Hearing from people who have traversed through the same path as us is always a great experience. So here is Rendezvous; a brief interview from the active members of IEEE.
For this Rendezvous, we have Mr. Akash P Nambiar, pursuing MBA at IIM Udaipur and an alumnus of FISAT. Come on let's hear what he have to say.
❓ Tell us about yourself, what are you currently doing?
✅ My name is Akash Padmanabhan Nambiar Kodoth, I come from a place known as Saptha Bhasha Sangama Bhoomi, it is in Kasaragod. I did my schooling initially from Kendriya Vidyalaya after that I joined the Federal Institute of Science and Technology for completing my engineering in electronics and communication branch. Soon after that I worked for a couple of years, one year I worked as a software engineer in UST Global and later I continued in the same company but I was doing a different role in business operations for the next two years. Right now I’m doing MBA from IIM Udaipur, I have completed my first year and right now I’m doing my internship.
❓ What made you choose MBA over your position at UST Global?
✅ While I was working in UST Global I actually realised that I always had a strong inclination towards managerial things and doing managerial activities. In college, IEEE had given me a lot of experience and I actually wanted to have some industry experience, so I chose to work in UST. While I worked there the next two years in a Business Operators’ role I realised that I was more passionate over this. I needed to have some practical knowledge and learnings about how all the things can be utilized efficiently that’s when I took my MBA.
❓ Did you have a goal since joining BTech and have you achieved it?
✅ To be honest, I didn’t have any goals when I was joining BTech. My only goal during BTech was to use the four years I have and explore different things that I like. That’s how my first year started and when I joined IEEE it helped me a lot. I am a person who loves to talk, who loves to anchor and loves to take sessions and things like that. Through IEEE I have been able to achieve a lot of things like handle sessions for students, explore different places, handle various leadership roles. I’m the kind of person who believes to take things the way it is and yeah I’m happy with that too right now.
❓ What made you take an IEEE membership? Could you share your hilarious journey through IEEE with us?
✅ Actually, I was not present for the IEEE orientation in my college. After this, while I was chit chatting among friends I heard that a couple of seniors had told that there will be a lot of activities and the membership fee is a bit high and my friends were not even planning to join. But what actually struck me, was I’m not actually the kind of person who stays in the class, I’m not a prodigy. So when I heard about it, I felt curious and thought that it was a chance to explore my interest. So soon after that, without a second thought I decided to give it a shot and join IEEE for one year and see how it goes. Surprisingly it went really well and I’ve been an IEEE member for past 6 years.
❓ How was your college life, academics and all? In what all ways do you balance academics and IEEE?
✅ I did my engineering in a private college. In a private college you don’t get much freedom so one thing to take care was to manage academics along with the activities. You can’t just through off your academics and do whatever you want. One of my biggest challenge was getting permission for co-curricular activities. There was the fun part too, even though I missed a lot of classes I make sure that I get good marks in exams and that I don’t fail in any exams, I ensured that I don’t have to go through the supply phase. When I ask permission for IEEE activities during class time they used to ask about my academics and whether I had back papers. Since I don’t have any, I can say that with confidence. In my point of view, academics is as important as other activities, balancing your academics is important too. Because at the end of the day if you have all the things in the world and you don’t have your academics, it isn’t worth it. I wouldn’t say excel in academics, since I was never an excellent guy but I would say I managed it both so that I could follow my passion in organizing events.
❓ Can you share your experience of working with the PIE team?
✅ Yeah. So the first time I heard about the PIE was when I was in college, maybe during my fourth year. That time the team was just formed and some of the seniors I knew were part of it. But I just heard that it had something to do with entrepreneurship and things like that. I got involved in the PIE, was when I was working in UST. Some of the section execom members had suggested me and Juliana for managing PIE and taking up some roles. That was when I started exploring PIE. It is right now more than three years I have been actively working within the IEEE Kerala Section and that's solely because of the bonding and homely feeling that all the volunteers get there. And my experience has been nice and since we started from scratch we neither had a past nor a future. We just worked on our present. And it was really good to explore various things, bringing up a team completely from scratch, mentoring those students who were in the team and basically having fun with them along with organizing the events.
