May 2023 marks the completion of my 5th year in the French automotive industry. I started working after my masters from Ecole centrale de Nantes.
I still remember my first working day in Toulouse, south of France. In the intial 2 months, I was so nervous & made a lot of silly mistakes too.
On the same day, i accidentally addressed my client manager’s secretary as Madame & so she started calling me as « Mon petit » until I left Toulouse. In India, we use Sir/Mam a lot, thanks to our colonizers.
Working in a foreign country, speaking a foreign language and a completely different kind of work environment made it a very complicated scenario. But, I’m a survivor because it is nothing, when compared to losing my father at a very young age.
Big thanks to the support from Noemie Burgard, Séverine Ruelle, Maxime Brun, Laurent Sentenac, Mathieu TOUSSART, Alexandre Domarco, Catherina ROGER, Nicolas Oberti, Vincent Blangero & many other lovely former colleagues from the pink city, I was able to adapt into the French work environment & cherish these experiences. My time @ Bertrandt Group in Toulouse was memorable.
3 years in Toulouse, taught me a lot of important life lessons. Initially, I felt so lonely in a new city and being an introvert didn’t help too. So, I went out of my comfort zone & started meeting a lot of people. This lead to the creation of new association called Indian Community Toulouse – ICT along with some amazing friends. Even though I’m not active with ICT anymore, the team is doing an amazing job.
The long hours spent in the -30deg cold chamber or on the test track calibrating various prototype cars was a dream come true. My mom doesn’t believe that I do these things at work. For her, I’m still a small kid who is afraid to fall from his bicycle.
Toulouse also introduced me to a lot new things which I had never dreamt of doing such as scuba diving, paragliding, canyoning, trekking, wild camping in the Pyrenees, very long drives, etc.
Then the Covid crisis happened & completely changed my life again. My plans to settle down in Toulouse, changed to finding an appartment 🏠 in southern Parisian suburbs.
With a heavy heart, I had accepted the internal transfer to Paris region & started working at Renault Technocentre Lardy in Jan 2020. Working at an OEM & a supplier can have very contrasting learning experiences. Thanks to Thibaut Bertolotti Santiago Alario Rodríguez & others who moved to Paris region together and for all the support. Also, I slowly transitioned from calibrating engine control to electric motors control.
After spending a year in Lardy, i decided it’s time to leave my employer of 4 years, in search of greener pastures. Ofcourse, the grass is always greener on the other side.
Since April 2022, I’m with Akkodis working on an interesting project at Emotors & trying hard to be a Parisien 😉
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