and safely. Look them up from the internet if you need instructions. You’ll fall in love with the freshness you feel after these simple asanas twist your spine in different positions and at strategic angles...




I can answer any queries although I am not an expert but I can read the book and let you know..

I would love to know if you can touch your head to your knees in Pashchimottanasana. If yes, can you do this?

Worried about campus placements? (Stop worrying and do what I tell you to do)

Second placements session - OIL process

Its almost time for the placements. And CAT is around in December too.. which means its high time that the bad-ass final year Junta starts preparing full throttle because I am sure that a lot of you guys would be lazing around fed up with the same aptitude questions, puzzles and hoping that everything will be fine and you'll manage. Believe me not a good strategy!

If you need just one reason to work hard for placements its -

“to be able to enjoy your final semester without having to worry about your future. Last semester enjoy karna aapka adhikaar hai” 

There’s still time to catch up before its too late. So the process goes like this-

• There are (hopefully) a lot of aptitude tests within a short span of time. Just getting warmed up.
• Then short-lists for different companies are published with almost the same names. (People who prepare well for CAT.)
• If you get short-listed, there’s a group discussion or in rare cases a group activity. 
• Finally there are two-three rounds of interviews. This process sometimes extends till late.
  
  

At its worse, Rivigo called for resumes at around 2:30 AM in the night (my application was rejected even though I reached at 3:45AM and the GDs hadn’t started yet, I ran all the way from Jawahar Bhawan to the placements complex in December’s cold at 3:30 AM damn!)...

Next morning, there was Runnr’s aptitude test at 6 AM and Innoplexus’s group discussion lined up for the later part of day. I cleared the GD, the interview process started at 4 PM and went on till morning 5 AM next day.

With an awesome hiring process of ZS Associates at 10 AM same day - an abstract GD with a good case exercise. Got through the GD again. Screwed the Data Interpretation because I was tired and sleepy and a little less equipped to deal with the DI!

Took a break. Crashed at the CCD with my best friends and burnt a lot of their cash (outside the campus because the campus CCD opened in January next year). Removed all the startups from my application list (Not a smart move) and slept for the day.

I was never ready for the whole placement process. Never talked to any senior about it. Believed the myths and didn't care. Did not know what to expect. Therefore, I want you to be prepared, to ask the right questions from the right people -

Aptitude Tests

1. Would I be able to clear the aptitude short-lists?
   
   This is where 95% junta gets filtered. If 800 people apply which do apply... to good companies, only 40 people get short-listed for the interview. This statistic might scare you but believe me, its possible to get into top 40 if you practice well. The odds improve after 2nd or 3rd day because a lot of people get into coding and stuff. But this is the gateway.
   
   So, get off the comfortable bed and practice rigorously. And keep a track of time because most of the tests need quick answers. “Remember you only need 1 seat in the short-list whatever be the odds.” Just focus on giving your best.
   
   
2. Where do I practice from?
   
   I had subscription to TIME’s website. Gave a few 3 hour tests. Good for practice. But there can be multiple resources here. Ask your seniors. But really get really really good at aptitude questions.

Need not worry much about other things at the moment, you can skip to Case studies and guesstimates..

Group Discussions

For curious people, after clearing aptitude you'll be shortlisted for the GDs -

A true leader takes his team through the maze of success
Source: Internet

1. Is it difficult to clear group discussions?
   
   
     I cleared all my GDs and believe me I had never read a newspaper till then, didn’t have the  best points or anything. I had a simple plan :
• Made sure I understood the topic. If I didn’t, I’d ask.
• Understand the rules of the GD as explained by the company’s HR. Time keeping is very very important. I earned brownie points here.
• Since you understand the problem, just try to give/follow a basic flow to the discussion, for example :
  
  Every topic had a problem that needed to be defined and discussed, causes of the problem, possible solutions and finally a conclusion. I made sure that there was a structured discussion. People started throwing points, I would politely ask them that their point can be discussed for the solutions part, lets first focus on defining the problem and its causes. Its  a lot of fun, when people do follow you when you are right.
  
