>> Yeah. My name is Sasikanth Sunkara.
I go by Sasi, so the folks call me Sasi.
I work for a major food service
contracting company here in Charlotte.
I'm a senior director for
information systems in the IT area.
I look after the enterprise scale
applications and the databases and as such.
In this case, just from industry aspect, we
are a support organization for the company.
The company is more focused on
food services and, you know,
those type of other things like a cafeteria.
>> Right.
>> Like a cafeteria.
There in cafeteria, you order
a food then you get food.
>> Right.
>> But there's a lot behind the
scenes happens to get to that point.
It's pretty much all over the place because
my team and myself, we're responsible for a,
you know, pretty wide area of things,
design development to the support
as well any of these application.
So one side, we maybe working on a new delivery,
then it was something new functionality we're
about a deliver maybe in a
month or maybe in a few weeks.
Those are design effort and
development efforts going on,
obviously, testing in those type of things.
One that is going on, the things we're
already dealing with into the production,
that means they're already
helping, you know, in the process.
They need to be maintained.
They need to be monitored.
They need to be maintained and,
you know, if there's any problems,
we need to kind of like take
care of them [inaudible].
So it's-- it depends on a day-to-day basis.
Sometimes, it depends on [inaudible]
somebody may run into a problem
which was not discovered early on and then
we end up trying to find out why it happened
and try to address that so that
the end users are not impacted
and they can move on into what [inaudible].
It's actually twofold.
One is the-- the challenges and opportunities.
The challenge is in a way is more as a problem
solver [inaudible], there's a problem or a need
if you look at the [inaudible] as a
problem itself then as a, you know,
you want to solve the problem and get
a better understanding of the problem
and you solve it, or as an opportunity.
You can see that as an opportunity to
do something different and a value add
to the organization and as allows a value
add to the-- your team and everybody else.
So there's-- they're both used in
the areas where they're applicable.
And let's say there's a new product
requirement, you know, it could be a new item
that business didn't ask,
we may came up it with it
because of the team members had these great
ideas, we [inaudible] like came up with, "Oh,
how about doing it this way than
the way we are doing it today?"
>> Right.
>> It's-- definitely, we
see that as an opportunity.
So then we present and then maybe, you know,
get approved from the folks and then move on.
And then the challenge could be there
maybe a requirement folks are coming back
and asking we want this by this time.
The time here is a constraint.
Well, I-- yes, obviously given the time, effort
and, you know, money, you could do anything.
But that was-- those three things play
into the constraint equation as well.
So those are the normal challenges for anybody.
It's not only just for me--
>> Right.
>> -- in general.
Anyone working to deal with
something, obviously,
those are the three things come into a picture.
So-- to get to the point, I mean,
[inaudible] talked some of that kind of like,
you know, there's no small job as such.
I mean I-- any opportunity available through
the intern's aspect are self-learned.
Sometimes, you won't-- you have a problem
out there you see as a challenge today.
Try to solve it by yourself.
I mean, there's a lot of resources
out there today, you know,
and [inaudible] that you get [inaudible].
Let's say you want to develop a small program.
With a lot of information out
there to guide you to do that,
all you have to do is put
your effort, focus on it,
and then [inaudible] particulate data
what the problem you're trying to solve.
And that gives you enough confidence.
I mean, it builds your confidence
that, "Okay, I know how to do it.
I can learn new things.
It's not going to be I know
everything every time."
You're always be learning something new, that's
okay, as long as you know how to go about learn
and apply whatever you learn on
achieving something new is all you need
as an [inaudible] we, you
know, getting to that point.
My-- if I have to start back from, you
know, my schooling days, my early childhood
and the schooling is all in
my mother tongue which is a--
we call it Telugu, it is one of the
regional languages in India and I'll be--
that's the medium of instruction
all the way through my 10th grade.
And I finished my 10th grade when I
was 14 years old, I believe, you know.
And then moved on to the English
medium, there's a switch happened.
And after that, you had to switch to-- if you
want to go into the [inaudible] engineering
or medicine, any of the sciences side, the
medium of instruction has to be switched.
That's the only way I can
get into the-- those courses.
So I ended up switching that right
after my, you know, the school days.
And then the first couple
of months, and honestly,
my 11th and 12th grade has been a
challenge because of that switch.
Even though the English was one of the language
I was learning from, you know, the childhood,
but that was not the medium of instruction.
It's learned as a language,
not as a medium of instruction.
>> Right.
>> So it's kind of like you
got-- I have switched that.
And again, initially, it was a bit
of a challenge for first couple
of months then I got used to it and got up to
speak very quickly and made it through the,
you know, the school and
then went to the engineering.
The-- when I wanted to kind of like to get
engineering is it's from the childhood itself
when I used to play with things and everybody
else always conflicting something like,
you know, paving the roads or making
something up, you know, those type of things.
Then-- and I was very good at math as well.
So that's kind of like how I
got into the engineering side.
And then I got interested in
more on the electronics aspect.
I mean that's kind of like at the very
early stages [inaudible] electronics front,
and I took major in electronics
and communication
for my engineering just going back, and
again, in India, so [inaudible] was to--
[inaudible] is where I did my engineering.
Key to my success, the way I see
it, is probably is a threefold.
One is-- obviously, I feel, you know, proud
about my background and then my parents
that I think provided me enough support
to get through my education [inaudible].
Once that is in place, then the two other pieces
are-- is [inaudible], it's person-to-person.
Those two are yourself, in this case,
what you want to do, what is the goal,
and what ingredients do you have
to achieve that goal, right?
To be successful, in my terms, I see
it as a commitment and dedication
and then focus on your goal, that's it.
Rest of the things, they will come along, but
those are three primary ingredients you need
to have for anything, and to
the apply same even in here too.