That Extra Mile! — 01
No Idea is too CRAZY when INNOVATION saves LIVES
Amidst Pandemic, several people approached me to learn about my Data Science journey, where I have observed a common dilemma amongst the new generation — not having clarity of thoughts of what should be the best career path for them.
This has lead to the birth of That Extra Mile! Stories around us who have never given up on their dreams of being Extra-ordinary
My first and personal favourite protagonist — Samikshan Bairagya, Software Engineer at Atlassian. I know him as a person who has always outperformed himself and never lost hope to see a silver lining even when covered in the darkest clouds.
Me: I have always received all kinds of support and inspiration from you. What inspires you the most or has inspired you always?
Nothing as such. I have always looked up to my father who is a professor in Mathematics. Looking into his books from childhood, had instilled within me that whatever I do, I have to excel in it. When a close friend started coming first in the class, I got the zeal that “if he can, why can’t I”. Probably that was the turning point of my life.
Me: WOW! At that age probably children were more worried if they will get to watch Shaktimaan or not?
HaHaHa! Not that I didn’t like Shaktimaan. But somehow my aspiration to excel in studies surpassed everything. I won’t lie that I was not a hard working student. I believe only perseverance can help you fulfill your dreams. I had even dropped a year after my 12th to prepare for JEE.
Me: Did it dishearten you when you didn’t get chance in IIT in CS?
To be honest back then, YES a bit. But today when I think, I realise NIT DGP had given me liberty to gain more knowledge and exposure for which I have become successful today.
Me: Do you consider alma matters?
Well, to an extent, YES. May be to get a job from placements but not to sustain later. Let us consider someone (A) has joined Amazon from my college, and there’s another person (B) who has joined along with him from a tier2 or tier3 college. Definitely B had to give more effort to get a job in Amazon. Now 2–3yrs later, to sustain in the job, since B knows how to work hard, he would probably move ahead than A. The glamour of a college matters only upto a certain extent.
Me: In today’s world, where every student is studying in a college only to get a job, don’t you think they should be guided properly so that they can get a clarity of thoughts of their career path?
Obviously! During my time I had the privilege to attend conf.KDE.in, participate in Season of KDE, and GSoC and several other meetups and conferences. All these had boosted my knowledge which in turn increased my confidence and helped me bag a job in Red Hat — a dream come true moment.
Me: When I had my first interaction with you, I remember all the stories that you had shared from your first visit to Silicon Valley of the world. What difference do you find it has from India?
Well, there’s definitely some difference. The first thing that strikes you is how vibrant the tech scene is out there. People are not afraid to explore new opportunities within or outside their domain. And, they don’t shy away from talking and discussing about these ventures in meetups, conferences, workshops, etc. You often find yourself walking into to some random meetup and come out having gained some knowledge. Also we didn’t have any permanent place to reside. We hopped from one AirBnB to another every other day. That was again some experience.
Me: Let’s not talk about these destinations much during this pandemic. How are you utilising your “Pandemic Time”
True that! Vacations have become a nightmare nowadays! While many are taking up several courses to upgrade themselves, I had taken up a different path. For a long time, I had plans of being an entrepreneur and finally I felt this is the best time to be in. This project is all about helping out doctors on how health care system can be facilitated using RPA.
Me: AWESOME! Are you doing it all alone?
No, I have four college students helping me and I should definitely mention that they’re doing a brilliant job. This project is a marriage of RPA for healthcare with a robust communication protocol among professionals in this domain.
Me: Automating work might lead to (a) loss of jobs (b) wrong predictions
You’re mistaken. AI will come much later. It has to be trained on lots of data to understand and detect problems in patients correctly. Currently we’re automating lots of manual work of doctors as well as nurses in India so that they can get more time to channelise them into real need. For eg: (a) Doctors can give more time for research. (b) Nurses can take proper care of patients and can even look after their mental health. This will reduce the probability of human errors to a great extent since they will live a relatively more stress free life.
Me: That’s the best way an engineer can stand beside a doctor during this hard time. Wish you good luck for this project. Lastly, any engineer or people from any domain, what piece of advice would you like to give from your experience?
Workout everyday. Health is the actual wealth
If you want to change your domain, understand your inner self and analyse. Dare to start, everything will follow and you will succeed in life. If you want to change your domain only to get a job due to any reason, well remember that will be temporary and you will have to struggle really hard to sustain in your job after few years. In such cases it’s always better to go for higher studies or look for other opportunities.
Surround yourself with such people who have achieved more than you in life. That way you will always have the thirst and hunger to attain more knowledge and grow.
In technical forefront: Apart from watching web series during college days, participate in different conferences, extend your connections of similar interests as much as possible, do as many pet projects as you can and use internet to the fullest.
