Volunteering Experience of Subramanya Navada
There is a saying “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, what are you doing for others?” and I’m one such luckiest person who can answer this with pride, I’m an IEEE volunteer. The one who inspires and impacts others to the core. The reason for my career in IEEE started with this very own cause and proceeded to enable new dimensions in my career. It has enriched my knowledge and given me the platform to bring the humanitarian soul into action. Through IEEE I have served, enhanced, and explored technology and most importantly understood the professional essence of making things meaningful. Knowledge gained is knowledge shared, it was key learning from networking IEEE which is a ray of sunshine indeed.
Being an IEEE member, itself is a proud moment, but the kind of opportunity it gave me over the years is spell bounding. I started my journey as a designer in the SMT team. It was a joy when we saw our poster being the face of the section/council globally. Following volunteering in international conferences like R10 HTC, BHTC (2021,22), Conecct (2021,22), Mysuru Con 2021 and other prestigious platforms, broke my fear and made me understand the potential. The biggest moment of getting a chance in the IEEE India council newsletter IC Vaani to serve as SSR opened a new door to connecting the world to the voice of IEEE. Volunteering in the Podcast series is an honor of prime. As the volunteering stages expanded to WIE, YP and other societies, it not only allowed me to brand myself as a IEEE member, it truly did. One unforgettable moment is when the IC Vaani logo was designed and officially accepted, the same scenario as with the BHTC 2022 logo. Words shortfall to tell what is not in IEEE made me proud!
As we say ‘your network is your net worth, IEEE’s primary benefit is the networking it brings in. In the initial days of IEEE, I was able to connect to international personalities and ask them doubt’s using IEEE collabratec The use of the wide range of products available by IEEE including spectrum is outstanding, and the perks like MGM awards and the opportunity to lead different teams like SAC Content, IEEE day volunteers, SMT design team, Web Design, Newsletter(HOPE), WIE design teams(Bangalore section) and many others brought different diversity in my carrier and enhanced the professional leadership qualities. Designing and Content took its shape as IEEE works progressed. During the covid period, I have won more than 20 events across the nation conducted by different SBs. IC Vaani and other volunteering mentioned above is a sheer benefit of IEEE. As it’s always said, IEEE is not just an opportunity but a place for all possibilities existing.
One funny story of IEEE happened with the design team I was working with, we had ‘0’ time left for the event and the designs were short, the theme was elaborative, but we had no designs on show. Suddenly a thought came to just create a collage of an event happening, 4 of us went out, took some pics, collaged them and titled ‘World is waiting… well 5 mins more to go’. when we displayed it the auditorium filled with laughter burst. And another story is the impact IEEE made when we were teaching a few high school students under the STEM +2 program when we taught them the basics of electronics and made a few projects over the tenure, some of them turned out to us asked our numbers and when we were going back to the home, they sent a bunch of flowers towards us using the same race car they designed. No matter how time could flow, the memories IEEE made is evergreen.
I have been felicitated with National Balshree honor in creative writing stream from govt. of India, also the recipient of Bala Pratibha award from govt. of Karnataka and recipient of numerous awards in science and technology, literature, academic and so far. Apart from IEEE, I have been part of many social serving societies like NSS, scouts, etc. I’m one of the founding members of Nirbhaya youth federation (Reg) which works on developing a healthier nation with youth in action. I have been a public speaker since the age of 14, starting from topics of Vedanta to national politics, I love to impact students towards nation building and provide them new opportunities and impact the same using different technologies as a building block. Through active articles in different local magazines and papers, I’m on the verge of releasing my first poetry collection, Technisium national level contest that took place under my lead, brought my IEEE skills to check in action. My dream is to drive the world with happiness and prosperity.