When demotivated or depressed (something that today’s generation frequently sighs with) people ask Google for quotes, and statuses, YouTube for videos, shorts and Insta for reels to tell the world that they are through some hardships; comments do pour to soothe them too. What this generation has been lacking is internalizing the situation, introspecting what they lack, envisioning what should be done, rising up to the situation and win over it.
Here’s is the inspiring story of Dhananjaya Kumar Vangaveti, the silent warrior who has put himself through all the aforementioned processes and rose to become Software Engineering Manager at Honeywell, in a span that is unimaginable. Read on.
Sir, please introduce yourself to our readers. The floor is all yours.
Hi! I am Dhananjaya Kumar Vangaveti, working as software Engineering Manager in Honeywell Technology Solutions, Hyderabad, India.
How do you see your career growth, and what are the essential ingredients to achieve fast-paced growth?
I joined Honeywell as an intern and in 12 years’ time, grown to Engineering Manager role, which people around see seemingly fast-paced, as it is unusual usually. But it has been an eventful journey working with great leaders, learning new things every day from them. I am lucky to get opportunity to work with them.
I have always shown passion for winning and never missed a single milestone like taking up new projects in unexplored topographies, successfully driving out mergers and acquisitions etc., throughout my career.
On a personal level, I have always sported fearless accountability in all the projects I took, and that helped me to quickly grow in the career. Also, accepting and adapting to the changes with a positive attitude helped me in turning myself into a leader. Being obedient and going beyond to get stuff done helped me to reach new heights early. Also, teamwork plays a crucial role in success of any project. I had a fantastic team who helped in delivering outstanding results which also helped me to raise fast.
I should say, the ingredients to achieve fast-paced success are proactiveness, smart work, and continuous learning; only those helped me adapt quickly to any environment. Today, visibility is also key to get recognized at leadership and that brings in new opportunities and challenges every day.
From an “Intern” to a “Software Engineering Manager”; interesting! You must have had seamless education, had you?
No, I grew up in a small village in Andhra Pradesh. My father was a mobile street vendor who did seasonal business to make ends meet and struggled a lot to offer me good education. I completed my primary and upper primary schooling in a government school in regional medium (Telugu). He never compromised on his children's education in any circumstances. He took many debts from neighbours with high interest rates and used to send my college and hostel fees. He never stopped our education in spite of the resistance (negativity) from our relatives.
Hauling through all such difficulties, I managed to complete my B. Tech degree from an engineering college situated in the remote quarters of agency area, Andhra Pradesh. Even though, there was no proper infrastructure and facilities, I completed my graduation with a first class. After my B.Tech, I moved to the state capital with lot of hopes and ambition to make a career.
I couldn’t enough visualize, what could have been your first job. What was your first job?
The job search began, and at that instance I realized the importance of Soft Skills and communication skills that I lacked. I was in a position that I was not even understanding and speaking in English, though I had a technical degree. It was the time software industry was resuming post US twin tower tragedy and there was a lot of competition for software jobs. I did multiple attempts but failed to crack interviews due to lack of communication.
I went through many embarrassing situations during the group discussions. I still remember an incident in one of those GDs; interviewer gave a topic "Why cricket is popular in India?" Out of the 10-member group, I was the only one who could not convey anything due to lack of my English-speaking skills. I remember speaking only two words, "Yeah… Yeah!".
The frequent feedback I used to get from the interviewers was, "Sorry, we cannot consider your profile this time".
Where did you land then?
Staying without a job, that too with the guilt of realizing that your parents were dreaming of you getting settled was very painful. I was getting demotivated everyday pondering “I do not have proper communication, no money, no proper outfit and do not know what to do.” That time I decided that I should not further depend on parents for my monthly expenses and joined a small company with the one of my friends' help. As part of the job I was required to stand in front of the private banks as a sales representative to get the feedback from customers on the bank’s services. I used to get around INR 30 per form and average monthly salary of INR 3000.
Didn’t you regret your decision, or felt small about taking such a job?
Though, I felt hard at heart doing that job, as I was a Computer Science Engineer, I didn't have any other option to earn my bread and butter. When I was continuing there, one day I got a chance to join an engineering college to teach computer programming (C language) with a monthly salary of INR 8000. I decided to accept the offer because it was a technical teaching and had not much need for proficient English.
Concurrently, as I was working in the college, I started learning soft skills and got command over the subject. Without that, I couldn't have handled the students and I did not want to be a bad teacher. It was like a rebirth for me as I reinvented myself focussing on upskilling, multi-tasking and executing anything with speed. Within couple of months, I got increment for the hard work I did and that gave the confidence that I was moving in the right direction. Those were golden days, where I enjoyed the peaks of power, respect, and knowledge. I was successful in completing the course teaching and all the students cleared the exams with flying colours. Later, I moved to another engineering college with a 50% hike.
How did your techie turn happen?
When the journey was continuing, I cleared the entrance examination for master’s (M. Tech) and got seat in the prestigious JNTU, Hyderabad. With the help of my then principal sir, I continued my master's degree with part-time teaching on weekends.
Pursuing the post-graduation, I was able to perform well both in class and communication. One fine day, an interview for internship at Honeywell happened. All my efforts to improve my communication skills helped me clear the "Internship" interviews of Honeywell and I joined as an Intern engineer. I still remember that day when my eyes were filled with happy tears, when the placement office announced that I was selected for Honeywell. That was the day, which paid for all the hard work I had done over the years. That's how my journey as a software engineer started with Honeywell and it's been 13 wonderful years in the company. It has been an inspiring journey to look back with pride, starting with a struggle to get a job, and rising to a position where I am offering jobs. During this whole journey, I have met many great souls and learned a lot from them.
Great knowing your efforts. What’s your give away to the readers?
I always believe that one should be agile and upskill all the time to reach newer heights in the career. During my 13 years’ journey in Honeywell, I have never said "No" to any kind of opportunity. I have changed 5 plus teams, worked on different programming languages, different domains, and applications. I never stick to specific domain or technology and just accept all the challenges and move on. I never felt ashamed to seek help from others when I was struggling and never missed a single chance to sell my good work to get a needed visibility.
There is no stop sign to SUCCESS and I continue my journey…. THANKS