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the life of an analyst-boy

Roshan Rajkumar Sivakumar
the life of an analyst-boy

Roshan Rajkumar Sivakumar

01

My Portfolio

I am an MBA + Master of Decision Analytics candidate with a Mechanical Engineering foundation, building my career at the intersection of analytics, digital marketing, and operations — with my eyes set on Dubai, where growth meets discipline.

I work at the intersection of operations improvement, lean analytics, and data-driven decision making. My approach is direct: map the process, find what slows it, and build the reporting that drives action. I have studied value streams across manufacturing environments, built KPI dashboards, and applied structured problem-solving to real operational challenges.

My foundation is Mechanical Engineering, deepened by a Six Sigma Green Belt certification and dual graduate degrees in Lean Operations and Decision Analytics. I see patterns in processes, find signal in data, and turn both into decisions that move the needle.

Certification
Six Sigma Green Belt
Target Region
Dubai
Professional Focus
Operations Analytics
Marketing Analytics

Education

2024–2026
Dual Degree — MBA (Christ University) + MS Decision Analytics (VCU)
Christ University × Virginia Commonwealth University
A compound dual-degree programme: MBA in Lean Operations & Analytics from Christ University, Bengaluru, and MS in Decision Analytics (Production & Operational Systems) from VCU, Richmond VA. Two institutions, one integrated international journey.
Dual Postgraduate
2019–2023
BE — Mechanical Engineering
M. Kumarasamy College of Engineering · Karur, India
Specialised in SolidWorks, Fusion 360, and additive manufacturing. Six Sigma Green Belt certification completed during this period. Foundation for lean and operations thinking.
Undergraduate
Up to 2019
Senior Secondary — Computer Science & Maths
Velammal Vidyalaya · Chennai, India
Science stream with Computer Science and Mathematics. Foundation in logical thinking, programming fundamentals, and quantitative problem-solving.
Secondary

Experience

Jan 2024 – Present
Analytics Professional
Self-Directed Learning
Building dashboards, dashboards, and analytics projects to strengthen portfolio. Focus on real-world data challenges and process improvement scenarios.
2023 – 2024
Graduate Student Researcher
VCU Decision Analytics Lab
Conducted research on optimization models and decision analytics applied to real-world scenarios. Developed AMPL-based optimization tools.

Projects

01 Live

Customer Segmentation Analysis

RFM-based segmentation model identifying high-value customer cohorts for targeted marketing strategies.

Python RFM Analysis SQL
02 Live

Marketing KPI Dashboard

Tableau-based dashboard tracking marketing metrics, campaign performance, and ROI with real-time data refresh.

Tableau SQL Marketing
03 Live

MAT Engine AMPL Optimization

Supply chain optimization tool using AMPL to minimize costs and improve resource allocation decisions.

AMPL Optimization Supply Chain
04 Live

Lean Manufacturing Thesis

Comprehensive thesis on process improvement and value stream mapping in manufacturing environments.

Lean VSM Manufacturing
Life at Christ University

Life of an Analyst-Boy

Christ University Central Campus Bengaluru
Central Campus · Bengaluru
USHUS 24 Organising Team
USHUS'24 · Organising Team
Theatre Workshop June 2024
Theatre Workshop · June 2024
01
Chapter 01
The Analyst-Boy Arrives in Bengaluru With No Idea What He Is Walking Into
Where It All Started

Karur Kid, Big City

I was born in Chennai but grew up mostly in Karur — a small city in Tamil Nadu. It is the kind of place where things are familiar, everyone knows everyone, and the world outside feels very far away. English was something you studied for exams. Nobody really spoke it day to day.

When I got to Christ University, Bengaluru for my MBA, I genuinely did not know what to do with myself at first. People around me were from Delhi, Mumbai, Kerala, Northeast India, Andhra — everyone spoke differently, moved differently, had different things going on. It was the most diverse room I had ever been in, and I had no idea how to be in it.

The first few weeks, I mostly just watched. My English was shaky and I defaulted to Tamil whenever I could get away with it. But Christ has this way of pulling you out of your comfort zone before you have made a conscious decision to do so — and slowly, without any big moment of change, I started showing up differently.

