The students of BITS Pilani K. K. Birla Goa Campus recently had the chance to interact with two successful young BITSians, courtesy the BITS Embryo initiative.

The first speaker was Abhishek Humbad, EEE (2005) from the Pilani campus. Abhishek is the founder of the Wall Street Club at Pilani, and has done an MBA from IIM Bangalore. Presently he works at NextGen, a company in the energy and environment space, which he co-founded coming out of b-school. He is a part of the Prime Minister’s Team on Climate Change, was selected as one of Asia’s Best 100 Entrepreneurs, and is a part of a policy team at the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Government of India.

Abhishek shared his journey, explaining how from having a mere idea and a zeal to multiply money, he went on to start his own company, ‘NextGen’. The idea of NextGen germinated during his undergrad days at BITS where he published a couple of research papers, won B-Plan competitions and did research projects for organizations like the World Bank. He talked about how NextGen helps companies go green by estimating their carbon footprint and reducing it through various energy and waste efficiency solutions. He shared some valuable experiences with the audience, advising them to invest in themselves in the initial stages of their careers. He urged them to concentrate on learning, put in every possible effort, and try to be the best in the world at what they do. He talked about his stay in Pilani, and the story behind the hugely successful ‘Wall Street Club’. He also shared how he was one of the youngest men almost everywhere he worked. He would be surrounded by people more than twice his age, and he recalled how he gained new perspectives working with them. He also talked about how during the course of his four years in Pilani, his ambitions changed from the 4F’s of Fame, Fortune, Ferrari and Female to the 3I’s of India, Impact and Innovation. The session, like the speaker himself, stood apart to motivate fresh brains to do something that adds value to the nation.

The second speaker was Harshad Deshmukh, a 2006 batch BITSian who graduated with M.Sc. Mathematics and B.E. Computer Science last year. He worked at Cisco Systems, Bengaluru for a short while before going on to pursue higher education in Computer Science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Harshad spoke at length about the application aspect of pursuing MS and PhD abroad. He emphasised that going for higher education is a life-changing experience and should be chosen only after careful and thorough deliberations. He talked about the MS-or-PhD dilemma, and how to choose between the two. He also advised on how to decide which universities one should target. He mentioned the amount of time that should be devoted for preparation of GRE/TOFEL, statement of purpose and getting recommendations. He highlighted the need to remain informed of various application and fellowship grant deadlines. Harshad also talked about BITS2MSPhD as a platform where students can discuss and seek advice for the same.