Mech Engineer-turned-Security Analyst Skyrockets His Career by Improving His Poor Communication Skills, and English Fluency

Mech Engineer-turned-Security Analyst Skyrockets His Career by Improving His Poor Comm Skills, Fluency

How often have you seen an engineer switching his “trade” to IT? Too many, you’d say, and part of it is because this sector offers tremendous growth opportunities. But how many engineers have you seen building their communication skills after making a successful switch? Not too many, we guess.

This is just where you should meet Ankit Sai. He completed his Bachelor’s (B.Tech.) in Mechanical Engineering and went swimming upstream in Hyderabad’s iconic Information Technology sector. He is currently working as a Security Analyst at Deloitte and loves spending his time talking to friends and scrolling through his Instagram feed.

But this account isn’t about how he completed his engineering and landed himself a job through campus placement. Those details are insignificant compared to what he did next, for you could derive inspiration from how he built upon the lead to improve his communication skills. He has also won a promotion recently after this major turnaround.

A cocktail of anxiety and low self-esteem

Ankit did primary schooling in his paternal village until class 12th before his family moved to Bengaluru. He enrolled in a prestigious engineering college in the city and diligently studied for four years. However, his medium of schooling was Telugu, while that of Engineering was English. While Ankit worked hard on the challenge, he became overly anxious while conversing in English, and this affected his self-belief too.

He used to speak very fast, and his heart beat even faster as he rushed through what he wanted to say. He said he had also joined coaching for English speaking a few years ago but that didn’t help him much- until one day, he ran into an Instagram post about Blackboard Radio’s live classes. It offers in-person (or 1:1) online classes by experienced English teachers from prestigious universities, and they provide the student with real-time feedback.

Ankit decided to give it a try!

Ankit knew he had to do something about his poor English and communication skills to enjoy faster career growth. He had spent a few years in the industry and was eyeing a promotion in the next quarter. However, he also knew that he had to do something radically different about his poor English-speaking skills and to go up the ladder.

He thus decided to go ahead with Blackboard Radio. Since he had a poor experience with an offline coaching institute, he decided to play it safe this time. So, he opted for a Foundation Class to gauge if the brand was as good as it was saying.

Ankit logged in at the preset date and time. His trainer, Manpreet, was there, waiting for him. The duo talked for some time to know each other and the expectations they shared. Ankit told his trainer that he didn’t have many issues with correct grammar, but he certainly did have some with speaking fluently.

Ankit added that he was annoyed with his high speech rate because it often made his audience disinterested. He also fared no better as he used to stutter after being told that he was talking too fast to be understood. Thus, he has some gaps in his communication skills and would like to improve on them and go to the Advanced level.

The next 14 weeks were to change his life forever!

This one-hour-long introduction was enough to set the expectations and momentum straight. It wasn’t long before Manpreet impressed Ankit with her preference to know his shortcoming and clear his doubts. Ankit thus decided to go ahead with a specialized course called Fluency in English Communication.

Manpreet was right on the money in the new course too. Starting from the Foundation Class, she had chalked out a personalized English course for better results. She consolidated it and started to work on Ankit’s skills. The following pointers list how she provided him feedback through the 14-week-long course:

• Class 1: Ankit knows what he is supposed to say, but he needs to work on grammar. He has a strong vocabulary, but it is of little good if he does not know basic rules about tenses and verbs. He subconsciously knows that and this makes him anxious. This results in a faster rate of speech and makes his listeners fall out of the conversation. I recommend that he speaks a bit slowly and read a book every day.
• Class 2: His rate of speech has reduced a bit and he now speaks a bit fluently. But this has also uncovered a new issue: he starts stuttering when asked to speak on random topics. He also makes more grammatical mistakes then.
• Class 3 and 4: He actively participates in class and asks me to clear his doubts.
• Class 5: His rate of speech is coming down and his grammatical mistakes too have reduced. The key for him is to keep working on the basics.
• Class 6: He spoke well today, even on random topics. He spoke neither too fast nor too slow and didn’t make any grammatical errors. I would recommend he keep reading regularly.
• Class 7: Most of his speeches have a common issue with the usage of ‘the.’ It would be better if he just stuck to the basics and didn’t try to do all the things at once.
• Class 8 and 9: He is very diligent and dedicated. During these classes, he has shown a lot of determination. He now speaks much more slowly and has a better command of grammar (including tenses and verbs). This has had a direct and positive effect on his fluency. I advise you to keep reading every day and not give up.

Ankit received this cumulative feedback after the last class. He continued to develop his speaking skills and got himself in line for promotion the next quarter. He knew he had derived immense benefits by opting for Blackboard Radio’s online classes. Its live classes and focused mentorship had helped him win his objectives and had thus made him a better-suited professional.

As a working professional, are you losing out on crucial time?

It is common to see some bright working professionals struggling to get promotions because they lack strong communication skills. They are often pegged back and this hurts their self-confidence. Switching jobs is of little help because inadequate English-speaking skills are unforgivable almost everywhere, more so in workplaces.

The best way to rise above these weaknesses is to get rid of them in the first place. One smart way to do so is to sign up for customized courses and avail of 1:1 live online classes on Blackboard Radio. You may avail of these sessions at a time and place of your choice, like late evening in your living room on your smartphone. This program respects your time and privacy and is designed to help you get better results in the shortest time.

The trainers are all selected from prestigious universities who would help understand your shortcomings to chalk out a specialized plan. This plan would be centered on learning the correct usage of vocabulary and grammar, advanced sentence structuring, and reducing the usage of filler words. It would be further topped with an overview of body language that provides the best impact. As a working professional, you can derive immense benefits from these learning modules for your profession and career.

The key is to take the first step towards a positive learning experience that’s much like anything else!

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