FREMONT: Cupertino High school senior Shachi Nandan Kakkar, 17 writes a blog on EDN in which he relates “engineering to everyday life”. He tries to explain engineering in an inspiring, fulfilled manner and thereby encouraging youngsters to take up engineering studies in college.
Here’s how Shachi got into the world of engineering. When Sunil Kakkar, Shachi’s dad, an electrical engineer asked him if he was interested and wanted to get into engineering, he said it was not his cup of tea. His main interest lay in business, marketing and advertising.
He is also the local chapter president of Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA) an international association which prepares leaders and entrepreneurs for careers and education in marketing, finance, hospitality and management. When he started applying for internship, he thought it would be good if he equipped himself with technical knowledge, which he feels would help him succeed in business and he approached his dad to explain his work.
Sunil explained to him about the design and verification on computer chips, in which he is an expert himself. Shachi immediately related this with his high school play as both the tasks follow a stringent process and collective effort from people of diverse expertise. A play has a director and a dedicated team of actors who have been assigned specific roles. Each part is explained to the actors and it is rehearsed again and again to bring out the best on the stage. Likewise, the chip verification team has a leader and group of engineers with assigned tasks. Sections of code are scrutinized. Engineers test the product again and again to deliver the best on the final run.
Sunil thought this to be interesting and fun filled and he approached EDN network to publish Shachi’s article and they were deeply impressed by his work and offered him his own blog on EDN network. His blog was widely appreciated by EDN editors and technical stalwarts of electronics industry. His blog focuses on relating engineering to everyday life such as chess and electronics companies, journey of electronics engineer and a basketball player.
Shachi explained to us how he relates chess and electronics companies. He feels both need acute strategic planning well in advance to dominate the future scenario. In the game of chess one needs to calculate four or five moves in advance to keep the opponent at bay. Similarly in this competitive world, electronic companies are forced to see long term and plan their moves strategically and he feels this is the key to success. There is hierarchy in a company as well as in chess, and making moves based on what the managers can accomplish is important, because their competence will define the company’s quality of work and what it can accomplish.
Shachi with his blog has changes the perception of engineering, which is conceived as boring, “only for nerds”. He feels we can excel in any business only if we have a sound technical knowledge. He explains the joy that is lying within and wants more students to take up engineering and thereby serve the nation. With more people pursuing engineering and having the right expertise in business world, we can cut down of outsourcing and thereby boost the economy, says Shachi.
It’s just the sort of perspective that EDN was looking for and they encouraged Shachi with his ideas thereby connecting with the younger generation, says Sunil.
Shachi is also a FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America) State champion, an avid golfer and very active in debates and other community activities.
Vidya Sethuraman
India Post News Service
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