Meet Our Game Changers: Kapil

#PeopleGrowth #AwardWinningCulture #BreakthroughWork

SapientNitro - Where People, Not Titles, Matter - Kapil

Kapil

Sr. Manager, Technology RESPONSIBLE FOR: - Technology Lead on SN's EngagedNow Platform - Sr. Solution Architect on few other Adobe CQ projects - Deliverables from India - Owning team growth

AWARDS: - 2013 Distinguished Technologist Award - Nominated for Founders Award in Sapient in 2006 HOBBIES: Playing tennis, photography, blogging (part of Javalobby on DZone as Most Valuable Blogger)

THE RETURN TO SAPIENTNITRO Kapil started his career in IT at Sapient.

From the get-go he knew there was something different about this company.

“The interview process was a grueling all day affair of interviews, exams, and discussions,” said Kapil. “But I was struck by the effort that everyone made – from recruiters to technical directors – to connect with me. They clearly weren’t interested in hiring another cog in the wheel. I le the interview with an offer letter in-hand and a tremendous sense of pride in my accomplishment.”

“At SapientNitro creative imagines, or ‘storyscapes’ game-changing consumer experiences. These ideas are brought to life by engineers like me.”

Kapil spent his first four years at Sapient specializing in IT architecture. He was perfectly happy but he le to try his hand at another company and in a new technical direction. Three years later he was back.

1

SapientNitro vs the Egyptian Pyramid During his years wandering in the corporate IT desert, Kapil felt stifled by the bureaucratic barriers of other companies. “It was like I was working in an Egyptian pyramid. Senior people were unapproachable and junior people were invisible. No-one dared disrupt the chain of command.”

This was in sharp contrast to his experience at SapientNitro. “When I started at the company I was the most junior person on my team. But my colleagues encouraged me to voice my opinions and seize opportunities. Before I knew it, they made me lead on part of the project. At one point during my first two years, I was the project lead where I had several senior folks accountable to me for delivery. My qualifications were all that mattered. I’ve never worked at another company that based its decisions on people not titles.”

“I returned because I saw a more rewarding career trajectory for myself at SapientNitro.

Equally important, I missed the company’s culture, people and quality work.”

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A Different Managerial Mindset at SapientNitro Kapil returned to SapientNitro far more seasoned than when he began. Now it was his turn to coach juniors to thrive in a peer-to-peer vs. top-down culture. As he stated, “It takes a different managerial mindset. I’m o en asked by juniors to discipline fellow team mates. To their surprise, I tell them that they have to do it. These kinds of experiences teach juniors how to have “hard conversations” which in turn fast-tracks their readiness to assume greater levels of responsibility and grow their careers.”

Celebrating Success As a manager, Kapil finds regular doses of encouragement go a long way. He regularly emails them about “inspiring moments” on the project.

For example, upon finishing a project, Kapil emailed the team, “At the beginning, it seemed as if it was a tough road ahead with a rookie team on Adobe CQ platform for this global corporate client.

Today, post-delivery, I can't describe how proud I feel about the people I have worked with in the last few months. Every single person in the team has come together to realize this vision. Today we showcased our achievement to the client. A few quotes that I overheard:

“When I started at the company I was the most junior person on my team. But my colleagues encouraged me to voice my opinions and seize opportunities.

Before I knew it, they made me lead on part of the project.”

"Site looks awesome!!"

“Only two words for the Team - YOU ROCK!” “Pat yourselves on the back! Job well done!”

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An Equal Passion for Family, Photography, Blogging and Tennis as for Work!

According to Kapil, “Work/Life balance means different things to different people. For me, it means being happy at home and at work. SapientNitro makes this possible. When I’m at work, I’m 100% engaged. Same with my time at home. Never the twain shall meet.”

“Work/Life balance means different things to different people. For me, it means being happy at home and at work. SapientNitro makes this possible.”

Read more about our game-changers at sapientnitro.com/careers/game_changers

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He also makes time for his favorite past times – blogging, photography and tennis. “Well, to be honest, I don’t get to play as much tennis as I’d like but I do blog about Federer.”