Profile Evaluation Please

About Me:

Indian Male
Engineer (BTECH - CSE- VIT University, Vellore, India)
Age - 25
Current situation - Was recently promoted and transferred from Cisco India to Europe Headquarters at Cisco Poland. ( in June 2021)

A seasoned professional with expertise in Design, Support, Consultation, and Implementation of Cybersecurity technologies.
Proven track record of advocating for Customer Success and aligning customer business goals with cost-effective technology solutions.
I often like to optimize and fix problems that others won't or can't.


Gmat Details

GMAT 2 - 720 ( Q49,V40, IR-2,AWA-6)
GMAT 1 - 680 (Q49, V34, IR-5, AWA-5)

Target Schools -:

• Harvard Business School
• Stanford GSB
• Wharton
• INSEAD
• Chicago Booth
• London Business School
• Kellogg
• NYU Stern,
• UC Berkeley Haas
• Michigan Ross

Education summary

B.Tech- Computer Science &Engineering (2014-2018)
CGPA - 9.01/10 (Among top 10% within a batch of 800 students)
VIT UNIVERSITY VELLORE , India --- Ranked 9th Best University In India



12th Standard - 92.8% - Apeejay School Saket, New Delhi, India
10th Standard - 8.8/10 CGPA - Apeejay School Saket, New Delhi, India



Work History summary

Customer Success Specialist (CSS) - Cyber Security|Cisco Poland
Krakow , Poland - August 2021 - Current


• Maintained customer satisfaction with forward-thinking strategies focused on addressing customer needs and resolving concerns.
• Owing to my success in the previous role as Technical Consultant, I was promoted and transferred to Cisco Europe as a CSS to manage major clients in Europe and Americas Region. Youngest member in a team of 14 senior CSS.
• Leveraged sales expertise to promote products and capitalized on upsell opportunities.
• Developed community reputation through commitment to customer satisfaction and strong client relationships.
• Collected customer feedback and made process changes to exceed customer satisfaction goals.
• Regularly exceeded daily sales and product add-on quotas.
• Evaluated account and service histories to identify trends, using data to mitigate future issues.
• Liaised with customers, management and sales team to better understand customer needs and recommend appropriate solutions.
• Cultivated customer loyalty, promoted repeat customers and improved sales.


Sr.Technical Consulting Engineer|Cisco India
Bengaluru , Karnataka - August 2018 - July 2021

• Worked for Network Security team in the Customer Experience Org.
• Collaborated with Cisco Clients, assisted in troubleshooting, design configurations, and escalation problem management.
• Worked with over 70+ key client accounts in EMEA and APAC region in the field of Financial services, Health care, Government, Manufacturing and retail, IT, Intelligence services etc.
• Supported complex network infrastructure responsible for critical business processes.
• Liaised with Engineering units in product innovation for security org based on feedback from customers and field implementations.
• Developed and contributed to internal and external knowledge bases.
• Instrumental member of the team responsible for deploying world's largest identity-based Firewall solution (Reliance Jio) which helped secure a deal of $10M in future projects with Reliance Jio.
• Led an initiative (Security Health Check) in collaboration with Cisco Sales team which doubled the sales of license for cisco security product portfolio. Trained over 300+ Cisco partners and Customers in APAC region. As a direct result of these trainings, Feature adoption increased by 60% which led to subscription license sale increase by ~40%.
• Was the Escalation lead engineer to retrieve and recover over 1000+ HDFC ATM's across India that went out of service because of network outage and compromised vulnerabilities in 2019. Managed a team of 4 engineers to help retrieve their network.
• Played a key role in bringing the Security Experience Center (Executive Briefing Centre dedicated to Security with direct impact on Security Sales) to life in partnership with Security Business Group, GSSO, Security & Trust Organization.
• Architect for DevNet skill ramp up in APJC Customer Experience theatre that resulted in over 1000 certifications, multiple innovation and automation projects within the Center. As a result, I was awarded for my contributions in University Recruitments and Cisco Ideathon.
• Youngest employee in India Security team to be promoted twice within a span of 3 years with a gross salary hike of ~60%.
• Trained over 100 engineers in CCNA certification, DevNet certification, and Security concepts across multiple bootcamps
• Delivered multiple sessions on IoT, Cybersecurity, Cryptography etc at multiple forums including Seccon APJC/EMEA/AMER (Industry Wide Security Conferences), ACM winter school, and colleges. The average attendance for each of the session varied from 250-500 People.
• Part of the core team for EMEAR SecCon 2020 (Cisco's flagship annual security conference) and a distinguished presenter at Seccon APJC/EMEA/AMER on topics related to CyberSecurity.
• Instrumental in streamlining and reviewing hiring process for security TAC engineers.
• Selected to be the one of the 5 Security Engineers from Cisco India Security team to be a point of contact and key member for supporting Tokyo Olympics (2020-2021) . Responsible for ensuring smooth functioning of cisco security network.
• Played a key role in the hiring and technical ramping up of two recently opened Cisco Theatres in Australia and Mexico. Still continue to be a point of escalation for these theatres.


