India on the go!

A few months back I happened to see a reel where the author asked the question, "How do you know that you have landed at an airport in India?"

The answer was simple - "Look around and you are bound to see atleast a couple of Indigo aircrafts parked, or taxing to or away from the runaway!"

This is so true of an airline which has redefined the way we Indians fly and transformed the complete aviation industry locally. Since it's inception in 2006, it has fought off fierce competition from the likes for Jet Airways, Kingfisher Airlines, Go Air, (all of who have ceased to exist today), Spice Jet and lately the combined power of Vistara and Air India - whilst sticking the low-cost airline tag all through

So what does Indigo do well that makes it good

- Clearly indicating that it is a 'No Frills' airlines, but if you book a sandwich during the check-in process, you will not be disappointed (the complimentary drink also helps)

- Once inside the aircraft, look around and you will see subtle hints of advertising (on the back of the seats or even on your cup of coffee)

- While comfort is an area of importance, they focus on on-time performance and fly regularly to Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities thus creating a virtual monopoly when you need to fly certain routes in the country 

The list goes on, but slowly and steadily over the past 2 decades this airline has grown to capture the lions' share of the aviation market in India and now sets it sight to limited routes internationally 

No wonder then that when our 2 metro cities announced their second airport readiness, guess which airline they choose for the grand inauguration 

Yes, the airline has had to endure its' fair share of negative feedback and it is not surprising to see complaints every now and then - but overall, it has done it bits to become a very good case-study for any management student to pick up and lived upto it's current tagline - "India on the Go!"

AE life

How's life as an Application Engineer?

I guess most days are good - we get to work on the latest technology and features that RnD rolls out, we get to drive product updates based on field requirements, meet new people, work closely with Sales and Marketing, build connections and ofcourse travel

And then there are days when the knives are out to get you and words like 'Escalation', 'Critical' and 'regular updates' become part of everyday lingo till things get better

But let's be honest -  anyone and everyone who has been in Management has gone through this experience. Taking tough calls when then tide is against you and making things work in an hostile environment is what separates the Managers' from the Leaders'

Don't get me wrong - I am not claiming here that becoming an AE will make you a good leader. But yes, if you do get a chance to working an Application Engineering - give it a try for sure. You may be surprised by discovering a side to yourself which you never knew existed 

 

I'll be back

Date: 7th Jan 2025

I will be back!

I am not sure how many of you noticed, but I had stopped posting on LinkedIn at the end of 2023 and here's why

While I was very grateful for the appreciation and support I received for my posts from many of you, the passion had begun to diminish somewhere inside. I wasn't sure why, but the ideas had kinda dried up and hence I decided to just take some time off, refocus my energies and come back with more thoughts and stories in 2025 with renewed vigour

Writing is something I like doing and I was pretty sure in my head that I wanted to continue and kept the dialog from The Terminator movie in my head and wanted to start this post with just that!

But first, here's wishing you all a Happy New Year 2025 full of good health and success

Patience, my dear Watson

Date: 11th Jan 2025

A year and half back, my now colleague, Mitali called me to say that she is taking up a job as an Application Engineer

I was very happy for her and congratulated her. She then asked me a question, "You have been an AE for many years. What do you think is the biggest attribute a good AE must have?"

I didn't have to think for long, "Patience" was my immediate answer..

"Ahh, I do have a lot of patience" came the response

Today as colleagues we have had the chance to work on many assignments and engagements together and just out the blue, she came up again to me and said, "I still remember your feedback. An AE really needs to have a lot of Patience.... I still have a long way to go."

Patience is a virtue that we all need to cultivate, but why is more applicable to the AE role. Well for starters, it's a customer facing role and many a times, you have to rely on an external party to provide you with the inputs to help you do the job - its could be the sharing of files that you need, or a meeting slot to discuss the upcoming project

Many a times, customers and other external parties have a lot of work and tasks pending and you happen to be on #4 or #5 in the list of their priorities - you can't force their hands, so you simply have to wait

All this waiting has its unique advantages - a good AE starts to develop the virtue of 'timing' - what to say and when to say it so that it creates the required impact

I shall have more to follow in the coming posts....

So, where do I start?

Date: 10th Jan 2025

Hello - My name is Prasan Shanbhag and I am currently working as a Director of Application Engineering @proteanTecs.
Recently I was asked, "What is the most difficult thing I have had to do as an AE?" I didn't have to think for long - "Hiring" was my immediate answer

I have given this question a lot of thought. Over the years, I have spoken to hundreds of candidates, most of whom even refused to give an interview as the role was that of an AE. I got several reasons why they did not even want to consider joining my team.

It stemmed from "I don't want a customer-facing role", "There is too much pressure", "I want a desk job without any need to Travel" to the most common answer - "I want to continue in a technical role"

If I try and analyze all the responses, I think I can safely come to the conclusion that the Application Engineering role is highly misunderstood and hence, I felt it was time for me to try and bring about some clarity

Now, having spent over 10 years in this role, I believe I have earned the right to share my experiences and talk about Application Engineering as a profession and try and clarify some of these misunderstood perceptions

My end goal here is not to increase the percentage of AEs in the fields - If that happens as a by-product, I would be more than happy though!
Do I want to promote my company in this process? - Yes, why not! Everyone is doing the same on this platform. if you don't believe me, check out any of the posts which came before this
Most of all, my end goal is to try and share my experiences and hope to tell you all what exactly an Application Engineer does in his or her daily schedule

So, if you are up for the ride, do keep an eye out for my next post. If for some reason you are not - Well, read on anyways