Star Campusplacement-6 : A boy like any other, but like no other

A topper from the College of Engineering, Pune (COEP) in Mechanical Engineering, Charudatta Anil Shimpi is today well placed with eBara Japan, the world’s best person-to-person online trading community, with an annual package of over Rs. 30 lakh. Now training in New Delhi ahead of his journey to Japan, Charudatta spoke to Corporate Citizen on his journey and his first break

Charudatta Anil Shimpi was like any other boy in the campus when he took admission at the College of Engineering, Pune (COEP). But his dedication and determination has made him a household name in this esteemed institution which has been the nursery of many scholars in the country.

Charudatta did not have any special ability to emerge as one of the best, but it was his ambition and positive thinking which paved the way for him to open a new lease of life, not just for him but also for all the youngsters of Jalgaon, a city in north Maharashtra.

Son of an employee from a private cooperative society, Charudatta’s one aim was to hit it big not just for him and his family, but for his banana city. Jalgaon which contributes about half of Maharashtra’s banana production. “My dad works in a private cooperative society and my mother is a housewife. Their ambition was that I should complete my M. Tech., Thermal Engineering from the College of Engineering, Pune. After my tenth standard, I did my Diploma in Mechanical Engineering from Government Polytechnic, Jalgaon. Thereafter, I did my engineering from the Government College of Engineering and Research. In the last year of my engineering, I gave the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE exam), which paved the way for me to enter the campus of COEP,” says Charudatta.

“Getting a good placement initially has become difficult. The quality of education and personal abilities have become very important in the market”

Campus placement

Regarding his final placement, the company he is placed with today, selected a few students on the basis of their resumes, from among 1000 resumes submitted, criteria being undisclosed. “We went through a general interview where the interviewers wanted to know what came out of us naturally, on the basis of which final two students of COEP were selected, me and Shrunali Shashank Ranade. This was followed by a final interview process in Japan, where they held a surprise aptitude cum psychological test, and a final round of HR cum technical interview conducted by senior persons in the company.

“To our surprise, both of us got selected. Just being genuine and responding naturally, we cracked it,” said Charudatta.

Experience on campus

“While pursuing my under graduation, I got the guidance of Prof. Karmare (HoD Mechanical, GCOEAR, Awasari). It was really tough to complete the Savitribai Phule PU syllabus with no resources at that time and being the Class Representative for all three years. The major change in my life was at COEP. I was very eager to learn and the faculty of COEP are very generous. The wide knowledge of the faculty along with the latest facilities available gave me the opportunity to work on a difficult experimental project, Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) under the great guidance of COEP’s scholar teacher Prof. C M Sewatkar,” reminisces Charudatta.

Along with strong academics, Charudatta is also into extracurriculars. “Frankly speaking, I didn’t do much in sports, but I handled a lot of management related work outside studies. And of course, I participated in a lot of events. I was doing so many things during my PG and so if not asked how I was busy, that will be fine. It was 9.9 out of 10, the end result. So it says it all,” he recollects.

Hobbies

Charudatta is fond of watching movies and TV series. Says he, “I always used to watch detective serials like Mentalist, Homeland, Sherlock Holmes, etc. Recently I have started to play the guitar. Social activities also attract me. I have also donated blood many a times and also arranged blood donation camps,” and adds, “Reading, watching TV, especially National Geographic where inventions are telecast, and attending seminars interest me. I would say I still have lots to learn and this will help me to meet the present demands.”

Advice to juniors

“Getting a good placement initially has become difficult. The quality of education and personal abilities have become very important in the market. In one’s entire educational career one should focus on learning new things, current technology trends, etc., so that you do not end up looking like a blank book, and HR wishes to hire you strongly. Working in Japan is quite different from working in India or USA. Japanese are very strict regarding timings and paying respect. Timeliness and respect are a must for achieving success in your life,” he notes.

By Joe Williams