Shalini Chopra
Shalini Chopra

Senior Technical Leader – Testing
Aricent, UK

Shalini Chopra’s journey from a fresh MCA grad to a senior telecom executive, and how SRMS CET, Bareilly facilitated it!

Though Shalini Chopra from Shri Ram Murti Smarak College of Engineering &Technology, Bareilly’s MCA Batch of 2003-06 entered the program because of her inability to undertake the B.Tech due to personal reasons, she has gone on to chart a very successful career from it. “I couldn’t join Bachelor’s degree due to personal reasons so decided to pursue this course after my Graduation in Science. I always wanted to be an Engineer but was not sure initially if this course could get me right career position,” she reflects.

Her subsequent experience with the course however cemented her resolve that this was the right step. “The SRMS CET MCA course is a boon for those who cannot appear for Bachelor’s degree in Engineering. My major takeaways were sound technical knowledge, analytical skills, and a never give up attitude. This program gave me platform to improve my technical and inter-personal skills, which got me into a Software Engineer role in Satyam.”

One of the factors that makes the MCA course invaluable to skill development is the rigor followed by SRMS CET faculty. Even after all these years, Shalini says she remembers how rigorously the classes were conducted and how mid-semester assessments used to happen every other month to prepare students for whole semester. “Semester long internal development projects on new languages were the most important development tool for me and faculty were quiet helpful and supportive in this. I still remember Anuj Kumar Sir teaching us Algorithms, the most challenging subject with full dedication and resolving all our queries. Vibhor Sir used to teach Unix basics and advanced, which I can still recall after all these years,” she adds.

The value addition from the course did not end with Shalini’s course completion and campus placement, obviously. “My career journey has been fantastic and of course, a learning experience. Sometime after my placement with Satyam, the scandal broke and this was toughest time when we were not sure if our job will be safe in this organization and no other recruiter was ready to take us. Later I moved to Aricent India which gave me platform to further use my technical skills in Telecommunications. Now I am placed in Aricent, UK for the last two years as Senior Technical Leader and working on technical as well as managerial roles. I have seen failures, rejections, criticism, politics, everything in my 10+ years of experience in IT industry and I was never ready to give up,” she reflects on her journey since 2006.

Her extensive experience, varied corporate journey, and academic accomplishments are an inspiration to all those who follow. For them, her advice is “always take your curriculum seriously, never bunk classes and be punctual. Imbibe good qualities and never underestimate yourself. If Life gives you lemons, make lemonade. These qualities which you imbibe in college will be with you always and would be appreciated wherever you go. Just as important as academics, emphasize on practical knowledge too. Be always open to challenges and ready to learn attitude. Never say no to any task.”