  
•  Next, I would keep time. So, whenever I wanted an entry in the discussion, I would tell people that 5 minutes have passed and I suggest that we move on to the solutions part because we also need to reach a conclusion. Till now, the problem is “blah blah blah”, the causes as “badbad badbad badbad” etc... and I propose, "english english english english"
  
  I wouldn’t impose but people usually agree with you if you are honestly helping the group moving forward with the discussion.
  
  
• Most importantly I would listen. People give good points. I would ask questions to understand and validate the points people said. Then, during the process.. common sense would help me.

Case Interviews

It will be tough but you'll be shortlisted !

Now, that you are short-listed for an interview -

1. Do I understand the role I am applying for? Can I talk to someone who’s working in the company doing the same job?
   
   This is very important. I almost made a marketing pitch to an IT consultant role for RBS. Research the profile. Understand the role. And prepare stories around how what you have done, would help you do well in this role.
   
   
2. Do I have a well practised "introduce yourself" pitch"?
   I was against this part. Preparing my answers beforehand. Still don’t do it. But my good friend and ex-roommate forced me into learning a pitch he wrote for me. I ain’t lying.. As soon as the interviewer asked me to introduce myself, I knew what to say to make a good impression and where to direct the interview. It all started on a good note.
   
   So I suggest you do it. And more importantly, it shows that you are prepared. For the later part, just remember stories don’t over-practice. Be natural. But learn the introduce yourself pitch points.
   
   
3. CASE STUDIES AND GUESSTIMATES??
   
   
   
   
   
   
    If you practice these, believe me you’ll easily differentiate yourself from others. So when you are not solving aptitude, do case studies and guesstimates. Do it with your friends, with strangers online, mock cases, placement preparation agencies...wherever you can find them. They are very important for non-coding roles. You nail this, you are selected.
   
   I can’t tell you how to prepare for guesstimates, for case studies - a good starting point is VICTOR CHENG’s youtube videos. But don’t neglect cases and guesstimates.
   
   
4. After you get short-listed discuss the most common puzzles that are asked. I don’t know the source but there are good sources for that too.

I think its too long already.

At this moment all you need to worry about is aptitude and a little bit of case study and guesstimates.. Ask me, if you want any further clarifications. These are the most basic preparation points everyone should touch.

“And when it all ends, and you still haven’t been able to get an offer, next day Delhi aaajana, saath mein chill karenge.. my treat!”

TL/DR :- Rigorous timed practice for aptitude. GD’s are fun if you listen. Case studies and guestimates are most important to clear the non-coding interview rounds. Can’t miss out practicing them. 

Are you Michael Phelps trying to win a Marathon? You could surely hope to finish well with lots of practice.. because you know the art of practice, but would it be worth it?

"My alma mater - Dept. of Earth Sciences, IIT Roorkee"

Last week, I wrote about my experience with placement seasons at IIT Roorkee and a few leanings from my first job. Amused, a lot of people contacted me, congratulated me.. some people had lot of innocent questions. Exactly the kind of questions I used to pester my seniors with. My favourite go to person was Dishant sir. I met him early in the first year, I found him really cool... his answer to most of my questions/challenges would be, “Tu tension mat le”. I really liked the sound of these words and still quote this in front of my friends...

He is now working with OYO, a job he got through off-campus interviews. I mention him not only because he couldn't get placed on campus and still was super cool about it but because the day he joined, my professor said to me, “This is such a waste of talent. Dishant should get a job in the Oil Industry. These oil company recruiters are blind.”

I agreed with her then but didn't realize the relevance of her words. I remember thinking, "She doesn't know anything, its such a cool job, travelling across Rajasthan, meeting with travellers and getting paid for it...". I couldn't imagine how perplexing, bewildering and challenging... it is for people who have been studying a subject diligently for 3-4 years to suddenly start over. In the corporate world of banks, MNCs, IT firms and startups doing their odd jobs... doubting every single day, if it is/was the right decision to throw away all the hours and hard work you put in all these years... just to make a decent living... to feel powerless, like an absolute beginner, easily replaceable.. when you could be a master at what you did, better than most of them out there...

It's like.. Michael Phelps training 4 years for 100 meters and then suddenly competing with Bolt in the Olympics because sprinting has more vacancies. Because only sprinters came to your campus for recruitment since, it's winters in December and the pools are closed..
(Oil markets crashed recently, I graduated with a degree in geophysics.)

