Q. How different was your college life from the one we have right now and how was your experience at Thapar?

A. I was at Thapar from 1994-1998. We had a batch size of 220 students. There were only 3 hostels A, B and C for boys and hostel E for girls but now there are a lot many buildings. We did not have that much technology; mobile phones were not there. Now it is difficult to imagine, but there was one landline in the hostel so if someone got a call from home then they had to run from the third floor to attend the call. We had a lot of fun in the hostel; the professors were great. I was a part of Electronics (Instrumentation and Control) branch and at that point of time, funnily enough, CS students were looked down upon and mechanical engineering was considered the best branch. I am still in touch with my friends, we are all spread globally and doing quite well.

Q. How has the experience of working in different companies shaped you as a person and since you have worked abroad as well, how different is the work life out there?

A. After I completed college, I worked here for a bit, then I worked in the US for a couple of years, then came back and completed my MBA from the Indian School of Business. So, in all, I spent about 16 years in New York. In 2019, I came back to India and joined Paytm. What you get to learn depends mainly on where you work and the environment. As compared to the beginning of my career, I am working 10 times harder now. We learn the most in the first stretch of our career, so it should be the only concern. In terms of work life balance, I don't see much of a difference in India and the US if you work in a good company and have a good environment.

Q. What are the different learnings from college that you still try to follow in your daily life?

A. I was not much disciplined in college so I had to unlearn things. I was taking life as it comes now, I am more disciplined. I was persistent throughout though, be it sports, academics or friendships. And that is the one thing I still follow. I don't get disheartened by failures easily. One thing that I learnt was the value of relationships. The friendships of the professional world are competitive. College taught me that friendships and relationships do matter and that translates to business relations too.

Q. How has the transition from a technical background to a finance one been?

A. It wasn't tough. When we get into an engineering school, it takes a lot of hard work. Engineering instils discipline and analytical skills which help in finance. For people with tech background, navigating to finance is much easier. I also did CFA (all 3 levels) when I was in the US. Today, both the fields are equally important but technology drives things and definitely has the upper hand.

Q. You have worked in top notch companies, what do you suggest to students like us to make it big to the industry or what do you look for while recruiting students?

A. Problem solving skills and the ability to upgrade your knowledge with time will take you places. While recruiting CG and co-curriculars do matter. If you have experience, CG has no role to play but if we are recruiting you from campus, CG does matter because that is the only thing that we know about you. We look at the probability of success while recruiting and CG does give us a confidence. Sports, co-curriculars and CG matters for a good first job.

Q. If given a chance to relive one of your college moments then what would it be?

A. It was probably the 2nd or the 3rd year and it was Holi. Most of the people had gone home so it was only the 30 or 40 of us and we tried almost everything possible. We did a lot of weird things and it was a funny day from the start. Those were the funniest 18 hours of my life and I definitely want to relive that day.