Reflections- Recession 2009 to COVID 2022

In January, the guest lecture committee organized the first guest lecture for 2022. Mr. Krishnadas ‘KD’, Alumnus, SCIT, Vice President-Business Development at FinAccel, delivered the Reflections- Recession 2009 to COVID 2022.
“Recession is an opportunity in wolf’s clothing”- Robin Sharma. It is rightly said amid crisis, opportunity blossoms. KD started the lecture with a brief about what happened in the 2009 recession. One of the worst economic declines in US history, the Great Recession officially lasted from December 2007 to June 2009. During the Great Recession, the unemployment rate rose from 4.5 percent in December 2006 to 10 percent in October 2009. The downturn lasted 18 months. The recovery was slow, reaching 6.9 percent in 2013 and 3.5 percent in early 2020, just before the pandemic. He stated that the economy had faced many ups and downs, from the great recession to the great lockdown.
One moment which was the highlight of the lecture was when he mentioned how scared he was during the recession as to what the future holds. He said the best thing he did was follow his heart as it opened up many opportunities. He even advised not to compare your progress with your friends; everyone’s timeline is different, and trust the process and enjoy the journey. KD further explained how such events affect the students. One of the peculiar things about higher education is that it runs in the opposite direction of the economy. When the economy stalls, demand for college typically rises as the unemployed decide to go back to school to improve their job prospects. The number of students who enrolled in college jumped by almost 2.5 million, or nearly 16 percent, from 15.6 million undergraduate students in 2007 to a peak of 18.1 million students in the fall of 2010. Among the most important challenges created by COVID-19 is how to adapt a system of education built around physical schools. At its peak, more than 188 countries, encompassing around 91% of enrolled learners worldwide, closed their schools to try to contain the spread of the virus. He stated Covid-19 has shown how technological advancement has geared up, taking the driver’s seat and how our timing is pretty accurate for doing an MBA in IT. People need to bridge the gap between the development team and developer and people who can adapt to technology more efficiently. He ended the lecture by answering questions from the audience.