❓ How did you feel when you came to know about your award? What was your immediate response? Were you expecting it?
✅ I wouldn't fake it by saying that I was not expecting the award. Because I have always been passionate about whatever I do. So when I submitted for the awards, as someone nominated me, it was something I wanted to have because it was kind of a recognition for the works that we had done. More than just an appreciation, for me, I take it as an honour for what hard work PIE did for that year. So I would say I was not surprised when I got the award. To speak of how I felt, it was really great to be recognized as the Outstanding Student Volunteer in all India and in the same year I had won the Outstanding Kerala Section Volunteer Award too. So when you receive these awards you feel quite happy and when you share it with your parents they are also quite excited. So it's a great feeling and it always stays and you know it's a great memory to have.
❓ Who all were the strong supporters in your life to success? Were there any challenges you faced while your journey to success? How did you react to those ups and downs on the way?
✅ So my strongest supporter are my parents. Even though they don't have any idea about what I do, they have always given me the freedom to explore things. Even when I won the award they didn’t even know that I had applied for it or why it was given to me or anything. But they have always given me the freedom to travel, do things I like. And there were a lot of IEEE volunteers that I was very close to. As it goes, Sahil, Juliana, my hub team, etc. I was also part of the link team. As every year passes in IEEE, you meet new people you also have a large network within you with all those people supporting you throughout the IEEE journey.
If you ask me about my ups and downs I have had my chain of ups and downs. When I joined the first year of work experience I felt like I didn’t belong there. When I was doing the software development job I didn't feel like I was a person who is meant for that industry. I did feel bad. At that time also IEEE, complimented me because I got involved in such activities that I loved. So it was more of like week days you do work and during weekend you do something you like. Other than that I would say it's not like the world is not really fair, nothing comes in a free plate to you. So I would say that I have had to go for certain things and find certain things. Nothing was awful to me. So even though I it is a great feeling to do it and achieve it, you would like to have some support at all points of your career. How I faced it is all because of my passion. Because when you like something, you want to do something, you don't care about what obstacles you face. Because at the end of the day if you want to live happily then you have to follow your passion. So all the obstacles that I had, I faced it. I don't let anyone or anything push me down beyond a certain point. And I think for myself that yeah, this is Akash and Akash can't give up for something like that. Yeah, it has been fun till now. Let's see how it goes further.
❓ How do you feel now? Do you feel any regrets for the decision you have taken till now?
✅ Yeah sometimes I do, but not major decisions because I'm more of a person who believes if you've taken something just survive it and get over it. So I don't have any major regrets in my life. Because even if there is something that doesn't go well I think that, not everything in life is meant to be perfect. So if I've taken something wrong too, I don't regret it much and think about it a lot. I believe that facing the situation and getting over it is more important rather than contemplating the decision that I've already taken.
❓ Can you share the valuable message you have for students regarding the pros and cons of joining IEEE?
✅ So I am not someone to share insights or advices. But let me share my personal experience. What I think students should see being an IEEE volunteer is like getting into a simple supermarket where you can get in and do whatever you want, there are a lot of options you can do, pick whatever you want. You can choose to be a leader, a volunteer or you can go for managerial activities, etc. Also, you can be a part of technical projects. You can travel to places and can be a part of great teams, etc. It's similar to a supermarket I would say, so all you have to do is pick whatever you want and what is apt for you.
Pros of IEEE is that it gives you a lot of exposure to interact with a lot of people and network with high professionals. At the end of the day what has helped me is meeting a lot of people with the same mind and same vibes. They complement your journey, not just while in IEEE but throughout your journey, you can become close friends and you can get to travel a lot with them. Cons is maybe people don't know how to use it effectively. Its not something where you get instructed to do things like in schools. Its more of a self mentored platform. If you want to use it you have to search and find it yourself. Other than that it is just a great way of getting to meet a lot of new people and explore yourself.