Maryam: Hey, guys. Welcome back to the Extra Credit Podcast. And if it's your first time tuning in, this is a series where we talk about the ins, outs, and all there is to know about studying abroad with fellow international students, graduates, and faculty members worldwide.
I'm Maryam, your host, and if you're thinking of pursuing a career in engineering, kickstarting your career abroad, being an international student in Germany, or all three, our guest for today has some important insights to share about that.
From all the way in Pune, India, Maithili Deshmukh is the co-founder and chief strategy officer of AxD, Automation x Digital, a startup company that transforms, digitises, and provides automation services, as well as technical support to local and global manufacturing businesses.
But her journey to the top did not start there. Just like many of you, Maithili's huge dreams of making an impact on this industry began with a life-changing study experience in Germany, or what is aptly called the “Land of Ideas.”
Maithili, welcome! We're glad to have you here with us today. How are you?
Maithili: Thank you for having me, Maryam. I'm good. Yeah, I'm glad you reached out to me. I'm excited to talk about my journey and share some insights with you.
Maryam: Again, thank you for joining us. That's lovely to hear. Okay, let's go back to the beginning of your journey, before you flew off to Germany. So, before you set off to Europe, Maithili, you did your bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering, back home at the Maharashtra Institute of Technology, Aurangabad.
Maithili: Yeah.
Maryam: So, what first sparked your interest in engineering?
Maithili: Well, to be honest, you know, I've been born and brought up in Aurangabad, which is now called Chatrapati Sambhaji Nagar. Um, it's a city in Maharashtra, India. And growing up, you know, even during school years, I always went to our, uh, factory. I mean, we have a family business of CNC machine tool manufacturing. Um, and I'm very close to my parents and my family, and growing up, I always went to their workplace, saw what goes on over there. Uh, you know, there was also automation projects going on and all the manufacturing facilities that I, um, experienced over there.
That's what sparked my interest in engineering. My father is a seasoned mechanical and computer science engineer. So, in my formative years, it's always been a delight to watch him work and the way he thinks critically and comes up with solutions to the customer problems. So, yeah, and I always had that in mind that I want to join the family business. So, engineering was the way to go. And, you know, eventually, of course, entrepreneurship is not just technical education. It's not just engineering. But, you know, someone gave me very wise advice that, okay, if you want to be a leader in the tech space, your education has to be very much related to that — meaning, do your bachelor's, do your master's in engineering, so that you know the baseline or, let's say, the basics of your company. And the management part can be on the job. So, you can always learn about leadership and soft skills while you work, uh, but let your education be engineering. So, that's what, um, made me decide, uh, to do mechanical engineering — because we are in the field of manufacturing. And then later on, of course, my master's was in production systems engineering, which is a subset of mechanical.
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