Turning a new leaf ...
It was the August of 2002 when I last updated this space
And it is the August of 2005 today. For 3 years I did not update my web page
and still so many of you were so very nice to visit it and write back saying it
was so good. Thanks to all of you. Thanks to my stars that I have so good
friends all over the world.
So once
again, to those of you who have been here earlier and to those of you who are
here for the first time
A very warm Welcome
Namaskar, Ram Ram Mandali, Salaam Walikum
:-)
Here are some excerpts from the page I
had here last
Fond memories of the good old days working with some really
great people
(None of my web pages can be complete without
a reference to IETE The Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication
Engineers (India) and the TSSIA Thane Small Scale Industries Association to
whom I am indebted for my engineering degree AMIETE.
It is only due to support and encouragement
from TSSIA, Ashida Electronics, Bradma of India Ltd., people like Dr. Joglekar,
Appasaheb Khambete, Prof. Mangalvedhekar that we saw our dream of engineering
degree become a reality. I am eternally indebted to these people.)
I am a member of IETE
(India). I have recently set up a group on yahoo groups called "IETE (Mumbai) Interest
Group" which I hope will act as a forum for all IETE members
(students, members, senior members everyone ...) to communicate amongst themselves.
Currently the process of becoming member of this group is
to set up a yahoo id. for yourself (Log on to http://my.yahoo.com/)
followed by a subscribe request to the group. All these activities can be
achieved through the following link to IETEMUM.
(Please note that
this requires you to create a signature identity on Yahoo. You could also use
the same identity to do a lot of other things like email, instant messaging,
shared disc space and also joining/starting various other groups. Not entirely
useless).
(NCST National Centre for Software
Technology was where I was initiated into IT and into a wonderful world
beyond engineering. What I studied there led to a post graduate diploma and one
and half years of work experience. But what I gained from there was and is more
precious to me The friendship of people who are dearest to me today and
guidance from the best minds in the industry then and now. Today NCST is
integrated into CDAC and there is nothing I can say on that).
- At NCST:
The documents I had here are no more there. But the place itself is a great place to surf through. - AT RTS:
RTS was one of the beshtesht places I have been to. Now it is called CNIE at Juhu. I won't tell you the fullforms. Go over to their home and get to know yourself. While there be sure to meet my friends Akhil, Swati, Kavita, Amol, Satish, Subbu and company. The ex-RTS people, people who were my seniors and friends and guides and all ... Shridhar Bhat, Preetam Patil, Uday Birajdar, and Dr. Leena Chandran. I said that RTS was great place to be at and it was these people who made it so good for us. I won't say I am indebted to them.... they know it already.
(The below are my last updated lines in August
2002 I repeat them as they were because they hold true today also
as long
as people like Samir and Ravindra lead the place (and Saurinbhai ofcourse) and
there are people like Rizwan, Sandhya, Emilio, Claude and others around, the
place will still be the great place it always was
And in this, people like
Mayur, Atif, Kaushik, Dipesh will agree with me too)
My last job was at Internet
Trends (I) Pvt. Ltd. I have currently resigned from the place and will be
in here till September 13 2002.
It is a great place to work in and we like to describe ourselves as "The
Network Infrastructure Software Services Company". If it sounds too good
... believe me it is. We are into everything that is core networking and
software products development. And if you are like me, a software engineer who
wants to do some serious work (oops did I say work ... I don't 'work' ...
sorry), then ITPL is the place to be in. Visit their web site and apply for the
place to party! Only catch is you have to be good at C/C++/Java at systems
level and should have real good knowledge of whatever you think you are good
at. Seems simple? Try it!
Some interesting links from 2002 (dont
know how many of these are current
please bear with me)
- An interesting article on Information
Security in the E-age.
- The reference
library maintained by The
Institute of Internal Auditors.
- Scores of Linux
Tutorials from Dmoz web directories. I
usually take this stop when I am travelling for information. Dmoz and Google , the search stop makes about
all that is required to know anything about anything. 'Googelizing the
problem' has become an acceptable phrase in the IT field
nowadays.
- For those doing some job
hunting here is some guidance from the experts on Resume Writing.
- The IBM
DeveloperWorks ...
- Lectures slides from OOAD module, NCST . (Try making sense out of them!
