‘Learning has no age limit,’ says Apeejay alumna

Diksha Sharma, who pursued a postgraduate diploma in Finance and International business from Apeejay School of Management, secured her first job with S&P Global at the campus placement. Having begun her journey at the company three years ago as an intern, she is now working as a data researcher. In an interview, the Delhi-based alumna gives us the deets on her professional experience. Read on:

What was your journey at ASM like?

I had a great experience at ASM. I shared a great bond with the professors and am still in touch with them. Coming to the curriculum, ASM provided the best possible exposure and knowledge. The placement cell was also very good. I learned a lot and gained a lot of confidence. Apeejay holds a very special place in my heart.

You pursued your PG Diploma degree in Finance. Were you always interested in the subject?

Yes. My father works in the same field, so I developed an interest quite early. I took Commerce in class 11-12 and then completed BBA General followed by a specialisation in banking.

Can you share some tips to crack placements?

The first thing that I learned was one should not get nervous. Second, you should apply to only those companies that genuinely interest you. I loved data and backend jobs and that is why I went for S&P Global. So, identify your forte and then apply for jobs. This will increase your chance of cracking the interview.

What does your job as a data researcher entail?

S&P Global is a data analysis and management company. For the first two years, I was with the Web Crawlers team. S&P Global has a large number of companies associated with it who are looking for big investments. My work involves leveraging data capturing tools to track the net change on these company websites on a daily basis. The big investors pay S&P for this data and then go to our dashboard to filter out the required information.

From work from home to attending office, what has the transition been like?

We are in the hybrid mode whereby we have to go to the office only twice a week. The journey at this organisation has been very smooth. Throughout the pandemic, the company was very helpful; it has never let me down. Every two-three months, we used to get gifts and hampers as a token of motivation, including Covid test kits.

Work from home has been convenient for me so far. I lost my mother to Covid last year. Being the elder one in the family, I had to take on additional household responsibilities. So, I had to juggle personal and professional commitments where my company supported me. My manager and peer members helped me a lot.

In your three years of professional experience, what is that one important lesson you got?

There is no end to learning—there is no age limit for that. At my company, for instance, I have been learning various new tools. One should be open to learning new things and make use of all the exposure they get.