Network Engineer Intern|Cisco India
Bengaluru , Karnataka - January 2018 - July 2018

• Among 15 students selected from a batch of 2500 of students in my college. (top 1%)
• Underwent comprehensive network and cyber security related trainings.
• Successfully completed several industry wide certifications in the field of network and cyber security. The certifications have a success rate of less than 3%. ( CCNA, CCNA-Security , CCNP- Security)
• Led a team project (team of 3) under the guidance of my mentor at Cisco. Project dealt in creating a bot for secure log analyzer and upgrade assistant for cisco products. The project was internal to Cisco and aimed at effectively managing the resources within cisco teams and bringing security to forefront of company's flagship products.
• As the leader of the team, I pitched our project in an internal hackathon conducted for all the interns by senior Cisco Leadership. The project was a resounding success and our team won the "The innovation hackathon". We were awarded the first prize.
• Actively involved in CSR activities and a core member of Early In Career - community in Cisco.


Awards And Achievements

• Speaker at SECCON AMR + EMEAR Security Conferences (2020)
Had the chance to present at SecCon EMEAR and SecCon AMR on the
topic "Cisco Threat Response - Next-Gen Threat Intelligence” and "Newest disruption in the identity Security". The sessions were attended by over 500+ customers and partners .
• Cisco - Customer Champion Award (2019)
Received the award twice in Q1 and Q2 FY-2019 at Cisco Systems for
brilliant customer service and exemplary attitude.
• Cisco - Customer Excellence Award (2019)
For Outstanding performance and contribution to CX APJC - Q3- FY19 to customer experience.
• Host , Cisco worldwide events - Connected Recognition (2019)
Hosted Women of Impact (WOI) worldwide event and multiple Security
All-hands events.
• Best Speaker Award - Toastmasters International - VIT chapter (2016)
Received the Best speaker award as a part of Toastmasters VIT Chapter

Key Achievements
• Led an initiative (Security Health Check) in collaboration with Cisco Sales team which doubled the sales of license for cisco security product portfolio. Trained over 300+ Cisco partners and Customers in APAC region. As a direct result of these trainings, Feature adoption increased by 60% which led to subscription license sale increase by ~40%.
• Architect for DevNet skill ramp up in APJC Customer Experience theatre that resulted in over 1000 certifications, multiple innovation and automation projects within the Center. As a result, I was awarded for my contributions in University Recruitments and Cisco Hackathon.
• Selected to be the one of the 5 Security Engineers from Cisco India Security team to be a point of contact and key member for supporting Tokyo Olympics (2020-2021) . Responsible for ensuring smooth functioning of cisco security network.
• Instrumental member of the team responsible for deploying world's largest identity-based Firewall solution (Reliance Jio) which helped secure a deal of $10M in future projects with Reliance Jio.

