Uncovering the Importance of Continual Learning at Work

The more we learn, the more we discover our true potential as an individual and as a community. Learning helps us enhance our endeavors as it helps one build adaptability and innovation. And TCS supports and encourages its associates at every step of this learning journey. We had a chat with TCS employee Abhijeet Mahankal. Over the years, he has imbibed this organizational culture of curiosity and learning and admits today to being a self-directed learner.

About four years ago, Abhijeet embarked on his career path as a developer through CodeVita. Since then, his quest towards digital excellence has found a perfect home in the rich and integrated learning suite offered by TCS. Starting with the Digital Cadre journey, his applied learning capability has fueled him to reach greater heights. With over 400 digital competencies, currently, he is the Technical Lead at TCS BFSI Digital Platforms and Services, solving real-time business problems for clients across the globe.

Fig. 1: A visual summary of Abhijeet Mahankal’s learning accomplishments at TCS. 

The starting point

At TCS, every learner is celebrated and given the opportunities to imbibe knowledge from various fields. For Abhijeet, it all started with having a clear learning path in place and prioritizing it as a necessary slice of his daily schedule. “Just like we are advised to exercise daily for sound health, in a similar way, exercising the brain is also essential. Spending an hour daily on acquiring new skills either in a technical or non-technical domain, goes a long way to keep the momentum active,” says the learning champion. This motivation has helped him leverage the learning ecosystem and boost his soft skills along with upskilling and reskilling himself on trending technologies such as Automation, Machine Learning, Data Science, Cloud, DevOps, Full Stack and so on.

Making room for professional learning

In a world where the boundaries of home and work blur, learning, quite naturally, tends to take a backseat. However, realizing one’s potential and exploring it further remains essential. Small initiatives, rolled out every so often, keep the curiosity engine going. Abhijeet shares below a few tips on how to stay at the top of one’s learning and reskilling game:

1. Avoid overscheduling – Save a spot in your daily calendar to complete the course in your wish list. This can be a great way to combat work burnouts!
2. Shut the noise – The never-ending cycle of news and social media bytes can be overwhelming. Do not let these time thieves get the better of you. Instead, spend more time on articles that align with your interests.
3. Set realistic learning goals – Rushing towards the finish line can often disrupt the purpose and result of your learning. Take your time to grasp a concept before moving on to the next.
4. Stay grounded – You are your only competition. Focus on the areas that require improvement and try to work on them.
5. Deploy process automation – Streamline activities to minimize your daily routine tasks. TCS’ Agile framework helps Abhijeet in investing more time to stay ahead of the curve.

Complementing daily work with doses of learning

With a little consistency and a broader perspective, Abhijeet has developed an internal compass that guides his work, decisions, and interactions. His day-to-day work experiences–such as addressing a customer’s challenge, collaborating with a colleague, or brainstorming a unique business strategy–have become opportunities to leverage his contextual knowledge to develop fresher ideas.

Adopting the Learn, Mentor & Implement (LMI) strategy

Sharing the newly acquired knowledge with others around is a great way to create a productive digital workplace. Abhijeet has personally mentored over 50 associates in their learning journey. He has been vocal in TCS’ internal employee-connect platforms through informative articles and life-changing hacks. He also regularly participates in various talent development initiatives at TCS guiding his colleagues to achieve their career milestones. “Free flow of knowledge among your peers will help garner valuable feedbacks, complete the learning process, and increase your confidence in the concepts learned so far,” he says.

Reaping the benefits of wisdom

When success is applauded, it pushes people to think out of the box. “I have been blessed with seniors who acknowledge my success and ensure our customers know of it as well,” says Abhijeet. An influx of peer appreciation and congratulatory messages from customers flowed in when he leveraged the four pillars of Business 4.0™ to craft better solutions:

• Created exponential value with automated DevOps, task automation, and machine learning to reduce costs and resources.

• Drove mass personalization with technologies such as modern web development to create new application programming interfaces for enhanced customer experience.

• Created new digital ecosystems for clients with cloud computing and data science.

• Automated risk mitigation in crucial operations and minimized application incidents using cognitive automation mini projects.

The road ahead

Currently, Abhijeet is working towards becoming a Technical Architect, targeting new milestones every week to complete mini projects, crack hackathons, and complete courses for the assigned role. When asked about the future, he put out his larger perspective in terms of how his skills would benefit the business at large. “With continuous learning and refining my skill sets, my future aspirational goal is to incorporate smarter business models that are scalable to Industry 4.0 and beyond.” Indeed, learning and mastering the ability to learn widens one’s horizon and worldview.