Roshan Rajkumar Sivakumar casual classroom selfie with friends at Christ University Bengaluru — MBA TVW batch 2024-26 with Christ University ID lanyards
First Weeks · 2024

Early days at Christ — still figuring everything out, but already finding the right people.

Roshan Rajkumar Sivakumar with TVW batch classmates Christ University Bengaluru MBA 2024-26
TVW Classmates · 2024–26

Our L3 section — Lean Operations and Systems. Different states, different accents, somehow all ended up as the same class.

Roshan Rajkumar Sivakumar holding Christ University MBA student ID card at Christ University Bengaluru campus — first days as MBA student 2024
Official · Christ University Campus ID

The card that made it official. Walking through campus every day with this around my neck was a small but real reminder of how far I had come from Karur.

"I was so comfortable with Tamil that speaking English in a group genuinely felt unnatural. It took a while. But it got easier."

02
Chapter 02 · June 2024
The Analyst-Boy Gets on Stage for the First Time and Does Not Die
June 2024 · Theatre Workshop

The Analyst-Boy Gets on Stage

Last week of June 2024 — the university organised a Theatre Workshop for the whole MBA batch. They split everyone into mixed groups, people you had barely spoken to from different sections and cities. And then they told us: by end of day, your group is performing a skit in front of everyone.

We spent hours learning basic acting, body language, how to create sound effects with just claps and voices. By evening, every group performed a skit and a short dance on stage. I had never done anything like that in my life. I was nervous the entire day — but when it was over, something felt genuinely different.

That workshop was the first real turning point. Not because I suddenly became confident — but because I realised you can just do something even when you are scared, and it does not kill you. Every event I said yes to after that was a little easier to agree to.

Roshan Rajkumar Sivakumar and MBA TVW batch at Theatre Workshop Christ University Bengaluru last week of June 2024 — large group photo after drama and skit performance
Theatre Workshop · June 2024
Christ University · MBA Batch · Bengaluru

MBA batch after the Theatre Workshop, Christ University — June 2024. A long day, a lot of nerves, and a group photo that genuinely meant something by the end of it.

03
Chapter 03 · July 2024
The Analyst-Boy Performs, Does Not Win, and Gains Something Better
July 2024 · Birthday Month

Back to School — TVW on Stage

Back to School is an annual competition where every fresher section performs. We were the TVW section — the international cohort — students who were going to Germany, West Michigan University, and VCU in the US. All of us already knowing we had a big change coming.

The task was to put together a five-minute skit or performance and compete against the other sections. We rehearsed, debated the script, laughed a lot, got a bit stressed, and then performed. We did not win. But by the end of that day we were actually a proper group — not just classmates who sat in the same room.

This all happened in July — which is also my birthday month. I turned a year older surrounded by people I had just met, in a city I was still getting used to, doing things I could not have imagined doing back home. Not a bad birthday month, honestly.

Roshan Rajkumar Sivakumar with TVW section MBA classmates group photo during Back to School event practice at Christ University Bengaluru July 2024
Back to School · July 2024
TVW Section · MBA Batch · Christ University, Bengaluru

TVW section practice session before the Back to School event — Christ University, July 2024. The batch that was about to go in different directions, rehearsing together first.

04
Chapter 04
The Analyst-Boy Learns That Someone Has to Actually Build the Stage
Pioneer Club · Student Leadership

Pioneer Club — Building the Stage

I got invited to join the Pioneer Club and said yes — honestly without fully knowing what I was getting into. I figured it out pretty quickly at the first event.

The first official event was Curtain Riser — the welcome event for the incoming junior batch. We got our Pioneer Club badges on stage, did a dance, and then spent the evening hosting the new students. They were exactly where I had been a few months earlier — new, a bit nervous, figuring out where they belonged. Being on the other side of that was a genuinely good feeling.

The mic checks, the setup shifts, the behind-the-scenes logistics that nobody in the audience ever notices — I actually really enjoyed that side of it. There is something satisfying about making an event run well, even if you are not the one on stage.

