Rakesh Kumar, Class of 2024, MSc in Green Electronics
If there were one word to encapsulate Rakesh’s postgraduate journey, it would undoubtedly be unconventional.
“Nothing went to plan,” joked Rakesh.
On the other hand, perhaps because nothing had gone to plan, Rakesh had one of the best and fullest times of his life.
“Well, I had a taste of the full gamut of life. I could not ask for more, honestly,” laughed Rakesh.
Having graduated from PES University with distinction and four years of working experience at Tektronix as a Field-Programmable Gate Arrays Engineer, the ever-methodical Rakesh had it all planned out. He was all set to pursue his postgraduate studies at TUM Asia in an MSc in Green Electronics in 2020.
“I used to design FGBA-based digital circuit design and systems, but I have always been curious about the fabrication process of chips and the technologies involved. Right from the start, all I wanted was to join MSc in Green Electronics and only that,” said Rakesh.
When everything was about to fall into place for Rakesh, the global pandemic struck the world and threw all plans out the window.
“I had to defer my studies, which threw all my plans off course. It was all very uncertain then, and I was afraid of how it would affect my career trajectory,” explained Rakesh.
Eventually, Rakesh joined in 2022, and for the first time in his life, he was away from his family and alone in his undertaking. He was learning about the foundry business and the various manufacturing technologies used to produce the chips. He was in his element. As classes began to commence in earnest, Rakesh became confident that everything would fit nicely in its place.
Just as things were moving like clockwork and Rakesh was looking forward to beginning his internship, a spanner in the works caught him completely off guard.
“There was some human error at the company where I was interning, and they could not provide remuneration during my internship. I was left with two options: secure another internship opportunity that provides fair remuneration, but that would mean I would surely not be able to graduate in time, or lick my wounds and bite the bullet,” said Rakesh.
Caught between a rock and a hard place, Rakesh chose to continue working, channelling his energy into his master’s thesis.
Experiencing such an abyss not only left him scarred but also new muscles. Rakesh fully experienced the full gamut of life’s trials and tribulations. He developed the needed sophistry to manoeuvre out of the Machiavellian ploys of other hands. Most importantly, he realised that the world is cast in shades of grey.
Despite all that had happened, Rakesh felt these obstacles paled in comparison against the grand vision he had laid out for himself.
“It was probably an unfortunate series of accidents,” laughed Rakesh.
It did mean learning to cast away negative thoughts in your mind and learn to remain unfazed regardless of whatever obstacles there are.
“After my internship, I knew I had to find a job. I managed to secure a job at AMD Xilinx as a silicon design engineer. Despite my background in microelectronics, my experience in integrated circuit design and my knowledge of fabrication gave me leverage. I stood out amongst others and managed to secure my career dream. Even as nothing goes according to plan, keep your gaze on your goal, and you will get there eventually,” Rakesh said.