From Campus

to Corporate:
My Journey to
Director at
BlackRock
• Introduction
• My Journey: From College to Director
• Career Paths in Finance, Tech & Consulting
• Skills That Matter
• Placements, Interviews & Resume Tips
• The Future: AI, Careers & Staying Relevant
• Q&A and Closing Thoughts
My Journey:
From College
to Director
College Life Joined Bachelor Engineering CSE BIT Mesra
Campus in 2007

and First Job

• First experience living in a hostel, outside of home,
no parental supervision, manage pocket money
• Back in the day, no smart phones, LAN was not there
in first year, lot of people to people interaction and
lot of friends
• Averaged a 6+ grade
• Was sure I wanted to join the IAF, cleared SSB with
AIR Rank 2
• Got rejected in the medical cause I was color blind
• Got rejected by Samsung, Sony, rejected Tata Steel,
stayed the winter and got my first job offer from
Infosys, followed by Sapient (now Publicis)
 Associate Technology, Sapient 2011-2013
Professional Worked as a C++ backend developer, helping manage a
key hedge fund account of Publicis

Progression Joined BlackRock as an Analyst in 2013

• Started as a C++ backend developer, working on a
low latency high volume risk engine that was
responsible for compute intensive calculations in
seconds
• Continued to evolve as an individual contributor,
from feature development to entire project
ownership
• Started spending a lot of time interacting with
clients and reading about finance
• Started to manage a team of engineers by year
2019, diversified tech stack to include Java, Python
• Cleared FRM certification in year 2022
• Became a Director in year 2022
• Started to manage another engineering team in the
year 2025
What do I do on a daily basis

Analytical + Soft Skills Core Engineering

• Go through my emails and messages, and • I spend on an average 30% time reading,
reply to all important emails/messages writing and debugging code
• Deal with the most difficult things first and • Debugging and going through logs takes a
help my team with the same majority of the 30% of time
• Execute • We do not code when we think, and we do not
think when we code
• Communicate with teams across India,
Budapest and New York • Exploration
• Exploration
What are my learnings
Things that matter Things that do not matter

• Communication – not just spoken English but • Fixation with a particular technology
ability to listen, comprehend and represent,
• Company brand over job profile
asking the right questions and people skills
• Degree may help you get the initial break but
• Core skills and ability to execute – Deep
becomes less of a factor as your grow your
expertise in Tech or Domain that creates
role
direct value for the company
• Chasing salary over job profile
• Seek and embrace change – learn quick and
deep but also align with global changes
• Authentic networking and your organic brand
• Being bold and learning to say “No”
Career Paths
in Finance,
Tech &
Consulting
Engineering Career Paths

Data Engineering Platform Engineering Domain Engineering

• Working with large • Decide the • Develop business
amounts of data engineering strategy features for revenue
• Distributed computing for the organization generating clients
frameworks like Spark, • Setting up and • Strong domain skills
Hadoop maintaining required including
• Cloud computing webservers, load finance
platforms like Azure, balancers, intra
• Possibility to transition
GCP company messaging,
to business
• Cloud based data network, firewall
development roles
warehousing solutions
like Snowflake,
Databricks
Finance Career Paths

Strategy Product Business

• Decide on the strategic • Translate strategy to Development
initiatives the firm products • Strong domain skills
• Perform periodic • Prototyping to required to understand
competitive landscaping understand product clients and their
fitment requirements
• Engage with clients and
understand what they • Program and project • Strong communication
want management and people to people
responsibility skills
• Prepare roadmap for
execution and budgeting • Ability to work with
multiple personalities
• Strong communication,
analytical skills and
domain skills
Skills That
Matter
Technical and
Soft Skills
Technical Skills
• Conceptual clarity over quantity
• Being hands on

Soft Skills
• Communication – ability to understand and
ability
• Understanding when a client says “I want a fast
solution”
• Emotional Intelligence – being able to work
with other human beings and getting the best
out of them
Certification Importance of Certifications
Certifications like CFA and FRM can enhance
professional credibility and open up career
opportunities in finance and risk
management.

Skills That Matter

Some skills, such as analytical thinking and
financial modeling, are essential in the
finance and risk management sectors.

Skills That Are Overrated

Certain skills may be deemed overrated in
the finance field, such as excessive
networking without substantive knowledge.
Placements,
Interviews &
Resume Tips
Interview Prep
and Resume Tips
Interview Preparation Tips
• Read about the job profile and the company you
are interviewing for
• Be genuinely curios
• Say no if you are not sure about the answer to a
question
• Be hands on, be prepared to show rather than tell
e.g github links, linked in profile

Resume Do's and Don’ts

• Resume needs to be tailored as per the job profile
while maintaining authenticity
• Focus on clarity and concise, quality over quantity
• Be able to speak and defend your resume
The Future:
AI, Careers &
Staying
Relevant
AI and Emerging
Roles
Impact of AI on Jobs
AI technology is significantly reshaping various job sectors,
automating tasks and changing job requirements.

Emerging Job Roles

New roles are emerging in response to AI advancements, focusing
on creativity, data analysis, and technology management.

Fading Job Roles

As AI automates certain processes, some traditional job roles are
fading, requiring workers to adapt and upskill.
 Q&A

P
Parting Wisdom

College Insights
Find the subjects or topics that interest you and go deep into them.

Guiding Quotes
You are the CEO of your Career

Stay Curious
Encourage continuous curiosity and reaching out to others for
support and knowledge. It's crucial for personal growth.