Roshan Rajkumar Sivakumar receiving Pioneer Club membership badge on stage at Christ University Bengaluru Curtain Riser inaugural event 2024
Curtain Riser — Badge Ceremony

Official induction — receiving the Pioneer Club membership badge at the Curtain Riser inaugural event, Christ University 2024. The beginning of something much bigger.

Roshan Rajkumar Sivakumar and Pioneer Club team presenting at official Christ University podium during first Pioneer Club event Bengaluru 2024
First Pioneer Club Event · Podium

Roshan Rajkumar Sivakumar and his Pioneer Club team at the official Christ University podium during their first event — four members, one stage, one mission.

Roshan Rajkumar Sivakumar at the official Christ University podium during setup and rehearsal stage of a Pioneer Club event Bengaluru
Behind the Scenes · Event Setup

The quiet moment before everything begins — at the Christ University podium during the setup stage of a Pioneer Club event. The stage is ready before the crowd arrives.

Roshan Rajkumar Sivakumar and MBA Pioneer Club members at first icebreaker meet Christ University Bengaluru 2024 — group photo on outdoor bleachers with bamboo trees
Icebreaker Meet · Pioneer Club 2024
First Unofficial Gather · Christ University, Bengaluru

Pioneer Club's first unofficial get-together — sitting on the bleachers, just talking to people you had not really spoken to before. That is how it starts.

05
Chapter 05 · Chrizellenz 2024
The Analyst-Boy Takes His Data to a Real Competition and Finishes 3rd
Chrizellenz 2024 · Business Analytics

First Real Competition, Real Stakes

Chrizellenz 2024 is Christ University's intra-college competition across different business domains. I entered the Business Analytics category with a group. It was the first time I actually had to apply what we were studying — real data, real problem, and judges who were genuinely pushing back on our answers.

We finished 3rd place. I was happy with that. More than the result, what I remember most is how different it felt to actually defend a data-driven argument in front of someone compared to just writing it in an assignment. It is a very different experience, and one I needed.

3rdPlace — Business Analytics
2024Chrizellenz · Christ University
GroupTeam Competition
Roshan Rajkumar Sivakumar receiving 3rd prize award at Chrizellenz 2024 Business Analytics competition Christ University Bengaluru — intra-college championship award ceremony
Chrizellenz 2024 · 3rd Place Award
Business Analytics Competition · Christ University, Bengaluru

Receiving the 3rd place award at Chrizellenz 2024 — Business Analytics category, Christ University. The late revision sessions paid off.

06
Chapter 06 · USHUS'24
The Analyst-Boy Does Not Compete — He Runs the Whole Domain
USHUS'24 · National Management Fest

Event Coordinator — Other Side of the Table

USHUS is Christ University's national management festival — a big deal. MBA students from 50+ colleges across India come to compete across domains like Marketing, Finance, Operations, HR, and Business Analytics. It is a properly competitive event.

At USHUS'24 I was selected as Event Coordinator for the Business Analytics domain. That meant I was responsible for designing the challenges, managing the format, and running the whole domain on the day. I was not competing — I was making it happen for the teams who came to compete.

Think about where I started — the person who would not speak English in a group during the first week at Christ. And then picture that same person coordinating a national-level event where other students were coming to him with questions. That comparison never stopped being strange and motivating at the same time.

Roshan Rajkumar Sivakumar and USHUS 2024 organizing team group photo at Christ University Bengaluru national management festival — Business Analytics domain event coordinators with USHUS24 lanyards
USHUS'24 Organising Team
National Management Fest · Christ University, Bengaluru

The USHUS'24 organising team — Roshan Rajkumar Sivakumar (left, in black suit) with fellow event coordinators in front of the USHUS'24 backdrop. The team that made the national management fest run.

Roshan Rajkumar Sivakumar wearing USHUS 2024 event coordinator organiser badge and medal at Christ University Bengaluru national management festival
Event Coordinator Badge & Medal · USHUS'24

The USHUS'24 coordinator badge and medal. I wore this all day and it meant something different to me than any competition trophy would have.

"At USHUS I was not competing. I was the coordinator. Other teams came to me with questions about the format and the challenges. That was a very different kind of feeling from being a participant."

