Category Archives: Yash Mahadik

Getting a Good Job is Easier than Making a Great Career

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Me cooking in a team build session in Amsterdam

A bright, early-in-career professional sought some career advise from me about 2.5 years ago. I much appreciated the brilliant academic background, clarity of expression and the well mannered demeanour of this person.

At the time of our conversation, In 5.5 years of beginning her career, she had changed 3 companies already. That’s an average of 1.8 years per company, one of them was a tenure of just 8 months. When I asked for reasons behind these change decisions – quick came a witty reply, “Rolling Stones don’t gather moss”. To which I responded by asking a question – well do you want to be a rolling stone or a rising star? After a bit of thinking, came the reply, a rising star.

The gist of our discussion was as follows:

1) The main reason/strategy of this person to change jobs at this frequency was to enhance her earnings and with every change she got an average 20% increase. So she thinks that, her strategy is working. I asked her if – with every change she also gained/earned: new learning’s, better role and or a company with better branding and culture? Well this question took the smirk off her face. She very honestly replied by saying, “No” and also added that she has been doing the same role in three different companies with no new learning’s and she wants to leave this company coz the culture in this company isn’t good. I think she started to think and realise that her strategy wasn’t working, was infact derailing her career.

2) When she went into a deep listening mode. I shared these perespectives with her:

a) Average time span of a career is 35 years. So don’t approach it like running a set of 350 – 100 meter sprints or like a 35 km long marathon. May be 3 to 7 mini marathons and some sprints within those marathon’s. Even on an agile basis, It take 2-3 years to learn and establish a track record of success in a job and a role.
b) Golden rule of making a career, don’t chase money. Chase and seek a great company with a solid brand, culture and leaders. Seek new and challenging assignments and roles within the same company or elsewhere that will test and develop you. Money and wealth will follow.
c) After circa 5 years of completing your career – recruiters and companies, while considering you and your CV will focus more on your experience, track record of success, value’s and capabilities. So make sure you focus on it from day-1 of your career.

I advised her to quit her existing job as she wasn’t happy with the company and it’s culture was inferior, compared to where she was going. I told her that, no amount of money is worth staying in a company with bad culture, reputation or leaders.

This morning she called to tell me that, after two and half years of joining the company where she works, she has been promoted to another challenging role with more money. As a tribute to her, I thought of sharing this story with you 😊

#career #jobs #experience #success #learning #branding #culture #strategy #change #leaders

People I Admire and Follow in The Art of Image Making, also known as “Photography”. Part 1.

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Yash Mahadik Blog Template

I have been intending to write this blog for a long time. Like most photographers, I am self-taught. Meaning, I havent attended any formal school or certification degree or diploma program in the art of photography. Self taught means you teach yourself by reading, experimenting, obseving and also by following people on social media (from the content they keep sharing and posting). I divide my “To follow” list in three categories; One, The Legends. Second, the real contemporary experts from whom I learn the deep domian expertise in the art of image making, its mostly the technical stuff that they share and teach. Third, is people I befriend on social medai and they inspire me with their passion for the art of photography. So my three list include the following:

Legends of the past and present, who’s work I worship and learn from. All I need to do is mention their names, and they are:

  1. Ansel Adams
  2. Henri Cartier-Bresson
  3. Dorothea Lange
  4. Raghu Rai
  5. Kishor Parekh
  6. Steve McCurry
  7. Nick Brandt
  8. Ami Vitale
  9. Cory Richards
  10. Arthur Morris

Professionals you must follow to learn photography and its technical aspects. This will help you build deep domain expertise.

  1. Tony Northrup: Tony and his wife Chelsea have created tons of useful and classic content and they share it openly and most of it for free, via their website and youtube channel. This man is a class act and tops my list. He is on every possible social media channel and if you go to to his website, you can get connected to all of them: Tony Northrup
  2. Matt Granger: This Australian has recently moved to New York City and is clearly getting his fingers into many pies. Matt is a fantastic teacher of photography and is one of the most followed people on youtube for his content. His contet is par excellence. Do follow him on youtube and you wont be disappointed. link to his webiste is Matt Granger
  3. Gavin Hoey: Brillant teacher of photography, is also the main campaigner for Adorama, the photo store of NYC. Of course Adorama ensure that the content is topclass. Link to his website is Gavin Hoey
  4. Jason Lanier: A fantastic potrait and wedding photographer who also teaches photography. His content is good, very professionally developed and has recently moved from Nikon to Sony. He tries to oversell Sony and if you ignore that part then there is lots to learn from him. Link to his website is Jason Lanier
  5. Sudhir Shivraman: Sudir is a renowned Indian Wildlife Photographer and a few years ago he started to create, share and sell learning content for photographers. I bought his on-line courses once and found it useful. But for the money he charges the quality of the content isnt worth it. Its more studio based and home made content. He has been improving on it and I hope he can add more on-the-field content as opposed to studio or class room based content. I would definetly reccomend him. In India he has the best contet so far. Link to his website is Sudhir Shivraman

