Saturday, June 30, 2012

"A man's vanity tells him what is honor, a man's conscience what is justice." ~ Walter Savage Landor


i wrote this as 'summary' for my LinkedIn profile... but i overran the 'character' limit... so i thought, why not post the original version on my blog and trimmed version on the LinkedIn? pretty cool huh?

so, here it is... the full length version:

hey!

good to see you here on my LinkedIn profile and to make this passive virtual interaction a little more productive for you, let me present a snapshot of my professional exposure, albeit briefly (I'll try)…

… graduated with a degree in Mechanical & Automation Engineering from GGS Indraprasth University in Delhi, my first exposure towards a 'workplace' was with a small scale Engineering Services provider to a manufacturer of Industrial and Automotive Diesel Engines, based in Bologna (Italy). I was part of a very (very)small team entrusted for converting their aging engine blue prints in 3D CAD models and corresponding engineering drawings using Dassault System's CATIA software. It was very engaging work and timely delivery of correct CAD data was our promise which we religiously kept. It was a brief stint though, as the glitter of the emerging IT Service Industry caught my fancy…

…  and soon, I found myself helping 'end-users' of the Computer Networking products, over phone calls and using nothing but the troubleshooting guidelines and my charm. This was my first ever experience in dealing with the customers 'first hand'. In those graveyard shifts, I was solving 'real world' problems in 'real time'. And to be fairly honest, this turned out to be quite an experience! Working for an offshore service provider as a Technical Support Engineer, I was trained on the Computer Networking Hardware products of one of the most respected companies in this field. And our client, being the global leader, had product offerings for every segment. Be it Home users or SOHO or Medium / Large size enterprises…

… my job required me to listen to the 'Voice of Customer' and turn it into an acceptable working solution for them. With my customer satisfaction (CSAT) ratings never dipping below 85%, I realized that I was good in this. Striking a natural conversation (even though there was a 'standard operating procedure' to initiate the call), soothing the frayed nerves early, getting the required customer data (in the times of Privacy Concerns gaining fairly wide media attention) and then providing the working solutions fast; all this was coming naturally to me.  The only thing that was not adjusting to my newly found skill-set was my body-clock; and so I quit, just like that. I had no plan, none what-so-ever. But then, that was not the end of it… I walked-in for an interview into the office of Tata Technologies (then known as INCAT)…

… and I joined Tata Technologies in the summer of 2007; was deputed at the Engineering Research Center (ERC) of our (biggest) client, Tata Motors.  I started as a Design Engineer in the Vehicle Integration Group (known as Vehicle-1). I was part of the team responsible (mainly) for the Steering System of Light Commercial Vehicles (LCVs) which was under the Commercial Vehicle Business Unit (CVBU). The year 2009 started with me moving to the Passenger Car Business Unit (PCBU) and from LCVs, I moved to Utility Vehicles (UVs). The area of responsibility also expanded, from one aggregate to many and then the then the entire vehicle. ..

… my professional exposure at the TATAs been very diverse and if I try to fit it in this 'summary' section I will be doing a great injustice to all fellow professionals. And if you feel the need to keep this 'conversation' going, please feel free to connect with me here on LinkedIn...

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

"The means of livelihood depend not on the virtues, but the vices of others" ~ Edward Bulwer-Lytton


aHa!

there u r! if u're reading this then u either want to know "why?" part or the "STILL" part (there's a third possibility that u r really happy to see me posting after long time on KNOME, but i will discount that theory!)... and chances are u r from that HR department... maybe not, maybe u stumbled across this KNOME thing and found my post... or u could be part of a bigger sinister campaign from a Sim(b)le politician who is keeping (at least trying to) a sharp eye on every thing that goes on the internet...wait! we are not on the internet. right? wrong! i just realized that we actually are... so! there u go! i'm putting a huge risk by posting this thing online. but then, we all do, right from the moment we step out of our bed... or double bed or whatever... risk is not bad, not mitigating the risk is... but that is beside the point.

"what's ur point?" u may ask... well! first of all, i can't believe u reached this far! but now that i know u have plenty of time (in the office!... u don't do KNOME at home... there are better things to do. no?) i must take *my* own time to make my point (whatever it is!)... and if u r reasoning that even i have plenty of free time in office since i posted this and not Sim(b)ly pasted it from some lame email forward or some website or anything such media... guess what? u r right on ur money! Ha! there! i said that! now more risk!!

let's move our thoughts from risk to...ummm... ah... well... u know... sustainability? nah! there is enough sustenance on this section... lemme churn my redundant grey cells... u get ur tea in the meantime, presuming u r reading this during the tea break! no tea break yet? get a coffee or something... no coffee machine? Ha! u r definitely not from the HR ;-)

anyways, after the crisp Bombay Khari and Tea, i'm feeling better... but that also means i'm finding it difficult to get on the same train of thought with the same intensity as i was riding on earlier... what i'm hinting is that it's time to stop and ponder...some call it retrospection, others name it introspection (while some are still stuck witht he notion of inspection!)... and as my financial management prof says: "Guys! Think for a moment."