Katalyst literally played the role of a catalyst in pushing me to excel: Anees Fathima
GoBarefoot: My journey with Katalyst started in 2013 when I was pursuing Engineering. My financial crisis at home became the major motive for me to enroll myself into the programme.
The first Community Team Work (CTW) programme I attended was at Goldman Sachs where I was able to broaden my understanding about ‘life at a corporate’. They gave us a platform to render our creativity, bring out the journalist and orator in us, and learn to crack the goal alongside the competing mob.
Experiencing these early-on in my career made me inimitable among my peers. My normal, nerdy college days at UVCE took a positive turn. I became more enthusiastic, lively, started interacting with zeal and enthusiasm with my classmates, and this helped me widen my friend-circle and hence my knowledge. I started participating in every college activity. I became the coordinator for the Annual inter-collegiate cultural fest of UVCE, MILAGRO 2016 and the ‘Chief Secretary’ for ‘Women in Engineering club’ and ‘Avishkar club’ of IEEE UVCE for two consecutive years. I have been felicitated by IEEE UVCE for my voluntary work and showcasing leadership qualities since my first year of Engineering. I also worked for ‘Go Green and Clean club’ and ‘Sampada’ magazine of our college. ‘VisionUVCE’, an alumni group of UVCE, named me the ‘UVCE Champ’ for my volunteering initiatives.
From giving responsibilities to making us socially aware, Katalyst has nurtured me in such a way that despite being engaged in extra-curricular activities, I was a good performer academically. It was at Katalyst that I learnt the importance of doing our projects and internships with a focus on quality and timely submission. As a result, I was selected to present my paper at the ’12th IEEE India International Conference INDICON 2015′ in Delhi. I was the first person from Computer Science Department of UVCE to write and present an IEEE Paper.
This experience brings to mind Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam’s words, “Great dreams of great dreamers are always transcended” and that “Man needs his difficulties because they are necessary to enjoy success”. After tasting the essence of success amidst all my difficulties, I realised how true these lines were.
While presenting a paper was a great achievement, I was clueless when placements started in college. I ended up giving disastrous interviews. Sanketh, my first mentor at Katalyst from Goldman Sachs, and Paramjith Singh from Seimens deciphered my weaknesses and periodically assessed me by giving programming problems to solve. Sandeep from Siemens taught me SWOT analysis and subsequently I worked to amplify my strengths. These helped me pin-point the weak points, work on them, and give better interviews.
The result: I got placed in Infinera India Pvt Ltd with a CTC of 9.25 LPA. I was felicitated by the Principal of UVCE, Dr. Venugopal K R, for getting the highest package offered in the Computer Science Department during the academic year 2015-2016.
This is not an end to my Engineering career but a start to accomplish my dreams. Katalyst literally played the role of a catalyst in shaping my personality, setting up a goal for me, and pushing me to excel in everything I do.
– Anees Fathima S
4th year B.E, CSE, UVCE
