I am an ambitious and result-oriented individual who believes in achieving results through commitment, perseverance, and a blend of hard plus smart work. I also believe that people should take the help of tools & technologies to create magic out of their work.
Academically, I am an MBA (Finance) graduate and an engineer. After I graduated as an engineer, I worked with TCS for around 3.5 years. Within a year, I got into a project management role where I worked closely with senior Project Managers & Delivery heads. Fortunately, there I discovered the ability how I can handle complex and varied tasks with strong analytical & numerical skills.
Currently, I am working as a Process Manager in the Investment Banking Operations domain. Though I have been doing justice to my roles and responsibilities, somewhere deep down, I believe that AIML can be a pathbreaking revolution & can transform the way how businesses work and decisions are taken. So, I straightened my thoughts &, with that belief, stepped ahead to be a part of this revolution. On top of all, it is super fun & requires everyday brainstorming.
I still am working as a Process Manager in the Investment Banking Operations vertical. I manage multiple teams of 30 associates that are part of Trade Settlements & Reconciliation of OTC derivative products like Forex, Equity, Commodities, etc., for Morgan Stanley.
The roles and responsibilities in my profession demand a lot of time and effort since we deal with real-time transactions. You almost cannot take your eyes off the screen; moreover, a lot of financial & reputational stake (for both – our Client & my organization) depends on my team’s work. On top of that, you have a lot of stakeholders that you have to deal with every day. Hence, in a nutshell, I can say the challenge was to find that time & space from your life to learn something new with 100% focus as, by day’s end, your brain is already exhausted.
I did not have any apprehensions about learning through an online channel. In fact, that is the best method suitable to me as I could learn at my own time & pace. I chose Great learning because I found their curriculum to be extensive – I felt it covered all the major topics. It also would offer dual certificates from Great Learning & The McCombs School of Business. Unlike other platforms, it would give me be equivalence to a Post Graduate Program rather than a certification. Lastly, the best deal is its career support through the Excelerate feature – as my significant concern was – what would be the benefit of learning AIML if I cannot find an opportunity to implement it. I was kind of aware of how good industry connects Great Lakes has, and I believed it could help me find a suitable opportunity in this new area.
I believe mentoring learning sessions at Great Learning is an inevitable part for me, as most of the hidden insights & concepts are discussed there. Listening to someone else’s doubts also gives me a lot of clarity & makes the learning coherent. So far, the quality has been great and satisfactory. I have been lucky to have such mentors who have sound knowledge and understanding of the subject, and they have been amazing in putting across the concepts in a simple & transparent style. All those interactions and doubt clearing discussions have made me empowered and more confident. The role of mentors in one’s success is immense. They teach us new skills, provide guidance and motivation when needed. They help us learn from our mistakes. With their experience, you only move ahead rather than start from scratch. At Great Learning, first of all, the mentors are knowledgeable and industry experts. They also encourage open discussions, and they are reachable offline. In terms of learning sessions, along with theoretical concepts, they discuss industry applications as well – which helps in comprehensive learning.
All I can say is that the entire learning is my accomplishment. And to be honest, as of now, I have not been able to implement my new skills at work since I am working in an IB operations domain. Hence, I could not get much opportunity to implement anything due to said constraints. Though I am sure, through Excelerate or Great Lakes’ industry connect, I would soon get an opportunity and would be able to accomplish a great deal.
I feel analytics is an interesting avenue that is fun and, at the same time, requires creativity. My first and foremost advice is that people should figure out and be clear in their vision – whether working with Data & analytics is something that would give them the required stimulus, fun & satisfaction. If they are clear about it – then just take up the course & complete it end to end. Then only the entire picture will be clear. Focus on practical industry applications in parallel to the underlying concepts. Be a part of some peer group and keep yourself active – this will have a compounding effect on the learning.