— On USHUS'24, Christ University
07
Chapter 07
The Analyst-Boy Wears His Roots and Is Not Embarrassed About It
Bhasha Utsav · Culture & Identity

The Analyst-Boy Represents Tamil Nadu

Bhasha Utsav is Christ University's annual cultural festival where students dress in the traditional attire of their home state and celebrate. Coming from Karur, where Tamil culture was just normal — the air you breathe — this festival was a different kind of experience. Being around people from Kerala, Maharashtra, Bengal, Rajasthan, you see your own culture from a completely different angle.

Wearing the white veshti and yellow angavastram, I felt genuinely proud of it — in a way I had not before. Back in Karur it was just regular attire. At Christ, people were curious and asking questions about it. That made me see it differently.

Bengaluru has a way of making you appreciate where you came from, just by surrounding you with so many different people and places.

Roshan Rajkumar Sivakumar in traditional South Indian Tamil Nadu attire — white veshti and yellow angavastram — doing namaste pose at Bhasha Utsav Christ University Bengaluru 2024 annual language and culture festival
Bhasha Utsav · Christ University · 2024

Roshan Rajkumar Sivakumar in traditional Tamil Nadu ceremonial attire — white veshti and yellow angavastram — at Christ University's annual Bhasha Utsav. "Your roots are not where you are from. They are what you carry forward."

Bhasha Utsav is genuinely one of the nicest things about Christ University. It is not just a day to dress up — it is a reminder that the whole value of being on that campus is learning from people who are completely different from you.

I stopped feeling like being from a small city was something to be quiet about. Everybody came from somewhere. That was the whole point of the campus.

"Bengaluru accepted me as I was. Christ University pushed me further than I thought I could go."

Roshan Rajkumar Sivakumar — classroom moments with batchmates — Christ University Bengaluru MBA 2024-26
Between the classes
Roshan Rajkumar Sivakumar — Sports Night — Christ University Bengaluru MBA 2024-26
Sports Night
Roshan Rajkumar Sivakumar — formal event Christ University Bengaluru MBA 2024-26
The formal side
08
Chapter 08
The Analyst-Boy Does 30 Hours of Work With No Stage and No Applause
VARA Foundation · Community Service

30 Hours, No Applause

Christ University has a mandatory 30-hour community service requirement for all MBA students. Our group did our hours with the VARA Foundation — a social impact organisation doing steady, unglamorous work on community and environmental projects.

Getting the certificate was a simple, quiet moment — no competition, no stage. Just the acknowledgement that we showed up and completed the hours. After all the events and performances, that actually felt like a nice change. Some things just need to be done, and that is enough.

Roshan Rajkumar Sivakumar and team receiving 30-hour volunteering completion certificate from VARA Foundation representative at Christ University Bengaluru community service programme
VARA Foundation · 30-Hour Certificate
Community Service · Christ University · 2024–25

Receiving the 30-hour volunteer completion certificate from VARA Foundation — part of Christ University's community engagement programme. Simple, honest work.

09
Chapter 09
The Analyst-Boy Becomes the Senior and Gives the Advice He Once Needed
Full Circle · Becoming Senior

Now the Analyst-Boy Is the Senior

When the new batch arrived, we had become the seniors without really noticing it happen. We had been through a full year — the workshops, the competitions, the USHUS prep, the semesters, all of it. And there was now a room full of students who were in exactly the same place we had been when we first arrived.

Eight of us from the TVW section sat with the juniors for an ice-breaking session. We talked honestly about what the year would be like, what the international semester actually feels like, what to expect and what to not overthink. It was a pretty real conversation between people who had just been through it and people who were about to.

It is one of the smaller memories from Christ but one I think about a lot. Being able to say "I know exactly how this feels right now" to someone new, and actually meaning it — that is its own kind of thing.

Roshan Rajkumar Sivakumar and seven TVW section MBA batchmates at Christ University Bengaluru — senior students ice-breaking session with junior batch preparing for international programme 2025
TVW Seniors · Ice-Breaking Session · 2025
Christ University · Bengaluru · TVW International Section

Eight TVW seniors at the ice-breaking session with the new batch — Christ University. Talking about the international journey ahead: Germany, Michigan, and VCU Virginia. Feels strange to be the ones giving the advice.

