Volunteering Experience of Saraja Rambole

Back in 2021, sitting at home due to COVID had become very monotonous and I wanted a channel to vent out my energy and show my potential in some or the other way. My constant urge to do something for the community as a whole helped me discover what IEEE actually is. I started with volunteering as the Podcast Team Lead at IEEE Pune Section, unraveling various other avenues it provides along the way. IEEE has always given me worthwhile experiences. Lots of learnings and even more takeaways. Opportunities and experiences like this inspire me to continue my journey with IEEE, to develop a professional network and to take its motive forward. A podcast is something very much in trend for today’s youth. Creating a podcast of our own on a section level, we targeted some extensive topics like leadership, community service and women empowerment in each episode. As a team lead, my contribution towards the section was to deliver each episode with guest speakers across different domains. Coming up with a podcast series like this helped revolutionize the traditional way of broadcasting valuable content to the listeners. The series also helped to spread the mission and vision of IEEE across various domains of speakers and networking with them. So, the only thing I’m super proud of is that I joined IEEE because after joining, there is an infinite list of things which have made me even more happy and proud.

I consider IEEE as a staircase for me which leads to a better perspective towards my overall professional growth. Volunteering at student branch, section, and global level has strengthened my personality and boldness to take responsibilities and take them forward. Talking about the skills which I’ve acquainted, from a very raw individual knowing nothing about the community, to knowing about podcasting, graphic designing, moderating events, leading teams, strategizing, taking initiatives and becoming a bootstrapper has helped me in numerous ways. Along the journey, IEEE has shaped me into a better leader. Getting surrounded with like-minded individuals, who lift you higher each day is nothing less than a blessing.

During our podcasting journey, me and my team used to sit almost every day in the evening after our college hours, discussing about the overall execution of each episode. Those days were a bit overwhelming, but it did bring out the best multitaskers in each one of us. Those conversations helped us to know each other’s ideas better, making our perspectives broader and even more expansive. Each new day was full of new learnings. Apart from IEEE, I am also an active student in my college. Taking initiatives and exploring new things is what I have always loved to do. In the year 2020-21, I’ve been a member National Service Scheme (NSS). I was also the Co-Head of MPulse Xtronica 2021, which is a technical event of our college. In this role, I was responsible for managing all the activities and events taking place under the 2-day event on a departmental level. Along with all these extracurricular activities, I was also the topper of the branch in my second year of Electronics and Telecommunication engineering. I believe that along with your academics, it is very important to have exposure to other activities leading to your interdisciplinary expansion. Hence, the extracurriculars form a ladder for your overall career development and personal growth