This a Fellowship application essay I am writing for a Masters Program: They want an essay on my leadership and volunteer activities:
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At Infosys, ETL Administrators and developers each work as different corporate units. In 2012 Infosys won a new deal which required an administrator to work as a part of developer's unit. Only one person had to run the administration show in a team of 250 odd developers. When asked, each administrator from our unit was reluctant to work out of their comfort zone as no one had handled a project individually till date. But I felt it was the best opportunity to lead by example to demonstrate how we can jump out of our den, take responsibilities and fulfill the need of hour. As days passed, I observed the dependencies on me increased in a logarithmic way. To resolve this I decided to lead the task of training developers in basic administration. Even though I faced technical as well as management level challenges I kept my spirits high and stable and devised process to complete my undertakings. The end result was that both developers and myself improved their skillset, the project removed the dependency on single person and I set an example for other administrators who were reluctant.
Since the age of fifteen I have seen my parents who are active members as well as Past-Presidents of Rotary International working for social causes like helping in old-age homes, conduction Polio medication drives, and free eye-check for poor. These observations have made me believe that there are many under-privileged people around us. At 17 when I started commuting to a different town for my bachelor's degree I met various kinds of people who had never or would never get to know what computer science has done to the world. At this point, memories of parent's rotary activity and the urge to give a part of my knowledge to these kinds of people coincided. The idea to teach basic computer skills to children of remote villages struck. Every year for next four years, I and two friends took a laptop and an old PC to a nearby village in a taxi, stayed with local people for 5 days and each day taught children village basic things about computers. The challenge was to make such children computer aware who thought it was a television; holding and using mouse took a whole day. I still remember the amazement when they played Pac-man game. I also explained them about internet, video tutorials and video chats. This experience has given me a satisfaction to my urge to make a difference and taught me that we that different people understand the same thing in different frame of reference. This has helped me a lot in my professional life while dealing with clients and stakeholders who have different technical backgrounds.
Since childhood, I wanted to do everything that I observed. This habit of mine forced me take interest in various fields like music, sports, scientific model making and various other activities. One of my interests of playing "TABLA" (Indian version of hand drums) took me to Turkey to represent India at International Children's festival at Ankara 1999.
I haven't shown involvement in hundreds of activities in my life, but the ones I took up I have done it with full passion, enthusiasm and dedication. After getting good grades at bachelor degree, working 6 years at various designations in MNCs I desire to step in the field of IT related Business with full dedication. If offered fellowship I will be more motivated, will not have to borrow money from parents , avoid part-time jobs during my study hours and can concentrate more on my studies, research and health which will definitely help me excel in the IS degree program.
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Begin..
At Infosys, ETL Administrators and developers each work as different corporate units. In 2012 Infosys won a new deal which required an administrator to work as a part of developer's unit. Only one person had to run the administration show in a team of 250 odd developers. When asked, each administrator from our unit was reluctant to work out of their comfort zone as no one had handled a project individually till date. But I felt it was the best opportunity to lead by example to demonstrate how we can jump out of our den, take responsibilities and fulfill the need of hour. As days passed, I observed the dependencies on me increased in a logarithmic way. To resolve this I decided to lead the task of training developers in basic administration. Even though I faced technical as well as management level challenges I kept my spirits high and stable and devised process to complete my undertakings. The end result was that both developers and myself improved their skillset, the project removed the dependency on single person and I set an example for other administrators who were reluctant.
Since the age of fifteen I have seen my parents who are active members as well as Past-Presidents of Rotary International working for social causes like helping in old-age homes, conduction Polio medication drives, and free eye-check for poor. These observations have made me believe that there are many under-privileged people around us. At 17 when I started commuting to a different town for my bachelor's degree I met various kinds of people who had never or would never get to know what computer science has done to the world. At this point, memories of parent's rotary activity and the urge to give a part of my knowledge to these kinds of people coincided. The idea to teach basic computer skills to children of remote villages struck. Every year for next four years, I and two friends took a laptop and an old PC to a nearby village in a taxi, stayed with local people for 5 days and each day taught children village basic things about computers. The challenge was to make such children computer aware who thought it was a television; holding and using mouse took a whole day. I still remember the amazement when they played Pac-man game. I also explained them about internet, video tutorials and video chats. This experience has given me a satisfaction to my urge to make a difference and taught me that we that different people understand the same thing in different frame of reference. This has helped me a lot in my professional life while dealing with clients and stakeholders who have different technical backgrounds.
Since childhood, I wanted to do everything that I observed. This habit of mine forced me take interest in various fields like music, sports, scientific model making and various other activities. One of my interests of playing "TABLA" (Indian version of hand drums) took me to Turkey to represent India at International Children's festival at Ankara 1999.
I haven't shown involvement in hundreds of activities in my life, but the ones I took up I have done it with full passion, enthusiasm and dedication. After getting good grades at bachelor degree, working 6 years at various designations in MNCs I desire to step in the field of IT related Business with full dedication. If offered fellowship I will be more motivated, will not have to borrow money from parents , avoid part-time jobs during my study hours and can concentrate more on my studies, research and health which will definitely help me excel in the IS degree program.
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