We begin with Sanjeev’s time with the Indian Railways in the early 90s, and he walks us thru the extremely socialist hangover India was just beginning to recover from at the time and exactly what that was like on the ground-level. During his decade with the Indian Railways, Sanjeev contributed to some of the most cutting edge design work and laid the cornerstone for high-speed rails, and then went to Uni of Boulder, CO for his master’s degree in Mech Engineering to deepen his engineering systems design expertise. While he had plans to come back and continue, fate saw him do cutting edge work at Seagate Technology followed by eventually ending up at SpaceX.

This journey from the Indian Railways to SpaceX is a fascinating snapshot in demonstrating exactly why the American Dream attracts tens of thousands of people towards itself, almost like a self-fulfilling prophecy.

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Resources:

Sanjeev - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sanjeev-sharma-21b17b5/

Timestamps:

(00:00) Intro + Background

(02:34) Starting career with the Indian Railways

(06:29) Why pick Railways Institute over IIT Roorkee? (Hint: Gormint)

(10:09) What was socialist India REALLY like?

(12:45) Driving design and manufacturing in a world-class govt factory in mid 90s

(16:47) Exactly WHAT was Sanjeev working on at the Rail Factory?

(18:45) Dealing with bureaucracy and corruption

(24:22) Problem with IAS and administrative roles in India

(26:37) Why MS in US?

(29:26) Did experience at Railways help during MS in UC Boulder?

(32:50) Making THE biggest life decision - choosing between US and India

(38:18) Path to US Citizenship

(40:16) Impact of 9/11 (Unreal)

(43:37) STRUGGLE of returning to academia after 10 years and being the oldest student

(46:02) Going from designing trains to solid-state mini hard-drives at Seagate

(49:16) SpaceX

(51:37) Interview experience with Elon Musk, the man himself

(53:58) On almost not joining SpaceX

(55:40) Sanjeev’s advice on advice (and also the philosophy of Ready Set Do)

(57:34) Role at SpaceX currently and the road ahead

(58:24) The three I’s framework

(01:00:53) Outro + Gratitude