Friends I follow on Facebook, Instagram and who inspire me with their work, are as follows:

Meera Nerurkar: A young IT professional, who is currently based out of Dusseldorf, Germany, is an avid photographer. I love her composition skills and landscape images. She has won several awards for some of her photographs. I have promised Meera that one day we will shoot togther in Europe and soon. Eurpoe is my abs favourite destination for nature and landscapes. In case you want to follow her on facebook the link is  Meera Nerurkar on Facebook

Meera PhotoImage: Meera Nerurkar

Alok Mishra: Alumuni of IIM Ahemdabad, was my Boss at Johnson & Johnson, he is Singapore based. Alok is a life long learner, being a MENSA member only helps him learn faster than the most in the world. I am witnessing how he is fast learning photography. He loves birding, landscapes and street. His compositions and images are out of the world. Earlier as Boss in the corporate world and now in the world of photography he continues to inspire me. To follow Alok the links to his Facebook and Instagram are Alok Mishra on Facebook  Alok Mishra Photography on Instagram

Alok ImageImage: Alok Mishra

Rashmi Joshi: A resident of Ahemdabad, proud mother of a budding cinema actress, is a Tiger and Wildlife lover. Her passion for nature and photography is unparalled. She has worked on several Tiger conservation projects in India and Bandhavgarh is her favourite park. Her photos tell a story and its so easy and simple to decode that story. Over the years she has become a very good friend on social media and though I haven’t yet met her in person, I can tell that her positivty and energy is par excellence. We both plan to shoot together in Sasan Gir and Bharatpur sometimes soon. Follow her on Facebook Rashmi on Facebook

Rashmi ImageImage: Rashmi Joshi

Abhilasha Yadav: Married into the political family of Shri Mulayam Singh Yadav’s younger brother Shri Abhay Ram (father in law) is a busy mother and a dedicated social worker. Her interest in photography comes to her from her elder generations. She has done significant and inspiring work in her native state of  Uttar Pradesh at Dudhwa National Park , Pilibhit Tiger Reserve, Katarniya Ghat to promote , preserve and conserve wildlife. I am a big fan of her work and follow her on facebook and Instagram, in case you wish to do the same the Facebook link is Abhilasha Yadav on Facebook 

Abhilasha ImageImage: Abhilasha Yadav

Alok Dubey: Alok is a businessman from Indore, MP. He is a buddy and we often shoot togther. Ardent wildlife photographer, is self taught. We shoot together in Africa and India. I have learnt a lot from this humble and warm person. Our Canon equipment almost mirrors and so does our passion for Big Cats in the wild. Alok is mentoring his son Varchasva in the art of wildlife photography and he often jons us in wildlife safaris in Africa and India. Its heart warming to see this father-son-duo bond over photography. His lo-key images are to die for and in case you wish to follw him on facebook the link is Alok Dubey on Facebook

Alok Dubey ImageImage: Alok Dubey

I am indeed previliged to have the above people in my network and community as friends and fellow photographers. I learn a lot from them and very much appreciate their work and passion in the genre of nature and wildlife photogrphy, which is my favourite genere. My list doesnt end here, but this part-1 of the bog has to. I will share some more interesting facts and tips on how to learn effectively when you are a self-taught photographers and some of the people that I am going to mention and present to you in my next part of the blog, include; Usha Harish, Aparna Jain, Nirmalya Banerjee, Rohit Bansal, Harshwardhan and Poonam Dhanwatey, Nagaraj Taware, Chandrashekhar Kalayansundram, Jitender Govandani, Kunwardeep Sign Arora, etc, etc. Stay tuned and let me know if you found the information and recomendations useful.

safe_fb_share2Image Courtsey: Save Animals Facing Exctinction Organisation