Conversations with an engineer
I first met Udit in Mumbai. He was a mutual friend and we got chatting about our time at college. As my younger brother was going to the same college as him, I was curious about the path Udit chose- the classes he took, the teachers he found interesting, the extracurriculars he enrolled for, the internships he took up and the jobs he applied for. We later re-connected in New York a couple of years later. It was interesting to see how his perspective had evolved from when we first chatted. Read his interview as he sheds some light on the process…
1. Tell us a bit about yourself
I’m an engineer and MBA by degree. While work doesn’t define someone alone, it is a significant part of your life. I’ve had the opportunity to work for some good multinational companies like Caterpillar, Coca Cola, Cummins, however I do enjoy being a business owner. I think there is another level of satisfaction that you get by being in charge of what you want to work on, choose to take what risks you can handle, define your own job description. I run a physical commodities business out of Singapore and am also working towards some new ventures in the space of waste management and green energy here in India.
2. What do you enjoy about your current job?
I enjoy the fact that if something becomes of interest to me, I can go pursue it. I enjoy the fact that I get to put on multiple hats at the same time and not be restricted to one role. There is a lot of uncertainty, and everyday you are faced with new challenges, be it in operations, marketing, HR, legal or any other aspect of a business, but it is fun tackling them.
3. Let’s zoom back, Can you describe a few challenges you faced while finding your first internship at Mercator Lines limited?
It is definitely challenging getting your first internship. You’re still a teenager and no one wants to look at you seriously. I actually happened to get my first internship through a connect from a family friend. While college recruiting would be a great way of landing an internship, friends and family can definitely be a good resource when trying to get that first step in the door.
4. What was your experience at Caterpillar Inc. like, what did you learn?
Well Caterpillar was a great company to work with. Superb facilities, excellent set of engineers, very well organised. I got to work on projects from multiple teams, got some project management exposure as well as some engineering. To be honest, there were projects that I worked on which would’ve helped to a certain extent on my technical skills, but I think it’s more of the Caterpillar badge that most likely helped me land my first job at Cummins! Big companies are more inclined to hire you if they’ve seen that similar companies have hired you previously.
5. How did your various internships help you gauge the industry and build connections?
Internships and jobs, no matter if you’ve enjoyed them or not, it’s always good to stay in touch with your peers; be it via Linked-In, email or in person. Your connections can end up helping you in the future, if not today. My time spent at my internships gave me good exposure to the industry in the sense of the kind of work I can expect, the environment I shall be in and the responsibilities that might be expected off of me. Keeping in touch with my peers definitely helped me as after about 10 years, I actually ended up doing business with the company I first interned with.
6. What learnings did you take from your time at Coca-Cola Refreshments and Cummins Power Generation?
Some keys points I would like to highlight which I thought I learned while interning as well as at my job.
- Put your 101% while interning because if they like your work, they can offer a full time job.
- Punctuality is the first step to being professional
- Most people will do what is assigned to them. One needs to go over and above what’s their job description and take active effort in creating a positive impact for not just yourself, but also your peers. That’s when you can be noticed/stand out and also set ground for your next role
- Don’t be afraid of doing something you don’t know. Everything is a learning process
- If there’s a new/another role you’re interested in, learn about it enough that you require minimal training. Managers, if given a choice, don’t want to spend a lot of time in training an individual.
- Marketing yourself isn’t a bad thing. Someone’s got to do it!
7. Would you want to change your journey of navigating through the different internships? If so, how and why?
I don’t think I would necessarily change the way I navigated my internships but one thing that I do wished I had done was talk to more people of different industries so I could understand what all different opportunities are out there which I probably had not even explored.
8. Any advice you would like to give recent graduates, especially those who are finding it difficult to navigate and find a path, especially amidst a pandemic?
The pandemic can be challenging time for job hunting. The economy is battered and companies are hesitant in hiring given the uncertainties in market. One advise I would like to give is, if you find something that checks your top 3 criteria in the job, go for it. Be it the industry, location, role, company, compensation, or any other criteria that you may think are your top criteria.
9. How did your different volunteer experiences shape you not only professionally but also personally?
Time is precious, but if one can find some time to give to a good cause, there’s nothing like it. More than the person receiving it, I think you yourself tend to find a sense of satisfaction in knowing that you were able to help someone in need and make a positive difference in someone’s life.
I was engaged with a few organisations at work where we immersed ourselves in social service and community work. I think doing such things collectively helped me not just, realize the disparities that exist but it also helped me appreciate the smaller things in life.
