He has been associated with IT/Telecom/Mobile Industry for more than 16 years in different responsibilities in Product management, Product Development, Business Development and Delivery and has widespread experience working with Fortune 100 companies as well as the Silicon Valley startups in the Telecom and Mobile space. He brings together the experience in the software services business as well as product business apart from being an entrepreneur earlier.

He spoke to the graduating students on the important skills one needs to develop to climb the career ladder. Among several skills that are important, he noted that technical skill is only a small part of the entire set. Other skills like communication and soft skills are also important but often neglected.

He also advised the students to be ready for surprises after they join a company. “Even though you may be hired as a tester, they may put you in a different role after a month or even a year depending on their requirement. At that time, you can not say that you wont be able to do that job. You have to. At Laqsh they recognize the importance of attitude and soft skills. Their course is well structured to meet the demands of the workplace.” He asked the students on the type of company they would like to work for- a startup company or a large company. Noting a mixed response from the graduating batch, he added the importance of working in a startup. “A start-up is a smaller company with lesser human resources and the roles of any individual in not fully fixed. You work under multiple roles and therefore learn at double the pace. At the same time, a larger company has defined roles for you,gives more flexible working hour and also perhaps better remuneration. So there’s a trade-off.” He added that as a graduate it’s tough to make a choice where his first job should be. On a personal note, he felt that for the first two or three years, it’s important to gain as much knowledge and skills as possible. Better positions in larger companies can be secured later in life also. A startup gives this opportunity better than a larger company.

Mr. Vadiraj made another important point that was valuable to the students. “Software industry is very good for an employee who wants to learn. Unlike in a manufacturing industry, your mistakes during product development are not punished as severely in the IT industry. What will happen if you make a mistake? May be there will be a bug, or your logic itself may be wrong. But it wont matter because it can be changed very easily. But in a company that makes cameras, if the parts are not manufactured properly, they have to be scrapped.”

To end the speech, he emphasised on taking up any job that comes in the way rather than waiting for any specific role. As an entreprenuer, he also suggested them not just to look for jobs, but try to create them. “You need not do it tomorrow. But keep it in the back of your mind. You don’t have to be Steve Jobs to be a successful entreprenuer- it’s not that hard”

Students Speak

Ms. Swetha from the graduating BLR-10 batch also spoke on the occasion. Shwetha secured a job in Zingreel even before the completion of the course. She felt that it’s important to learn by oneself. “In my company, the team lead just comes once in two or three days an assigns us the work. And he will not tell when he will come next. He come the very next day or after a week also. But you have to be ready with the work when he comes. It shows that you have to be adaptable and willing to work.” On the question from one of the graduating students on facing the interview, she added “You should be confident in what you know. You need not know everything, just tell them what you know. In my case, throughout the interview I spoke about my skills in C. But in the end they said that they need some one who knows php and not C. I was a bit nervous but I told them confidently that I can learn php easily. That last sentence got me the job!”

Mr. Govindaraj from Batch 9 spoke about the importance of having good attitude. “You should have a good attitude to get the job you want. You may start small with in a different role from what you expect, but it will lead you to your destination in the future. You may desire to eat a juicy mango in winter but you have to wait till the next summer to get that.”

Ms. Priya spoke about how coming to Laqsh changed her employment prospects. She is a graduate from BLR-10 software testing batch and is currently employed at Renesas Mobile. “I had attended many interviews before joining Laqsh. But I was always nervous and weak in technical skills, so I did not get any job. But after coming to Laqsh I learnt how to face interviews. Laqsh made me go through many mock interviews and aptitude tests throughout my course. They also helped me during my interviews so that I could maintain my confidence level. Thank you Laqsh.”

The evening ended with the distribution of certificates by the chief guest to the graduating batch.