Successful people get to win when they shift the focus from themselves to others, so goes an adage. The transition of Divyanshu Verma (Student, Class of 2023-25), from a software engineer to a technical manager tells us that the statement carries merit. In an interaction with our team under “Career Guidance” initiative, Divyanshu highlighted a few striking milestones of his eventful career journey.
Excerpts:
Q: You mentioned overcoming the technical complexities of SAP through continuous learning. Can you briefly describe a specific instance where you took on a project with little prior knowledge, and how that challenge and learning contributed to your growth?
Answer: During my tenure at TCS, I was assigned to a U.S.-based project called Axalta. Despite having no prior implementation experience, I embraced the challenge head-on. Through online research, help from colleagues, and seeking support from seniors, I successfully completed the project. This instilled in me the belief and confidence to tackle demanding assignments, proving that unfamiliar territory is not something to be intimidated by.
Q: While transitioning from a software engineer to a manager, what skills do you think are most crucial for moving from a technical role to a leadership or managerial position?
Answer:
- A manager must first have technical knowledge and should have worked on a reasonable number of projects.
- He should be a subject matter expert (SME) because people who become managers with just a management degree and no field experience end up being bad managers because they don’t know the ground realities. (Once the above criteria are satisfied, then):
- He must know how to communicate i.e. being able to convey what you mean in simple and fewer words. I personally believe that the responsibility of communication lies with the sender and not the receiver.
- A manager needs to have solid control over his emotions so as to be able to manage various stakeholders like vendors, employees, clients, seniors, juniors etc.
- Last but not least he must have empathy and must know that he is working with humans and not robots. People have families, commitments and challenges (personal, financial, health etc.), and hence always have that humanistic approach in the way of dealing with things.
Q: You drew a comparison between leadership in technology and coaching in sports. Can you describe a specific instance, of how practical, hands-on experience has helped your approach to leading teams and managing projects in the SAP ecosystem?
Answer: Practical experience helped a lot in mentoring my team effectively. I was aware of the realities of the SAP world and hence I was able to transfer the relevant knowledge to my team on how to resolve issues and how to handle difficult customers. This in turn enabled them to be effective consultants. Through my experiences, I was able to tell my team about the pitfalls and the nitty-gritty to watch out for.
Q: Throughout your decade-long journey in consulting, you’ve worked with major global clients. Take a client and outline how working on high-stakes projects shaped your problem-solving approach and decision-making under pressure.
Answer: My first full-fledged management experience was with a client called Hydro One, they are a Canada-based power generation/distribution company. I was working as a Service Delivery Manager (SDM) and Hydro One was a key client, paying millions of dollars to my company.
Now, there were some severe penalties in the contract that Cap Gemini had with Hydro One in case of lapses in process compliance and resolution times. So there was always pressure during high-priority issues to get them resolved on time and as per the stipulated processes, and I had to ensure that I reached out to the right people and make important decisions on what should be the resolution steps so as to not attract any penalty.
Author:
Mr. Divyanshu Verma
Note: The views expressed by the author reflect his personal opinion and do not represent the
standpoint of ICFAI Foundation for Higher Education or ICFAI Online.