‘School taught me that fear is much bigger than the problem’

Meet Sachin Loothra, who was scared of Mathematics, scared of English. Today, he stands in front of large audiences as a Lead IT Architect based in Espoo, Finland, designing the identity and access systems that protect companies from cyberattacks. 

With over 12 years in cybersecurity, CISSP and TOGAF certifications and a master’s in Computer Science from Georgia Tech, he has come a long way from the reserved student at Apeejay School, Saket. In this conversation, he credits teachers, a day-and-night camp and a growing love for computers with turning his fear into confidence. 

What are some of your fondest memories of your time at the school?

One of my fondest memories is my first day-and-night camp at school. I was a shy kid and the idea of spending the night away from home at school genuinely scared me. But the whole day was packed with games and activities with my friends and teachers. By the end I had absolutely loved it. It was the first time I felt that school could be a place of fun and not just classrooms and exams, and I still remember it warmly.

What did you enjoy most about being a student here?

What I enjoyed most was the size of the school. Apeejay School, Saket was small, so you never felt like one face lost in a huge crowd. Teachers knew their students and could give each of us real attention. For a reserved kid like me, that mattered a lot. Someone always noticed when I was struggling, and that is a big part of why I was eventually able to turn things around.

How would you describe the teachers who taught you, and how has their contribution played into your professional journey?

I was scared of Mathematics and English for a long time. From class 7 onwards, things changed, and I credit that to teachers. They had a completely different approach. They were patient and encouraging, and they changed how I saw those subjects and, more importantly, how I saw myself. That was the turning point of my school life. The confidence they built in me carried into everything after: my academics, my degrees, and my career. Today, I work on complex, ambiguous problems, and I still approach them with the mindset those teachers gave me, that something intimidating becomes manageable once you understand it properly.

Apart from academics, what important lessons did the school teach you?

School taught me that fear is usually much bigger than the problem itself, and that the right guidance can turn your weakest area into a strength. It also taught me about change. I learned early that people and circumstances shift, and that you have to adapt rather than hold on to how things were. That lesson has stayed with me. I have since lived in two countries outside my home country. Each move meant starting over and adjusting to a new way of life. The ability to adapt, which I first learned in school, has made every transition easier.

How did the school encourage you to explore your interests and talents?

Once my confidence grew, I started taking part in extracurricular activities, something I would never have done earlier. That led me to my hobby of Photoshop, and the school gave me the opportunities to use it. I represented the school in several intra-school and inter-school competitions and won several of them between classes 9 and 11. I also built a reputation as the person to go to for anything related to computers, because I had always been drawn to working on the PC. That interest was taken seriously, and I chose Computer Science as my primary elective in classes 11 and 12.

In what ways do you think the school shaped the person you are today?

The school took a reserved, scared kid who was not particularly good at studies or extracurriculars and gave him the confidence to participate, compete, and represent. My strong performance in Computer Science in the class 12 final examination pushed me to pursue it as my major for both my bachelor’s and master’s degrees, which ultimately shaped my career. The direction of my life, and also the way I handle challenges, can be traced back to that turnaround in school.

Looking back, what quality that you developed during your school years are you especially grateful for?

I am most grateful for learning to push past fear. I started out afraid of Mathematics, of English, and even of staying a night at school. I was also terrified of public speaking and extempore sessions, and I avoided them throughout school. But the turnaround from class 7 onwards taught me that where you start does not define where you end up. Today I speak comfortably to large audiences and share what I know, and I can trace that confidence all the way back to that first spark in school.

Where are you working currently, and what is your job role?

I work as a Lead IT Architect based in Espoo, Finland, specialising in Identity and Access Management (IAM). IAM is one of the cornerstones of cybersecurity and a critical service in every company. Every system, application, and piece of data is protected by one question: who should have access to what? Get it right and the business runs securely; get it wrong and you open the door to breaches and cyberattacks, which are becoming increasingly common worldwide. My days are spent architecting and building robust, secure IAM systems and continuously improving them, because it is never good enough.

I have 12+ years in cybersecurity and hold CISSP and TOGAF certifications, along with a master’s in Computer Science from Georgia Tech. For a once-shy kid, it is a long way from Apeejay Saket, but the interest in computers that began there still drives my work today.