Still feeling like an Olympic champ?

We might laugh but most of us are living like this.. from taking sciences in 10th, to taking up engineering, to going for an MBA/UPSC...without any understanding of the choices we are making. We miss big opportunities, waste a lot of time and energy....

Is it a good idea to make a career in web development because its easy to find a job.. even when you belong amongst a handful of people who understand the concepts of reservoir modelling? What’s the point in recruiting drivers and managing operations for OLA when all your college life, you had championed in geology? There are 1000s who could recruit/train/build websites etc.. but only a handful few are aware of the mineral composition of a rock they are holding.. People haven't even heard of things like plagioclase and orthoclase.. but you get excited hearing these names because you can tell the difference just by looking. 

Why is this happening in the IITs that too with students there who care about what they study? Why are the so called cream candidates suffering?

• There are people I admire, people who spend time to study their subjects in their depths and have the courage and patience to take a leap into research careers abroad. They are criticised in the name of brain drain. What the so called “patriots” fail to recognise is that the Indian research has big shortcomings-
•  The infrastructure is poor
•  The salary of PhDs is so low that its impossible for a self respecting person to survive on that.
• Most of the professors aren't doing any good research. Its like a sarkaari naukri. We have the same question papers repeated each year. Sometimes people forget to change the year in the title. There should be some pressure from the authorities to publish good research.
• Autonomy of the professors. Nobody can challenge their decisions. Nobody questions their teaching. No job descriptions, no KPIs... 
• Unnecessary politics and insecurity amongst the reseachers.
• For those who like their subjects but need practical experience before thinking about research, core engineering jobs are few, those that are there.. pay poorly when compared with whatever is the latest fad - be it IT, startups, MBA opportunities. How can we expect that the students who have been coaxed into believing that they are the cream of the nation’s huge student population - take up such low paying research/job opportunities with relatively slow career growth.
• To top it off, most of the companies visiting our campuses are IT/startups with abstract job descriptions. If the government wants/needs good engineers please visit our campuses, provide and communicate about the good work and greater career growth opportunities.

Till that happens students will keep trying to fulfil the society’s expectations of a 7 digit starting salary, doing bullshit jobs where satisfaction levels are hardly skin deep leave alone soul satisfying.

I may have painted a grey picture but that's how it looks like. With the startup culture, there has been a little hope for people to try out new ideas and do good work but that still doesn’t justify the life cycle of an average engineer...

So, is it worth it? I don't know... Tell me, what would you do.. If you had another chance? Would you do it differently? Could you do it differently?

"Tu tension mat le"

From being an unplaced graduate from IIT Roorkee to stumbling across a job that I love! My two cents for the bhooli bhatki junta..

I am sitting here sipping coffee, recovering from a long week of hard work and an all nighter I pulled off to prepare for a report I had to present in the company’s monthly review. My designation - “Business Analyst” in the strategy division of a startup called Health Care at Home.  The assignment was to do an analytics study to find out the trends in volumes, pricing, sales, clinical quality, operations, HR across different business units. Hungry and deprived of sleep, I entered the conference room little realising that my audience included Vivek sir(our CEO), our senior Vice President, business unit heads, Director - Marketing, Heads - Nursing, Physiotherapy, Finance, HR, Sales and Customer Service. Not that I didn’t know that they would be present for this, what I had failed to realise was that with just a week’s work, I was about to present insights, point out trends and issues in the work that they have been dedicatedly been doing since last 3-4 years. I had to be responsible and understand the dynamics of the data I was about to present. With luck, the presentation went well, small mistakes ignored and my work was well received. The point? I’ll come to that.

Strategy team.

 Its been 3 months that I have been working with HCAH.  Just three months ago, I graduated out of IIT Roorkee without a job and without a plan. Preparing for GRE, CAT, taking coding courses on Coursera and hoping to enroll into Vajiram and Ravi for IAS coaching. Funny times. I even got The Hindu subscription which I read for exactly 1 day.

