Sagar Patankar

The Journey : Early Days to How I Got Here

I started my career as an Associate Consultant at Cygnus Software. Currently, I am working at KPIT Cummins Infosystems as Senior Program Manager. I am a Technocrat with over 15 years of rich and comprehensive experience in the areas of Project Planning & execution, Delivery Management, Application Design & Development, Testing, Implementation and Support.

Scaling up process has been accomplished through a number of areas -
• Setting up of Short term, Midterm and long term career objectives
• Strong focus towards achieving work related objectives and aligning towards company vision and goals
• Strong mentorship from leadership team
• Being inquisitive and following innovative approach towards trying to find alternatives to problems
• Focus on certifications

Decisions That Mattered

Key important career decisions have been aligning towards company vision and goals and focusing on the right mix of technology and managerial abilities.

Always looking at future and developing competencies.

Excelling in work assigned through applying innovative approaches.

The Turning Points

There have been many inflection points along the career, key being Devotion towards work and trying to focus on innovative ways.

Work and Role: Then and Now

Focusing on innovation in the present job is the key. As part of Testing as a Service (TaaS) Practice we have created a competency in Testing area. Our focus has been to develop Testing accelerators to speed up Time to Market and improve Quality in Quantitative and Qualitative terms.

Two Years Down the Line

I want to see myself as an - Leading Strong Testing as a Service Practice and becoming leaders through application of innovative means and mechanisms.

What I Learnt Along the Way

There are many important lessons learnt in our professional life - Being Positive and improvising on failures has been key learning in the professional life.

Changing Days: Lessons Learnt

Today's professional life has become more dynamic than ever before. Market crisis, economic and Political turbulences have created lot of uncertainty. Organizations demand quick responsiveness to their needs and prefer ready to use solutions as opposed to building one. Focus on Productivity, Quality and Year on Year savings across multi-year contracts is becoming a norm.

Trends to Watch Out For

Key technology trends under scanner are Cloud Computing, End to End testing and Top trends for each upcoming year.

From career perspective, trends help to prepare yourself and focus on building leadership in the new trends to come.

My Advice If You are Starting Out

Following are some points:

Focusing on areas which will interest you the most and give you sense of satisfaction

Having decided area of interest focusing on excelling in that area, working in a team to build a strong and capable team

Constantly looking at the new trends and focusing on innovative ways of performing work

Must Focus Areas For the Future

Focus on Six Sigma specialization helps immensely in using Statistical techniques and showcasing productivity and Qualitative improvements in structured manner. Focus on Functional domain along with Testing skills and greater focus on Behavioral skills, ability to take more initiatives will be sought after in future.

Do We Need Certifications?

Green Belt certification in Six Sigma has helps tremendously in professional life. Industry acclaimed certifications ISTQB, CSTE and Six Sigma are strongly recommended for readers.

Books/ Websites I Recommend

TMMI and IEEE guidelines are strongly recommended. Participating in QA workshops and forums are really helpful.

Last But Not Least

Looking for right mentor and leadership to accelerate your career is important