Amit Tandon joined S. T. Microelectronics in 2006 upon graduating from NSIT. He joined the NVM design team in R&D division, and chronicles his fast rise through the organization, while explaining how other students can emulate him.

1. What was your profile when you joined the organization and please describe in brief your career path leading to your present position? 
In my initial years, I worked as a part of team executing various projects in design of NVM memories (both customized macros and test chips). During the initial period, I found it quite difficult to adjust in a new environment. However, as the time progressed, I developed a liking for my work . I was quite good at my work and took initiatives, as a result of which I got to handle the complete projects independently in only the second year of my job. I also got an opportunity to work with my customers in Agrate, Italy for 3 months in 2008. The fact that we are a part of R&D group offered us several opportunities to try new innovations in our designs. I latched on to one such opportunity in 2007 wherein I designed a high speed and failsafe level shifter and subsequently patented it in 2008. My consistent good performance in the organization resulted in me getting promoted to the position of Design Engineer – II, my present position, within 2.2 years.

2. What are your functions and responsibilities at this position?
In my present position I am holding multiple responsibilities such as execution of projects independently, interacting with our European customers, mentoring juniors in the team and taking care of automation needs of our group. I am also a member of productivity task force of the organization wherein we propose various ways to improve the productivity of our work.

3. How can a person add industry value to himself/herself without pursuing higher education?
From my industrial experience, I have learned that the two most important things required to excel in an industry are attitude to learn new things and sincerity towards your work. Most of the jobs in the industry are very specific and you learn most of the things about them during your on the job training. So as such, higher education doesn’t play a very critical role in your job performance. I would suggest my friends to develop an open mindset and sincere attitude towards their work to excel in the industry.

4. Compare the growth curve achieved (with/without Post Graduation degree) and put some light on sectors of industry that demand Master's degree to excel.
I feel a person’s growth in the industry is not dependent on the fact that whether he is a post graduate or not. The only parameter for his growth is how efficient and effective he is in his present job. But having said that, there are a few sectors where post graduates are offered better work profiles than graduates. KPO and analytics jobs are some examples of the same.

5. Opportunities you would recommend students to explore while at N.S.I.T.?
I would recommend students to focus seriously on their internships as it is their first opportunity to acclimatize themselves with the professional world and this experience comes very handy at the time of final placements and also during MBA interviews. Internships are also important in the way that it offers student’s an opportunity to apply their theoretical knowledge in the industry and find the correlation between what is being taught in the institute and what is being used in the industry.

6. What factors should a person consider when moving to another organization?
One should first of all look at the quality of work in another organization. Besides monetary gains, one should look at factors like history of organization, future goals, growth opportunities and and work culture (balance between professional and personal life) of the organization before making a shift. Also, one should think about his/her long term goal before making this decisoin.

7.Do you feel there is a saturation level in the career-path of individuals who do not pursue higher education, and why?
I feel the saturation level is not due to dearth of higher education; in fact it is due to our limitation of not being able to innovate much in our present job. Lack of innovation can be due to various reasons such as scarcity of resources, lack of freedom and support from superiors/organization, similar kind of projects etc.
So, in such cases one tends to burn out and look for other avenues especially management. Therefore, people tend to pursue higher education to diversify and enhance their present skill set and break the monotony of the present job. However, I strongly feel that one tends to saturate in their career even after pursuing higher education if he/she can’t innovate and bring more value to his/her present job.

8.Generally, what are the hot destinations outside India where freshers, not interested in pursuing masters, can expect a favorable response?
I feel places like Dubai, Singapore and Europe offer lucrative jobs to freshers and also offer good opportunities for them to excel in their domain. Here I would like to specifically mention Europe (from my personal experience) where the work culture is very open and it gives you ample opportunities to grow.

9.What do you do when you are not at work/to escape monotonicity?
In my free time, I love watching Hindi Movies and listening to movies songs. I can proudly claim that I can watch any and every Hindi movie. :)