Why should everyone be an engineer?

HYDERABAD: He started his career in Tata Consultancy Services as a junior engineer in 1969 and stepped into the shoes of the CEO in 1996.From knocking on people’s doors in USA to give them a chance to prove themselves, to making TCS a billion dollar company, Subramaniam Ramadorai has indeed come a long way.After serving TCS for a good 40 years, he has come up with his autobiography, The TCS Story ...and Beyond.In an interview with City Express, he says his book is all about ideas What inspired you to write your autobiography? I started writing this book because my colleagues and family members insisted that I should pen my journey down.Also, nobody had ever written about TCS, so I knew I had a real story to tell.It is all about ideas.I wanted the youngsters to know how institutions are built from scratch and how ideas have no boundaries.In this book, I have tried to reveal the various challenges that we faced.But I haven’t been able to cover all of them.So will you be writing another book? (Laughs) No.This is the one.Can it be called your autobiography? This is like an autobiography — it was a way to narrate the TCS story through my personal story.My TCS journey has been amazing — a very satisfying one I must say.I hope this book inspires the youth to build institutions rather than individual building.I want them to understand the difference between individual building and building of institutions.They should work towards progressing with a team.What are the challenges you faced in the beginning of your career? Earlier nobody knew about India.They all perceived it to be a poverty-ridden country wherein one finds elephants on the streets.People abroad were not aware of the intellectual capacity of Indians.My struggle began right from changing their perception, to convincing them to provide us with an opportunity.They would throw up questions like “What do you know about technology?”.And, after the first break, it was a challenge to manage people and make them work.The challengers were innumerable.What was your vision for TCS? I had not imagined anything big in the beginning.But, as we progressed, the vision was developed.In the 90s we knew that TCS would become big --- as 2000 arrived, we got closer to our dream.In 2002, we became a billion dollar company.We thought about every milestone as we came closer to it and achieved it.According to you, what is the future of technology? There is no future without technology.The current generation is growing up with technology — so they will not work in an environment which does not have technology.I think that the future is embedded with technology.You are an advisor to the Prime Minister of India in the National Council on Skill Development, Government of India.Can you throw some light on that? It is a very difficult job.But, the idea is to encourage students to opt for vocational education rather than general education.They should work towards their passion and skills.Why should everyone be an engineer? They should equip themselves with skills in a field they are passionate about and overcome all the challenges that come their way.