From being a researcher in India to a public servant in the UK, this Apeejay alumna’s journey will leave you inspired

Confusions, misjudgements and fresh beginnings are healthy aspects of growth. While choosing a career path, most individuals are bound to go through these experiences. In a candid conversation with students of Apeejay Institute of Management Engineering and Technical Campus (AIMETC) in Jalandhar, Ms. Neha Sharma, an alumna, shared her life journey to motivate them to think beyond the ordinary.

The 35-year-old public servant who is currently working as Senior Executive Officer with Grade E, in Telford completed her Masters in Computer Application (MCA) from Apeejay in 2011. During her college years, she was conferred a gold medal for her stellar academic performance. After completing her education, she worked as Project Consultant with National Institution of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj (NIRDPR), Hyderabad and as a part-time Research Scholar with RBI Chair Professor Indrakant Sulibhavi at Council for Social Development, Hyderabad. She also has various research papers published under her name at national and International journals, and in 2018, she won the ‘Best Paper Award’ at a UNESCO conference. She changed and left jobs, even those at top multi-nationals because of her keen interest at serving people on ground. Her driving force? She says, “It’s the never-ending quest for knowledge.”

In the session at AIMETC, she interacted with students and shared anecdotes from her college years. She said, “It was the result of discipline and hard work that I have been able to attain this position in my life.” She also spoke about her experience of qualifying and acing the UK government’s Civil Services examination and advised students to engage in more and more research-oriented projects to grow their knowledge.

Shweta Arora, MBA Year-1 student at AIMETC, says, ‘I had several key takeaways from the session. First, Ms. Neha Sharma is highly qualified. Secondly, she answered each and every question asked by the students with complete honesty, and that was admirable. Thirdly, she shared many aspects of her career journey and encouraged us to focus on research. Finally, she also provided us information about the websites we must closely follow to prepare for such examinations. I wish to become a Civil Servant as well and what I learnt from her story is to create a strong bent of mind to pursue your goal and eventually achieve it.”   

According to Jasmilan Kaur, a BCA Year- 1 student of AIMETC, “Ma’am’s journey is awe-inspiring and I got the opportunity to attend such a knowledgeable session at the campus today. My dream is to be part of the Indian Air Force, and listening to her, I understood how one can overcome obstacles with hard work.”      

Talking about her experience of meeting AIMETC students and faculty, Ms. Neha Sharma says, “It was a great experience at AIMETC after so many years. I am grateful that my alma mater invited me and allowed me to speak with the students.”