Saurabh Jain, VP of Paytm, took out time to speak with us on his exceptional career journey. His professional journey is worth a read as it exudes the importance of motivation, perseverance, and passion in life.
Let us take you through the wonderful insights we received from Saurabh Jain.
Please tell us a bit about your background as a student.
I was a good student in school. However, I never came first in my class. Usually, I used to be at the 6th position.
There is a theory of multiple intelligence that I recently read about. It talks about linguistic intelligence and logical intelligence. So, I can say that I was actually less interested in linguistics and more interested in logical subjects. I was always good at subjects like science and maths.
Coming from a commerce background, how did you enter the tech industry?
I wanted to create a video game when I was in class 7. So, I started learning C programming a year later, in class 8. Later on, in class 11, I also learnt about Artificial Intelligence.
My father was a renowned CA. He passed away when I was in 10th standard. My mother wanted me to pursue CA as she felt if I choose engineering, there was no surety in which city I would get admission. I also realised that opting for Commerce would allow me to take out time and focus on what I wanted to do (coding). On the other hand, if I would have taken Science, I would have to focus a lot on entrance exams like IIT JEE. So that’s how I ended up becoming a CA.
Unfortunately, the education system in India is such that there was no concept of choosing Commerce with Computers. So, after finishing school, there was no way of becoming an engineer because I had not taken up Science in school. However, I have always been interested in tech-related activities, and have relied on self-study to learn the same.
Is it true that you never worked as an employee before joining Paytm?
Interestingly, Paytm is my first job. Before that, I was involved in handling multiple startups. In fact, I was always very clear that I will begin my career with a startup. So I started building my startup, called SKJ technologies in 2003, 6 months before completing my CA. I was one of the first entrepreneurs in India who started Mobile App Development.
I used to worship Bill Gates when I was in final years of school and in college. I was running the biggest and the most popular Bill Gates Fanclub in the world at that time.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are exclusively of the interviewee. A few minor edits have been made by the Naukri Content Team.