Being from a Kashmiri migrant family, I have seen how policy and terrorism have impacted the education and opportunities in Kashmir, the technology is associated with fear rather than progress. From my past experiences, I can recall the number of opportunities I have missed because of internet shutdowns. I was eager to know what technology can enable, so I pursued computer science as my major in engineering in Delhi, which allowed me to go through the technological advancement happening globally.
In the upcoming years, I was placed in a product-based company. Being a part of automation, I was amazed to see the efficiency and productivity it brings in along with impact creation. In subsequent years when I got promoted to another company as a product engineer, I was asked to leverage my coding abilities in manufacturing units. It took time to understand the product before I could automate the large process, but thereafter, the efficiency, scalability and productivity I was able to bring at the global level with the proposed solutions were recognised globally. I realised technology is a basic commodity and the opportunity it provides is huge.
Lack of access to the internet in Kashmir, the root of technology, piqued my interest in public policy. So I attempted the UPSC examinations twice. Even though I failed, I was able to associate international economics, politics, philosophies and other disciplines and how multiple things affect a policy formulation. This journey circled back and made me more inclined towards crafting business strategies and managing products. I started diving into different aspects of the products I was working on and learning new skills associated with it. However, I was lacking knowledge about the market domain and how business works and evolves.
I can associate and know the problems but don’t have enough knowledge to solve them. I have some personal experience and learnings but want to leverage them in a proper organizational structure and acquire skills that will help me establish it. I am versatile alongside a noticeable vulnerability and would like to bring all my experiences and learnings to the table to use them more wisely.