Roshan Rajkumar Sivakumar — Christ University Bengaluru campus life — MBA 2024-26
Campus life · Bengaluru
Roshan Rajkumar Sivakumar studying with friends — Christ University Bengaluru MBA 2024-26
Study sessions together
10
Chapter 10 · MBA TVW 2024–26
The Analyst-Boy's People — Different Destinations, Same Two Years
The People · TVW Batch

The TVW Batch — Two Years, One Journey

The MBA TVW batch of 2024–26 is people from different states, different backgrounds, different ideas of where they are going. And for two years we were in the same room — same classes, same exam stress, same events, same trip.

This photo is from our batch trip — the last time we were all together before everything split. Some went to Germany, some to Michigan, I went to Virginia, some stayed for placements. Different cities, different paths. But the two years we had at Christ were the same for all of us, and that is something that stays.

Roshan Rajkumar Sivakumar with full MBA TVW 2024-26 batch group photo at OBT Christ University Bengaluru — Different Destinations yet Beautiful Memories Together

"Different Destinations — yet Beautiful Memories Together."

MBA TVW 2024–26 · Christ University, Bengaluru · OBT Batch Trip · Roshan Rajkumar Sivakumar

The Analyst-Boy, Grateful

I came to Christ not really knowing what to expect from any of it. I left with better English, actual friends, a clearer head about what I want to do, and a much better sense of who I am. Bengaluru does something to people. Christ University did something to me.

Every awkward conversation in English, every stage I stepped onto, every event I helped run, every late night before a competition — none of it felt like preparation at the time. But looking back, all of it was. For VCU. For whatever comes after VCU. For wherever I land next.

I am genuinely grateful for every part of it. Christ is a good place, and I was lucky to be there.

2024
Arrival
From Karur to Bengaluru — first day at Christ University

A conservative Tamil Nadu city to one of India's most diverse campuses. The language barrier, the culture shock, and the first slow steps toward a bigger world.

June 2024
First Breakthrough
Theatre Workshop — performing for the first time

University-organised drama and skit workshop. Group performance in front of the full batch. The first time stepping on a stage for something other than receiving an award.

July 2024
Team & Community
Back to School — TVW section competes (his birthday month)

Five-minute skit with the full TVW batch. Didn't win. Won something better: a class that became a community during the month of his birthday.

2024
Leadership
Pioneer Club — Curtain Riser induction & badge ceremony

Officially inducted into Pioneer Club 2024–25. Badge on stage. Dance performance. Welcomed the junior batch as one of the senior members of the club.

2024
Competition
Chrizellenz 2024 — 3rd place, Business Analytics

Competed in Christ University's intra-college event. Group entry in the Business Analytics category. Finished 3rd. First taste of competitive analytics under real pressure.

2024
Culture
Bhasha Utsav — celebrating Tamil Nadu roots

Represented Tamil Nadu at Christ University's annual language and culture festival. White veshti, yellow angavastram. The day he stopped being apologetic about where he came from.

2024
Event Management
USHUS'24 — Event Coordinator, Business Analytics domain

Selected to coordinate the Business Analytics domain at Christ University's national management festival. 50+ B-schools. Designed the challenges. Managed the entire domain.

2024–25
Service
VARA Foundation — 30-hour community volunteering

Completed mandatory community service programme through VARA Foundation. 30 hours of showing up for something bigger than yourself, without any stage.

2025
Full Circle
Became the senior — ice-breaking session with new TVW batch

Sat with the incoming junior batch to share insights about the international programme, the VCU chapter ahead, and what two years at Christ actually prepares you for.

2026
Graduation
MBA complete — Next destination: VCU Virginia → Dubai

Two years. One campus. An English that became fluent, a confidence that became real, and a vision — Operations Analytics, Marketing Analytics, Dubai — that became concrete.

Let's Talk

Interested in exploring opportunities in operations analytics, data-driven decision making, or just want to connect? I'm always open to conversations that challenge my thinking and expand my perspective.