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Ravichandra Sutrave

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Ravichandra Sutrave

working

Cisco

Brief description about me

I had my primary and high school education in Gulbarga, Karnataka. Since childhood I had interest in Science and Math. I always believed in learning by understanding. Following this, in subjects which require us to byheart things was a challenge to me. But I still managed to do well in those subjects, thanks to the tricks given by my teachers. We did not had good infrastructure in our school for computer education. So I had no knowledge about computers till I was 14. After my high school I went to a small institute where they taught us how to use a computer.

I started programming after the 12th exams. I was waiting for my results but the dates got postponed. I had lots of free time. My sister was studying diploma in computer science. I used to ask her many questions related to computers. She insisted that I should learn C programming language. I learnt basics of C programming from my sister without a computer. We got a computer within few days. I started implementing things I learnt in physics and math in C. This was a turning point in my life. Programming became my hobby. Whenever I came across a complex problem I tried to write a program to solve them.

I was the first person in my family to do engineering. I did my engineering in Electronics and Communication at SJCE mysore. I took Electronics because I had some unanswered childhood questions about computers. My interest in programming made me to learn other programming languages. I learnt OOP concepts in C++ myself. I started learning java before I even started programming in C++. I wrote some games using applets initially. I used to participate in coding competitions conducted in our college.

In my final semester I got internship opportunity from Cisco. This was the dream of every CS student in our college. I was the only person from Electronics background to get internship opportunity from Cisco. I was selected mainly because of my problem solving ability and knowledge of Java.

After my engineering I joined Microchip Technology as an Application Engineer. I was selected here for my knowledge in C and problem solving ability. This was a dream job for any Electronics student. I worked on dsPIC micro controllers. After working for 6 months, I got a call from Cisco for a job opportunity. This put me in a dilemma. At one side I had a job that every electronics student dreams of and at the other side I had a job that every CS student dreams of.

Choosing Cisco was a major turning point in my life. My friends always used to tell me that I should have chosen CS as my engineering subject. But I never regretted taking Electronics and instead it helped me answer some of my unanswered childhood questions.

I am presently working at Cisco as a Software Engineer. I am working on a DPI(Deep Packet Inspection) and P2P application detection on asr5k series of routers.

Most Important Career Decision

The most important decision of my career was choosing between Cisco and Microchip. I decided to join Cisco mainly because of the team in which I was offered the job. My team works on a library that helps the operators of asr5k to better control the type of traffic going through their routers. This involves classifying traffic into protocols or applications that generated them. This technology will change the way we use internet today.

Prospective toward freshers

Hiring a fresher has many advantages:

    * Fresher gets adjusted to company environment easily.
    * They can learn about the job without difficulty as they are ready to learn new things.
    * They are more work oriented.
    * They are paid less so company can make same work done at lesser expense.

My Strongest Skill

* Problem solving using programming.
* writing efficient code
* learning by understanding

Upcoming Trends

I am currently working on Deep packet inspection. Today every internet provider wants to control what applications there subscriber use for various reason.
Some of the reason are:

    * Quality of service.
    * Intrusion prevention system
    * Lawful interception by service provider as required by government agencies.

This would change the way we use internet today. In future we could see internet service provider providing free access to some web/mobile applications or may charge differently for using some other applications.

My goal

Professional goal: To excel in my field.
Personal goal: Make my family feel proud about me.

family background

I am bought up in a middle class family. My father is a tailor and runs a small shop in my native place. My mother teaches science at a primary school in my native. I was the first person in my family to do engineering.

Elders advice

One of my school teacher had given me the advice to learn by understanding. I am still following it and it has helped everywhere from school to my current job.

My achievements

I have lived the dream of both a computer science engineer (internship and job at Cisco) and Electronics engineer (job at microchip). This is a great achievement for me.

Advice to students

My advice would depend on the person I am giving advice to

    * Always do what you are passionate about
    * When learning new things try to understand basic concepts well, instead of learning by remembering.
    * Always ask questions. Questions are the best way to gain knowledge.
    * Discuss with friends. This will not only improve your communication skills but also increase your knowledge.