Journey of Aashish Goel
Hello folks. Hope you are all doing well. If you are a first or a second year student reading this, don’t read too much into it. If you are a third year student reading this, go for that awesome internship first and then come back to it in August in your 7th semester! If you are a fourth year student, read along and see if this helps.
SHORT INTRODUCTION
I am Aashish Goel. I pursued Chemical Engineering in IITG and graduated in 2008. I was in Kapili for two years (room 131 I think, the one adjacent to the open space over the TV room) and in Kameng for the last two years (room B3–214).
HOW DID YOU GET INTO YOUR CURRENT FIELD?
Just like any student, I too was concerned about my future post graduation. And just like any student, I too was banking on the options available with me.
Even though I had eventually managed to grab the ‘Institute Silver Medal’ for having aggregated the highest CPI in my department, I was never really inclined towards doing an MS or a PhD. I was quite clear then, and am glad that I am clear about it now as well. So that option was out. That thus left me with two options, a Job or an MBA. I tried for both since I didn’t know what was right for me.
My preparation for CAT was quite extensive. I along with some of my friends had formed a study group and we all used to spend long hours preparing in the central Library. Out entire 7th semester was spent on it. CAT happened, but I knew I had not fared well in it. It did give me a call from IIM Bangalore though, but despite all the preparation, it didn’t work out the way I would have wanted it to.
So that left me only with the option of a job. That year, the job scenario was grim because of the recession that had broken out in the US. All of us were quite anxious about the entire placement season and were ready to lay our hands on whatever came our way. The first company on campus that Chemical engineers were eligible to appear was Ansys. It came on campus on 4th December 2007, the process happened, we all appeared for it and I managed to crack the offer.
So far thus it looked like Ansys for me post May 2008. I had to apply for Ansys because of limited options that year, but I was not completely satisfied with Ansys because I knew it would be hardcore technical work and which initially itself didn’t seem like my cup of tea (the very reason why I had ruled out MS or PhD).
If I had indeed joined Ansys, the story might have been different. It might have included trips to US or other countries, lots of hardcore work, stay in Pune, life limited to computers etc. But nature had other plans for me.
Sometime towards the end of Dec 2007, there was news that ITC might visit the campus. Now even though it usually is a Day 0 kind of a company in other campuses, its visit to IITG was late because it was its first ever visit. In our time, there a concept of ‘second card’ wherein a student could apply for his/her second job provided some conditions were satisfied (like of %age of batch placed, job offer of the second company one aspires to appear for etc). When I heard the news, I started preparing for the job, and simultaneously praying that the ‘second card’ opens up for me by the time ITC came on campus.
Eventually ITC landed on 4th February 2008 (3rd Feb saw Shaan’s concert in Alcher), conducted GDs and interviews and at the end picked up only one that year. That lucky soul was me, and that is how I ended up with ITC.
I joined them in June 2008 and have over the last almost 6 years been at various roles and locations with them. I have independently worked on projects worth multi-crores, and have handled large teams to produce world-class quality products for both domestic and overseas markets. The exposure has been quite diverse so far and I am now handling their Capex (Capital Expenditure) projects portfolio, worth around 700 crores, and am based out of Kolkata.
So as you would have realized by now, nothing was really planned. All I did was to try for whatever came my way (I was only clear about not going for MS or PhD, and for which I didn’t try — I hadn’t even written the GRE).
I am sure many of you would also be in similar dilemmas about life post graduation. While some of us, a very few of us, do know what they want to do, a majority of us don’t. And that can get frustrating. But my experience tells me that without trying out something, we can’t really say if we want it or not. I had a belief that I would fared well in whatever I would have gotten into — we are after all IITians and are grilled enough during our stay on campus — and that is the faith with which I kept pursuing all possible options.
It would have been slightly difficult to choose had I cracked more than one opportunity — like both IIM Bangalore and ITC. In that case, I would have consulted my family, my seniors, my faculty and then taken a call.
Some of you might also be wondering about why I haven’t done an MBA so far. Now honestly I didn’t want to do an MBA after graduation because I knew what it would offer me. I was pursuing it just for the sake of it, for the sake of having an option, for the sake for going for it had I cracked it. But after joining the Corporate world, I understood the importance of an MBA and I now feel that it is not time for me yet to go for it.
ADVICE FOR STUDENTS
The short point is that you guys are only 21 or 22 years old at the moment. Unless you have the streak of an entrepreneur in you and want to make in big in life by the time you are 30 (which by the way does not come easy, and happens to only a small fraction of people), you have 40 odd years to prove your mettle and end your career at a high. Don’t forget that you are an IITian, and that you do possess the basic attitude and aptitude to undertake any job of the world (may be not the job of a lifeguard of an Australian beach though!). Things may not turn out the way you would want them to in the immediate short term, but my suggestion is to just ride along after appropriately factoring in the advise of your well-wishers and your own wisdom.
Aashish Goel
Available at: aashishgoel87@gmail.com.
