Nordson India is a truly equal opportunity employer. We employ people with diverse backgrounds. It is this diversity that in many ways constitutes our single biggest strength. Every month, Nordson India profiles one of our employees, to highlight the kind of people who work for us. This month we profile Mr. Rahul Chowdhury who has been with our Embedded Systems team since 2003.

I’m a Crazy Guy… But Don’t Put That In Okay?

Although a relatively new employee – he has been here since May 2003 – Rahul  Chowdhury’s story is in many ways the story of Nordson India’s growth in the new millennium. This Senior Software Engineer takes a break at Nordson India’s Bangalore headquarters to talk about the journey and the way ahead.

You’ve seen the company through some exciting times…

Nordson India created this embedded systems development team in 2000, so I missed just three years of the action. I’ve watched our team grow from the point when we were just two software engineers and one hardware engineer!

In fact it wasn’t until 2003 that we really took off. It was then that Nordson Corporation in the U.S. started giving us big development projects. I was lucky to be there for the first challenging project they gave us, which was to develop software for the Prodigy™ line of products. It was a big responsibility and I believe we lived up to the confidence they had in us. From there on it’s been go.

What has the experience been like?

I’m lucky to work here. The work is challenging, and the best thing is you handle a whole project as a team, instead of doing just a piece of the work – so we really feel that it’s ‘our’ product. I’ve only worked at one company before I came here, so I can’t really make any comparisons. But everyone’s really friendly here and we have amazing managers. You can freak out with them but at the same time they command respect.  

And I’m lucky because unlike most software engineers I don’t have a B.Tech.; I’m from a B. Sc. background. I had applied to other companies but was rejected for that reason. Maybe ten years down the line, employers will be more inclusive in terms of educational backgrounds. But Nordson India is ahead of the game. Here you’ll find people with diverse backgrounds, and they all deliver results. Here, one’s background is secondary to the company’s assessment on one’s ability to perform.

How would you describe the working environment?  Relaxed, enjoyable…?

I won’t say the working environment is relaxed. Everyone has stretch goals, so we’re all intensely focused on our work. There has to be some degree of professionalism in every company. Personally, I get excited when there’s a problem with some software, when there’s some tension and when I’m immersed in how we can fix it. I don’t like it when everything’s going too well. I’m a crazy guy… but don’t put that in, okay?

But it’s a great environment. When I first came here, I wanted to understand the industry. My colleagues and managers spent a lot of time telling me everything I wanted to know. I’ve always been reserved but my colleagues helped me get over that a lot. We’ve had some great times together.

What do you do away from the office?

Our working hours allow us to balance work and life. I read a lot – mostly mysteries, biographies… Right now I’m reading Nehru’s Discovery of India. I also sing in our church choir and in a choir called Symphonia, which gives frequent weekend concerts.

Where do you see yourself ten years from now?

I don’t see myself being a programmer for a long time. I’d like to be more than just a technical guy. I know that’s not something you expect to hear from a software engineer!  I only know a couple of programming languages and they won’t be in use forever. But I’ll always be a programmer at heart!But the company is growing.

Let’s see, maybe there’ll be some other area where I can continue to be useful. If you look at Nordson India over the last ten years, we’ve done all the right things. As the leader in precision dispensing equipment we take the right technology to the right people. To the best of my knowledge, no other multinational company in our business has an embedded development team here in India.

That’s an important thing we’ve done: it enables us deliver cutting edge products and services more competitively than others. The time difference also helps, because it means that between Nordson Corporation in the U.S. and our team here, we’re working 24 hours a day.   That’s the kind of company I can see myself working with!  We take our work seriously… but we know how to have a good time, too.

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