Raghavan Rajendran Web Site

Fresh out of college after getting my Bachelor of Technology in Electrical Engineering, I was extremely happy when I got my first job as a Graduate Engineer Trainee (GET) at Cement Research Institute. After a stint for 6 years as a scientist in the Cement Research Institute, I got into the habit of job hopping! Moving away from a "public sector" company to the private sector, I was amazed at the opportunities available. You worked hard and you get rewarded !! After years of the government approved minuscule increments, here was an opportunity, not only to get recognized but rewarded financially!! I was like a kid in the toy store - Playing with the different toys - always looking for the perfect other toy !

Joining NetQuest (Now Called Aditi) and meeting Pradeep Singh changed my life. He was passionate and believed in his vision for the company. He motivated me to become bigger than what I could imagine. He taught me the importance of potential and attitude as compared to skills. To this date I look for people with potential and then teach/train them to learn the skills. I believe once you understand the art of learning and structured thinking, every topic/skill becomes easy.

Since then I have moved into a number of companies, another start up in New Jersey and finally at a big five consulting company. This gave me exposure to a wide variety of environments, people and cultures. Makes you realize that all things said and done, it boils down to the people in an organization. They make or break it. They create or destroy.

It changed my approach to projects. Now it is People/Process first before technology. Change enablement became a key ingredient in all my projects

New Jersey based Business and Technology Consulting company

My Own consulting company  where I did independent consulting as well as projects for some great customers

Accounting Services Startup company in California. Joined them as the CTO, build a complete platform using SharePoint, helped rasied Series A funding. Great fun doing all this 

As you must be aware by now, Andersen could not make it and the Business Consulting Group was taken over by then KPMG Consulting. After a brand change we are now known as BearingPoint.

Two and half years with this firm has been a huge learning curve for me. I met some great people inside the firm, worked with some tough clients and learnt how to manage big projects, understood the importance of having good processes and how to use these processes to our advantage. Unfairly indicted by the DOJ, Andersen declared bankruptcy

Data Inc is a New Jersey based consulting company which offered me the first opportunity to work in the United States of America. In the two and half years I was there, I worked with the President (and my personal mentor) Arun Verma to set up the Internet services group. Starting with small web sites for Indian companies, we were able to land bigger Internet projects fro companies like Prudential, Loctite Corporation etc.

Joining as a Technical Manager in the Product and Services group, I managed the teams that created an awareness of Internet technology - Developing the first web site, Java based tools etc.  I also originated the idea of a customer service tool which was later considered for product development. Unfortunately due to the opportunity which was presented to me to work in USA, I had to leave the firm.

This was my first experience in a startup and my first meeting with Pradeep Singh, who had a great impact on my official life. He brought out the best in me and is a role model for me even today. I was the fifth person to join the company and when I left it less than a year there were more than 120 of us. I was managing a team of over 20 professionals to provide mentoring support on CompuServe forums in Visual C++ and when the MIS manager had to leave, I was also looking after the MIS department with over 120 workstations, few server and a satellite link into Microsoft. This was an experience which one can never forget or hope to repeat.

Ramco Systems, Madras Tamilnadu, is a premier software concern  developing
Enterprise software for the Indian and International markets.  My previous
experience in Cement technology and my IT experience  made me the right choice
for the Real Time Group (RTG) of Ramco Systems. I was quickly involved in
providing expertise in developing a Fuzzy  logic control system for cement
plants. Soon I was given the  responsibility of developing the Optima Kiln
Information system software used to monitor cement kiln temperatures. I was soon
bored and looking  for a new job to expand my skills.

National Council for Cement and Building materials (NCB) , previously known as Cement Research Institute (CRI), is an apex R&D institute in the field of cement and building materials. This is the firm which gave me the first break. Hiring me straight from my Engineering college as a GET (Graduate Engineering Trainee), I was taught everything from running a cement plant to actually climbing up the stack of a cement kiln and inserting a probe to measure the pollution. My interest in computers saved the day for me and I was very busy quickly in developing software solutions using GWBasic and a PC with just 256K of memory. (This experience gave me the foundation to write tight code). It was a "government " job with lax discipline but gave me a insight on how to use scarce resources to keep your mind occupied.