Friday, July 17, 2009

A customary welcome



Hello and welcome to my very first blog posting. I am Rohit Narula. I hail from a small town in India called Bhopal (most of the time known only for the 1984 incident). I did all my schooling from Campion School, an all boys school and considered to be one of the best in town. After finishing my high school, I went to Toronto for my undergrad. I started off my undergrad at Ryerson University as a Computer Engineer. Mid way through the program, I realised that electronics and control systems exicted me much more than programing. So I made the switch at the end of my 2nd year and finally graduated with Honours with an Electrical Engieering degree.




That was way back in 2006. Since then, I had been working at Royal Bank of Canada (now called RBC) as a Technical Analyst in their RBC Express department. This a little thing I call the irony of my life. I started off as a Computer Engineer because I loved programming. I went away from programming, but ended up working as a programmer after all. I started work on 20th June, 2006. I started off small with very low priority projects, but was elevated to medium priority projects within 6 months. That gave me a lot of exposure into the real world of programming. Online banking is such a wide field. Any little change that one sees on the webpage requires a huge change in the background. I started getting involved in bigger projects and eventually was given the responsibility of a high priority project in the beginning of 2008. The project was called Go Global, which would connect us to banking in Europe and Asia-Pacific. I never got to know if the project was a success or not. It is just sad how an analyst never gets to know about the success of a project, but they are immidiately called upon when there is a problem.




By the end of 2007, I seriously sarted thinking about my post graduate studies. I will still unsure about my Masters in Engineering or an MBA. I was very inerested in a masters in Biomedical Engineering. But then, I also thought it has been very long since I did anything remotely close to what is called engineering. I eventually decided on doing my MBA and started working on my GMAT. By middle of 2008, I had taken my GMAT with a good score and had already decided on the schools I want to target. By late 2008, I had chosen Schulich School of Business as my choice for MBA. In February 2009, I was offered a conditional offer by York and was confirmed by April 2009. I made my decision to quit my job at exactly 3 years of my job at RBC. It was not an easy decision to make. I was too used to the people around me and the comfortable life of a working person. But I knew I had to do something more than just a Bachelors. So I moved on and decided to take a vacation before starting school in Fall of 2009.




So I am on a vacation in India, visiting home and being pampered. I have taken up my photography a little seriously these days. This vacation has given me a lot of "me" time. I like to let my creativity work when I am alone. I think I have done one of my best photography work when I am alone. Being in India gives me so many places to capture shots that I will never see in a country like Canada. Do check out my work at: http://rnarula.deviantart.com/ If you like any of my work, please do leave a feedback. I have attached a sample of one of my most recent work.


Now before I start blogging on what I think, do let me know what YOU think of this customary welcome and introduction.

2 comments:

  1. Rohit, I am sitting at the front desk of the branch, covering for the CAO, and I reading your blog. Very interesting. You didnt mention Toastmasters and the friends you have made at this club.
    Anyways, keep writing. Through your eyes, I am seeing the sights of Bhopal and visualizing the delicious food your mom must be making for you on a daily basis.

    Vikram Varma

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  2. Vikram! How did you find this post? I am really surprised at this, pleasently! You know, I can do so much by just your encouragement! I really appreciate your support!

    Cheers!

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