Community Service and Volunteering

• Ardent champion of Women Inclusion at Work Places. Acted as the co-lead of APJC centers for Women Of Impact (WOI) chapter at Cisco. Conducted and hosted several events, workshops and skill based trainings for Women in Cisco to help in their career development.

• Led an initiative along with Cisco Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) team at Cisco to architect a career development plan for early in career women at Cisco to provide them guidance and mentorship. We assigned Cisco Women Leaders (with 10+ years of work exp) as mentors who helped newcomers in transitioning into the professional world and guided them to excel in their roles. The program had an immense impact and we observed exceptional women participation in multiple projects happening across APJC centers.

• Led an initiative along with Cisco CSR team to conduct 1 hour resume building training and Q&A sessions for students across 20 universities in Southern India during pandemic times to assist them in securing jobs during the ongoing Covid Pandemic.

Entrepreneurial Journey

FREELANCING ( Mar'20 - 21)

• Started undertaking freelance projects related to Cyber and Network Security, Cloud migrations, Network Design and Implementation. Worked with over 10+ key clients from multiple geographic locations in a span of 1 year and logged in 1500+ hours of work-time.Some notable clients include - UCS HealthCare, Airtel Communication, Indian Army, Vizodo Technologies, etc.
• Leveraged my Technical skills along with Project Management expertise to meet all the deliverables in time and enhance customer experience.
• Went the extra-mile to enhance customer satisfaction by delivering trainings to internal client teams for a proper knowledge transfer.
• Liaised with client internal teams to better understand customer needs and recommend appropriate solutions.
• Earned a net revenue of $50K from all the freelancing projects with possible future contracts worth $100K.
• Top-Rated freelancer on Upwork platform for the year 2020.

NetVolte Technologies LLP. - Founder (May'20 - Present)

• NetVolte Technologies LLP. is a global technical consulting company which aims to provide and supply of information technology solutions including end-to-end solutions, systems integration and development of software and hardware, networking and consulting services to clients all across the globe.
• As the founder of Netvolte and given my extensive experience in Networking and Security, my objective is to introduce an affordable and reliable way to secure our client's network and capitalize on the power of open source tools to provide more customized solutions catered to the needs of the customers.
• Built the company from the start-up stages; capitalized financial requirements through a combination of bootstrapping, limited partnerships, and borrowings. Total investment to start the company - $1000.
• Responsible for managing day to day operations of the organization.
• Managing key functions: Business Development, Sales and Marketing.
• Oversaw and actively contributed with fellow partners in areas like Technical support, Accounting , HR etc.
• Onboarded 5 of my previous freelance clients accounts in the organization and also onboarded 3 new clients within a span of 3 months in APAC region.
• In the process on onboarding 2 new clients from EMEAR region with contracts worth $30K.
• Responsible for hiring, onboarding , supervision and training of 3 employees with full employee retention.
• Conceptualized and formulated a proper onboarding plan for new employees and temporary workers.
• Responsible for managing a team of 7 freelancers which were hired on per-project basis.
• Earned a Gross revenue of - $60K within a span of 3 months. Gross Profit - 59K.
• Responsible for further growth of the organization.

Post MBA goals -:

I want to move into my startup full-time and leaverage the experience and network that i built over the course of my MBA to expand my business globally while keeping technology and customer success at the forefront.

Questions I have -:

1. Is my profile good enough for the colleges i'm targetting ?
It will be of immense help to me if you can categorize the schools above as
1) Not possible, forget about it!
2) Good Chance
3) Not at all easy but can be given a shot

2. I'm targetting round 2, hence i want to know whether the colleges usually have rolling admissions for R2 in which case i'll have to hurry up and apply , or can i apply till the deadline is there?

3. Is my GMAT score good enough, or should i retake it? I somehow tanked my IR (Score - 2) , is that going to be a detterant in my applications?

4. Is my profile good enough to get decent scholarships?

5. Since currently i just have 3 years of work experience and by the time i join MBA it'll be 4 yrs, should i wait for another year and then apply, or this is a good time to apply?