)
- Some links to navigate ...
created out of my bookmarks file.
2002 to 2005 Stations along the
journey
(Being a true blooded Mumbaikar, one needs to hark back to
trains and the railway
The terminus was the exit from Internet Trends when I
set out with two objectives : increase educational qualification beyond the
PGDST and get some experience outside the software development function).
SecureInfo
The first stop on the way. Single owner proprietorship. But
SecureInfo was more than just that. It was my first foray into selling
information security and processes oriented approaches to industry. Experimented
with a lot of the known (SSL/ PKI/ software development) and the unknown (BS7799, ITIL, COBIT). Had a limited success
enough to survive the year but not enough to scale up. SecureInfo was my
company but it was the brainchild of myself and good friend Rajeev. Also it
would never have happened without the full support and involvement of Mugdha,
my wife. And my family who stood by me through all.
CFC, HDFC Insurance
My stint as a insurance agent (CFC Certified Financial
Consultant) with HDFC Standard Life
Insurance. It gave me a good insight into the sales function and insurance
business. Also it was a good opportunity to make a large number of friends from
different fields. I really sold a very few policies but the time spent was a
huge value gain. Special thanks to
Avijit Sen my BDM from HDFC Standard Life and other friends for this stint.
Before I move on, I would advice everyone to have 2 mandatory things a term
insurance policy which protects interests of your dependents and a pension plan
which protects your interests, just in case you live longer than you expect. Dont
forget to drop a line to Avijit
if you are thinking insurance.
CISA
Working at SecureInfo gave a new perspective to issues of
IT administration, service and security. For the first time I was looking at
security beyond technical controls and software. Rajeev, who has often been my
mentor and guide in all these years, had already certified as a CISA (Certified Information Systems Auditor)
in 2002. The study gained some momentum in 2003 and in June 2003, I passed
through the CISA exams. It took another year and half to actually certify as a
CISA (based on a 5 year experience requirement and all). Two interesting
yahoogroups that visitors may want to see are CisaForum and IndianCisa.
The local chapter of ISACA
in Mumbai. Consists of wonderful people who are able and willing to guide
youngsters like me in the new world of Information Systems auditing and
consulting. People who dont just know the book but those who have written the
book. It is indeed my good fortune to be here today in a position to learn
from and be guided by these professionals.
(I think in all my educational and
professional life so far, it has always been the goodwill of senior people which
has guided and seen me through. I think I must have some lucky star someplace
which always places me under the care of people who are capable (to guide,
motivate, teach and lead the Gurus) and yet approachable for youngsters like
me.)
A SIFY company and Verisign
partners in India. They were the first to really drive the PKI market in India.
But more than the technical expertise and work, what I really remember about
the place is the great people. People like Dinesh and Shivangi who lead from
the front and can motivate anyone to contribute their best. And associates like
Vinodh, Ramkumar, Roshan, Rakesh, Sameer and Karim make the environment fun to
work in. Its really a great place to be at.
SIFY Assure
2004 was when I was transferred from SafeScrypt to SIFY Ltd to work with the SIFY Assure. High
points of this period were my work and stay in Saudi Arabia ( a really
wonderful place to be in and make friends from across the world) and all the
people I worked with and stayed with. People from the erstwhile EAP Global,
from Saudi Telecom, from Paramount Computers and consulting companies
from across the world. I was here at
this station till July 2005.
BS7799 Lead Auditor
Finally in May 2005, I enrolled in a course with BSI India (through an association with
ISACA Mumbai) to certify as a BS7799 Lead Auditor. I was already aware of and
working with BS7799 but this certification gives a formality to it. Besides the
single biggest attraction was completing some CPE hours as required for CISA
certification. Again as with all the railway stations, people formed a huge
value addition to the entire exercise. I was just too fortunate to be able to
meet and study under the legendary Mr. Sudarshan (one of the earliest CISAs in India,
contributor to many standards on auditing and security and the top-most
authority on BS7799 in India, if not the world). Also thanks to Mr. Mahesh from
BSI India for the course teaching and all members who attended the training
program.
2005 and beyond
Now moving into the Gulf again. Hopefully a terminus where
I will be located for next 4 5 years atleast
For those interested, my latest
CV is here
