Lokesh Verma

I am an IT professional who oversees databases for Electronic Arts, the gaming giant; and I am such a great cook that my college roommates used to call me Mom. These are two different areas, you may think, but I believe they are related.

For both of my passions, my measure of success is a smile, a “Wow!” from my customer. In the same way a cook feels when seeing his food being relished by happy people at the table, the IT professional in me is delighted to see my customers able to fully enjoy their gaming experiences and getting their money's worth.

When I first started to experiment with cooking, I learned that satisfying the customer does not come without effort. A good cook knows that it is not only the ingredients that make the dish special, but also the addition of a little bit of love and concern for the person who will be eating – understanding what that person prefers. Likewise, the best IT professional not only understands the company’s immediate needs but also appreciates the big picture, i.e., what will benefit the company in the long term and what exactly the customer seeks.

I am a firm believer that for any success, luck is inversely proportional to hard work. If you have luck on your side, you can get things done with less effort, but if you increase your hard work, you depend less on luck as a factor in your success. I follow the latter philosophy. I have found that putting in the work results in fewer burnt meals and IT disasters!