6. What more I can do to strenghten my profile so that my chances of making to top 5 US B-Schools increase?

Hi ykejariw,

Thank you for sharing your profile in detail. I can see lots of elements in your profile that will assist you in creating strong apps. Starting with the stats, your undergrad GPA is good, and you have a good GMAT score. On the work front, I can clearly see good examples of powerful leadership, diverse, multicultural experience, and insightful and bold contributions that clearly showcase great career progression. You must demonstrate your potential in your essays, demonstrating how you outperform your colleagues and were given this big responsibility and shift in your career. Especially when you played a key role in certain projects and how they impacted the organizations. You have provided a very detailed explanation of your job function; after reviewing all of this, I must conclude that you have an excellent and significant work profile packed with several leadership roles and achievements. However, simply having strong work experience is not enough; you must also be able to communicate it well. Your awards, accomplishments, and volunteer work seem to be interesting. They are primarily connected to your organization, and they demonstrate how active you are in each aspect of your organization. Great!

Now, let’s talk about your entrepreneurial journey. This is worth taking the separate space because your post-mba goals are aligned with this. Firstly your freelancing experience, great. Furthermore, your startup experience and growth are amazing, and it is aligning with your post-mba goals. You will need to explain why you want to continue with your startup, what are your goals for it, what are the gaps in your profile, and how an MBA will help you fill those gaps and achieve your goals. You might be interested in reading an article on Best MBA programs for Aspiring Entrepreneurs, which will provide you with information on what b-schools expect from prospective entrepreneurs. And if you want to start your own company, which business schools would provide you with excellent entrepreneurship education.


Answering your questions:

1. Is my profile good enough for the colleges i'm targetting ?
It will be of immense help to me if you can categorize the schools above as
1) Not possible, forget about it!
2) Good Chance
3) Not at all easy but can be given a shot

- It is amazing! You are a complete package for what adcoms are looking for. All you have to do is convey it very effectively. I would not say forget about any schools because your profile is competitive and has a decent shot at each school only if you create essays aligned with the school’s values. I recommend narrowing down your schools depending on your post-MBA goals. Because your business school will act as a springboard for your career, it is critical to evaluate how well the school meets your post-MBA goals. Babson is ranking number one school for entrepreneurs for the past 21 years.

2. I'm targetting round 2, hence i want to know whether the colleges usually have rolling admissions for R2 in which case i'll have to hurry up and apply , or can i apply till the deadline is there?

- The R2 deadline for INSEAD is November 2, 2021, the R2 deadline for NYU Stern is October 15, 2021, and the rest of the schools have R2 deadlines in January 2022. So if you want to apply to INSEAD and NYU, you must act quickly. For other institutions, you can begin right away and work your way up.

3. Is my GMAT score good enough, or should i retake it? I somehow tanked my IR (Score - 2) , is that going to be a detterant in my applications?

- Your GMAT score is lower than the average required for b-schools, and AdComs consider your overall GMAT score. Therefore, I suggest you should retake the GMAT if you believe you can perform better. Otherwise, concentrate on creating high-quality apps.

4. Is my profile good enough to get decent scholarships?

- Yes, your profile is strong enough.

5. Since currently i just have 3 years of work experience and by the time i join MBA it'll be 4 yrs, should i wait for another year and then apply, or this is a good time to apply?

- You should apply. The quality matters more than quantity, and your profile is impressive.

6. What more I can do to strenghten my profile so that my chances of making to top 5 US B-Schools increase?

- Improve your GMAT score and concentrate on writing great applications.

Overall you have a great profile. If you’d like, we are happy to hop on a call with you to discuss your profile in length and shortlist the right b-schools for you. Feel free to book a free session with us as per your convenience.

How to enhance your application and maximize your chances for fall intake

Cheers!
Neha Hadke
Profile Analyst & Community Manager, MBA and Beyond
Testimonials
Email: neha@mbaandbeyond.com



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