In Conversation, Ankit Rastogi

Stories & SVNIT presents inspiring alums who are playing pivotal roles in mobilizing a specific industry as a whole.

SVNIT, Batch 2003, One on the left most corner standing with glasses in second row

Who are we talking to? Ankit Rastogi, Computer Engineering, 2003 Vice President, Cleartrip.com | Leading Accommodation & Activities Business

Look what he had to say and how generous of him to be the first one in the series.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/rastogiankit/

To start with, after working for so many years, how do you define purpose in your professional life?

People Leadership is the hardest skill to be gained. Neither it can be gained in Ivy League B Schools nor by reading the best books. One of the best crack to hacks to learn it is entrepreneurship. Virtues of humility, empathy, listening, staying grounded and peer learning are fundamental to a quality leader. I think if I measure myself on those lines over the last 15 years of my professional life I am glad to some extent it has been purposeful. Still work is in progress. Lastly the connections, camaraderie, teammates bonhomie, colleagues becoming friends and family is the wealth creation done.

According to you, what is your success mantra?

*Two which I follow —

1. Ruthless Execution and hard work always win against pure ideation and sheer smartness.
2. Taking things to closure counts a lot more than purely starting. Be in tasks, projects, initiatives etc.*

From an engineering perspective, what skills would form a stepping stone in your domain of work?

On the softer skills sides, SVNIT was first place which taught me diversity be it in people, projects, opinions, and ideas. Diversity needs to be nurtured in every aspect of a workplace to get a holistic picture. Purely from my Comps Engineering perspective, the basics learned in terms of applying technology to automate and build consumer solving products have been fundamental in my career graph. I have moved from pure techie roles to product to business and that journey would not have been without SVNIT education.

With respect to leading an accomplished life, what would be your suggestion to the students of SVNIT?

Continue experimenting which ensures our ability to change or accept changes remains inherent, Solve for local problems. Participate in entrepreneurial journeys if not of your own, of others striking close to you. Amount of learning even if those ventures fail are lot accomplishing and wholesome. Lastly, remember unlearning and learning have no age and time, continue cherishing as a student of life and it will be a lot more joyous.

P.S — The core purpose of this publication is to create a dynamic repository of alums, build content & credibility for in-house seekers to connect and increase general awareness about each other — the SVNITians.