From highs to lows and lows to highs

“Owing to the exceptional teachers during my Bachelor’s in Metallurgical and Materials Engineering at VNIT Nagpur, my interest developed in this field which prompted my decision to opt for a joint Master’s & PhD program. I was never interested in computer-based sedentary work, and the one domain I was running away from during my Bachelor’s was magnetic materials, but, as luck would have it, my entire PhD project revolved around the simulation of magnetic materials. And even in my current role as a PostDoc scientist in Germany, I find myself in front of my workstation, working on simulations. I have evolved to like this work now having understood the perks of simulations over experiments (especially during the lockdown).

My PhD journey was a mix of lows and some fabulous highs. I hit one of the lowest points in my PhD when my first paper was rejected almost six times before getting published. I had lost confidence and faith in what I was pursuing and dragged myself into a vicious cycle of self-doubt, and self-rejection. I started questioning if this field was something I was meant to do or if I rushed into opting for it. Eventually, the acceptance of my first paper by an international journal boosted my morale to a thousand folds higher. Attending multiple conferences across the US, Europe, and India where big shots in my field appreciated my work conferred immense hope on me.