My placements season was really happening. I had a CGPA above 8, played Inter IIT for four years, 2 good research interns and I had a few certificates from Cogni events. I cleared a good number of aptitude tests to keep me busy in the first 6-7 days of the placements. I cleared all the GDs too. Just that, I was honest that I didn't know what I wanted to do and nobody wanted the truth. I studied geophysics for 5 years, did 2 research interns and still applied to your consultancy. Isn't it clear that I want to experiment? But hypocrisy! Both the company and students want the best and not what’s the best for them.

Every interview that I gave felt too plastic and rehearsed. Same cut the cake in 8 slices, two coloured socks in a drawer and the bulbs problem. Everybody knows the answers to all of them and would pretend to think and work it out. Based on these lousy puzzles and repetitive guess-timates, candidates (not people) are hired. Then companies complain about the high attrition rates and the students cry about the stupid work they end up getting. I had always imagined a Raju (3 idiots) style interview to get a job, "Koi to company hogi jo machieno ko nahi, insaano ko job de" types. Because if the interviewer doubts my abilities about calculations after I had cleared the aptitude tests, have a good cgpa and also cleared JEE, I really doubt his decision making capabilities. Would he be able to trust me with difficult problems?

Anyways, in my first interview with Royal Bank of Scotland within 5 minutes, the hiring manager told me that I would be better suited to other positions in the company but not the one they were hiring for and handed out his business card telling me to contact him in case I fail to get a job in campus placements.

Lesson learnt : Please measure how much you speak and research the profile you are sitting for really well. They are broadly consulting, IT, data scientist, strategy, operations, marketing and futures first. Know what each requires you to do.

And I lost it when after answering all the answers correctly interviewer from WIPRO informed me about high scopes in Oil industry and that I should stick with it instead of joining WIPRO. I understood his concern and decided to opt out of the placements because I had lost faith in the placement process. Then I chilled out for the whole next semester because I didn’t know what else to do with my life.

Owing to my luck, two days after I completed college, a batch-mate persuaded me to apply to HCAH. I had to prepare a case on COPD management in 2 days, which I somehow managed to do owing to a lot of free time post college. Later got selected for an interview which I was expecting. My interview with Ankit sir (who happens to be an IIT Roorkee and IIM Lucknow alumnus) exceeded my expectation. I had 1.5 hour interview which was more like a discussion about the company, the role, my background and my long honest stories (3 idiots style). Vivek sir, our CEO told me straight that he trusted IITians with their ability to get the work done and only expected dedication and slogging. And he promised good work and good recommendations in case I plan for an MBA. Sounded good! I started next week.

Please research about the kind of work the company is offering. Have a heart to heart talk with the people you will work with. Also, remember a few points before applying for/joining a company-

1. If you do important work, there are chances that you’ll make mistakes. You’ll make mistakes anyways but when its with important work they’ll hurt and your manager will save your a**. Ankit sir sits with us through nights when we miss the deadlines. Patiently covered up for a 100 crores modelling mistake I made in the financial model we sent out to the investors. And a lot of other mistakes, I feel sad when I think about them but they're a part of the learning process.

2. You’ll be given good work only when someone believes in the ability of your doing good work. So, please find people who would believe in you. Like I worked from home for 3 days last week without having to ask for permissions only with a promise of delivery of work.

3. Working in a startup also gives you an opportunity to shift roles. Like I took a ROR project for our pilot chronic disease management program. I was under the impression that everyone needed to learn to code. That’s still true but I learnt that one should code once you need to automate tasks. No need to learn it because everyone says so. Don’t get into coding, if you are not into coding.

4. If you are applying to a strategy role - be curious about working with financial models, about how businesses like Flipkart, OLA etc. sustain the low prices i.e. if and when they’ll break even, be excited about launching new challenging projects and hoping they work. Be updated from YourStory and read about how startups are working and what and how they are offering what they are offering. Its challenging and exciting.

First Chapo!

5. Choosing a company with Roorkee alumnus you’ll also get a lot of chapos.

6. I also urge you to check Rahul Adhikari’s blog and his advice here. He's awesome!

Be honest, ready to work hard and don’t panic. Industry needs people who want to work. And you’ll be valued outside./



* Note:
1. Ignorant people like me who have not been able to prepare for case studies and guesstimates a good place to start would be Victor Cheng's videos.
Case studies just need a good imagination and a right frame of thinking. And they'll get you your first job.

All the best.


hcah.prateek@gmail.com