Mystory@Santosh Kumar Patra: How I overcame obstacles to achieve success

I have done my schooling from Kendriya Vidyalaya, Bhubaneswar. It was my dream since childhood to become an officer in a Government organisation as I wanted to follows the footsteps of my father who was a senior officer in Central Government office. After completing my 10^th, I decided to pursue my 12^th from the same school. On completion of both 10^th and 12^th (securing first division in both) it was time to choose the best career path for me. So, after taking one year coaching for Engineering, I finally cracked Orissa JEE and got a seat in Orissa Engineering College (OEC). Due to high demand of popular branches and college, I opted for EN & TC.

Due to certain problems at management level and strike in the last year, no campus selection took place in the year 2003. It was one of the most depressing phases of my life. Once I completed engineering, I had no job in hand. I tried for some off-campus placement but was unable to crack them as I was not comfortable with any computer language such as C, Java etc. When my friends asked me to go to Chennai, Bangalore or Hyderabad for job I didn’t try due to some family issues and also because I get homesick, so I decided to try for job in Bhubaneswar only.

I got a job as a marketing executive in NIIT ltd with nominal salary. But I was happy to engage myself in some work as executive for sourcing of business and I was appreciated by top management for my efforts.

I felt that I had the capability to be at some supervisor position in any organisation. Hence, I decided to pursue MBA. I tried for the same and was able to crack CAT and MAT.

I was getting admission in other colleges also but I preferred to pursue my masters in KIIT (in 2005) which is a recognised institute in Eastern India. When the time came to select the specialisation then as per my skill-set I opted for Marketing and System. I enjoyed two years of MBA both academically and personally. It was good ending to my MBA education because I got campus placement at IDBI bank as Assistant Manager in 2007.

My first posting was at Gwalior and subsequently I got promoted as Manager in 2012. After promotion I became Branch Head in a remote place as a compulsory posting at PSU bank. I opted to apply at some other bank. With God’s grace I got selected in Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB), exclusive PSU bank for women and I got posting in Coimbatore as branch head in 2014.

It was a new challenge and assignment at new place. I had a team of 5 people. I worked hard for establishing the brand image of BMB. Due to my good performance, the management transferred me to Chennai on my request as my spouse was working here.

So, on coming to Chennai it was a good time for me but then news came of the merger of BMB with SBI which made me think of switching from PSU to private bank so that I can stay in Chennai as I didn’t want to move out of Chennai. My friends and supervisor in BMB were suggesting me not to leave BMB as it is going to merge with SBI, the largest lender of India. But I opted to quit as I think life starts where the comfort zone ends. So, I appeared in the interview and got selected in Axis bank. During the interview the panel was very happy with my educational qualification and work experience and my skills such as JAIIB and CAIIB.

So, finally I am in Axis Bank with a team of 50 and I am quite happy with my decision and am working hard to get a promotion in the near future.  

About the Author:

I am Santosh, an energetic person looking for optimum option in all scenarios. I completed my Engineering from Orissa Engineering College and MBA from KIIT University. Currently, I am working as Senior Manager at Axis Bank.

I like to travel to new places, meet new people, make friends and I am a big time foodie.

Mystory is a new Shiksha initiative to provide students a unique platform to share their experiences right from college admission to career selection. Here’s your chance to get published on India’s leading education portal. We’ll be happy to publish your story.   Write in to us at: mystory@shiksha.com