'Don't Compromise on What Gives You Meaning'

Abhijith Ravinutala, MTS ‘19, Writer, Self-employed (Austin, TX)

View more stories on HDS alumni and their career paths.

Please describe the work you do today:

I recently left a job in corporate communications to pursue creative writing full-time! I've been writing fiction seriously since my time at HDS and wanted to give myself a couple of years to focus fully on my craft and try to get my first two books published, while writing my third. Previously, I was a Manager at Deloitte Consulting and wrote the firm's most widely read thought leadership report, Tech Trends.

How has your HDS degree experience influenced your career journey?

The internal transformation I underwent at HDS, studying humanity's deepest questions for years, had a profound impact on me internally. I could hardly scratch the surface here! But practically speaking, it did also result in a different career path. I worked in consulting prior to my time at HDS and was able to land a job back in that field after graduation, but I could hardly find fulfillment anymore in crunching numbers or making PowerPoints. Fortunately, I was able to find a team at Deloitte that worked in the field of Futurism, and I showed them how well-suited I was to asking big questions about humanity and technology and the future, thanks to my time at HDS. I was able to stay in that job for six years before pursuing creative writing for even greater fulfillment. In a way, my time at HDS taught me not to compromise on what gives my life meaning.

What career advice would you offer to current HDS students?

Speaking to those like me who don't go into academia or ministry: It is hard to adjust to a regular working life after spending so much time with our heads in the proverbial clouds. Once you've adjusted to the first job out of HDS, find ways to keep the spark of your time at HDS alive. That might mean joining book clubs outside of work, keeping up relationships with your HDS friends so you can rant with each other about the things that make you tick, or finding small ways to do interesting/ fulfilling work within your day job (as I lucked into). It can feel like an intellectual whiplash to leave behind that lush world of religion and academia, so you have to be proactive about giving your mind and heart what they want.

Please share any additional thoughts or comments:

Shout out to Susan Lawler and HDS Career Services for getting all of us to think broadly about our futures and career opportunities!