Interest
Right from quite an early point in time in my life, I have found teaching to be very enjoyable. I was born into a lineage of professors, who were well respected for their contributions in teaching. My great-grandfather was a teaching-licentiate in India and dedicated his entire career to teaching mathematics. My grandfather was a PhD holder from Germany and dedicated his entire career to teaching Civil engineering in India. My father is a PhD holder from the United States and dedicated a very significant part of his career to teaching Mechanical engineering in India and a few other countries. To the extent that the biology of genes is true, my being born into this lineage could probably explain why I have been very interested in teaching from quite an early point in life! I hope to continue this legacy by adding value to the lives of people through dedicated teaching and mentoring, across disciplines closer to my heart.
Experience
My first few experiences in teaching were very informal in nature. These experiences were very instrumental in emphasizing my passion to teach and nurturing my confidence to take up formal teaching positions.
When I was about 15 years old, I had the opportunity to engage in informal percussion teaching. Students from North America would visit India for formal lessons from my Guru. I had opportunities to offer informal lessons on creative percussion accompaniment to classical music. The focus of these sessions was mainly two fold - teaching of necessary concepts and practical demonstration of the concepts taught. These sessions were among the first few teaching opportunities in life. While the visiting students seemed to benefit from these informal sessions, I discovered my basic passion to teach.
When I was around 20 years old, I interned at an auditing firm, as a part of my Chartered Accountancy qualification. The first half of almost every Saturday was usually dedicated to academic sessions wherein interns had to conduct seminars on topics in accounting, auditing, taxation, and finance. I used to grab as many opportunities as possible to deliver lectures on a variety of topics. The greatest advantage in these sessions was the constructive feedback that was provided almost immediately by my mentors. These sessions helped to re-emphasize my passion for teaching. The feedback that I received from my mentors also helped me gain confidence that I could deliver value in academic and professional settings through my lectures.
With passion and confidence built and nurtured over time, I decided I was ready to take up formal teaching positions. After I qualified as a Chartered Accountant, I joined education companies and taught courses in accounting and finance to students pursuing the Chartered Accountancy program of India and the ACCA program of the United Kingdom. I was also a visiting faculty at a regional branch of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, where I delivered short seminars in accounting and finance. I gained over 3 years of teaching experience in this space before moving to pursue my PhD.
I now look forward to teaching opportunities in university settings!