When you step into the Civil Secretariat in Jammu, the air carries a distinct weight. It is a place where high-level policy decisions, administrative governance and state-level data converge. Deep within this complex lies the Jammu & Kashmir State Data Center (JKSDC)—the digital heart of the region's administration.
On February 1, 2016, I walked through those heavy security gates as the newly appointed Network Administrator. Coming off a rigorous five-year tenure at AITPL (Airtel), where speed, precision, and zero-tolerance for operational loopholes were ingrained in me, I was ready for a larger canvas. What I found was a multi-tiered technical ecosystem powering government portals, secure departmental networks, state-wide intranet routing and high-security databases.
The mission was clear: oversee the project scope, goals and core deliverables in direct collaboration with key governmental, technical stakeholders, configuration, operation and maintenance. I was responsible for taking a diverse team of technical professionals and building a disciplined, highly secure and resilient operational environment.
My core domain covered a complex array of modern enterprise network hardware and software architectures:-
1) Routing & Switching Core : Configuration, Operation, and Maintenance of HP enterprise hardware including A5500-24G switches and MSR5040 multi-service routers.
2) COM & O&M : Assigning the tasks and responsibilities to team members as per system requirement. And I had utilized the experience in designing, configuration, implementing and testing of Switching, Routing, Wireless, Routed and Routing protocols.
3) Perimeter Security & Analytics : Managing firewalls, secure IPsec/SSL VPN tunnels, Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS), and daily behavioral security monitoring by team and scheduled.
4) Upstream Connectivity : Coordinating directly with National Knowledge Network (NKN) ISPs for high-bandwidth trunk line stability, route health, and escalations. From day one, my operational philosophy was rooted in absolute discipline, strict adherence to standard operating procedures (SOPs), and an unyielding commitment to uptime.
^ The Blueprint of Governance & Technical
Managing the state’s central data repository demanded a continuous balance between security enforcement and seamless service availability. As Network Administrator, I established clear task allocations, matching individual team members' strengths with specific sub-systems—be it core routing protocols, wireless access control or perimeter firewall rulesets and I had made utilized the roming profile services by the server team member as per order by project manager. Disabling unused ports, insecure management protocols (Telnet, HTTP), and enforcing SSHv2 with strong cipher suite.
To maintain complete transparency and accountability, I designed a daily activity report pipeline submitted directly for IT reviews. Every route addition, VPN client authorization, bandwidth threshold tweak, and maintenance ticket was documented down to the exact timestamp.
The interviews for increments and promotions were scheduled, and every team member was busy showcasing their abilities. However, the night before my interview, I had an unnecessary argument with a team member from the e-Governance department (JaKeGA). Given that I had friction with someone involved in the interview process—along with the ongoing office politics. I felt like it was going to be my last night at the State Data Centre.
The next morning, I walked in for the interview while my teammates looked at me as if I stood no chance. When my turn came, I entered the room and saw that the interview was divided into two rounds: a JKSDC Strategy round conducted by the CEO of JaKeGA, and a Technical round conducted by the e-Governance officer.
In the strategy round, I proposed that we need proper Data Centre hosting, robust security, root cause analysis, next era tier-three infra and a technical knowledge base intranet API to streamline handovers, escalations and onboarding for new technical employees—ensuring zero downtime. In the technical round, I answered questions deeply. For one specific question that wasn't clear to me, I mentioned twice, 'I can't understand what are you asking' and then suggested how the question should actually be framed to reflect what they were trying to ask.
Impressed by my responses and body language, the CEO of JaKeGA said, 'You are promoted as an L3 Senior Network Engineer. Please go and take your position.' With a smile, I replied, 'Thanks a lot, Sir, but today is my weekly off as per the roster. If required, I can stay.' The CEO said, 'Don't worry about that, go enjoy your weekly off!'"
^ Navigating the Waves of Office Politics
A state data center operating inside a administrative enclave is not merely a workplace of cables, racks and command-line interfaces; it is an environment ripe with administrative bureaucracy and office politics. Over my nearly nine-year tenure, I witnessed how political maneuverings, credit-stealing and internal factionalism could drain an engineer's energy.
In large institutional setups, cliques often form. Some individuals were more focused on posturing, managing impressions,and taking credit for successful deployments while shifting blame whenever an upstream link flickered. Early on, attempts were made to draw me into these power dynamics. I was approached to side with certain internal factions, pass along informal feedback about colleagues, or compromise on technical protocol to grant unofficial network privileges to favored departments.
The Wall of Discipline & Punctuality
My response was simple: complete professional neutrality anchored by absolute technical discipline. I arrived precisely on time every single morning, executed my duties with strict precision, and held my team to the highest ethical and technical standards. When you let your technical delivery speak for itself, political maneuvers struggle to find a foothold. I documented every network change ticket, every rule modification in the firewalls, and every hardware allocation in our asset management inventory across its entire life cycle.
Engineering Beyond Boundaries
There was a major flaw in the State Data Centre team: no one was an expert in network design, integration, deployment, or programming. KAS and IAS officers from various departments used to visit to get their websites and software updated. Eventually, my name came up in their conversations.I started fulfilling their requirements, and as they got to know more about me, they began assigning work directly to me. I took on all kinds of tasks—website deployment, upgrading existing networks, sales and procurement of network equipment, and front-end design.
Fed up with the office politics, I decided to start a side business. I realized that if the politics here wouldn't let me shine as an engineer inside the office, then I might as well show the outside world what I'm capable of.
^ The "Part-Time Mindset" Strategy
As the years progressed, the weight of constant institutional politics began to pose a different kind of risk: mental burnout. I realized that getting emotionally entangled in office power struggles would only erode my focus, compromise my ethical standards and distract me from my core calling as an IT architect.
To safeguard my integrity and preserve my energy, I adopted a strategic mental model: The "Part-Time" Workplace Approach.
Decoupling Ego from the Environment
Treating my presence in the political arena as a structured, time-bound engagement allowed me to maintain absolute detachment from internal drama. I treated my official shift hours with intense focus—delivering 100% technical efficiency—and the moment my shift ended, I disengaged completely.
I refused to participate in informal hall discussions regarding office politics, promotions, or administrative maneuvering. If a conversation didn't pertain to routing tables, SLA metrics, hardware health, or project scope, I excused myself. Across my 8 years and 9 months at the J&K State Data Center, I shared my technical knowledge to empower my team and junior engineers, while maintaining absolute stability, personal security, and a grounded mindset.
When I concluded my tenure on November 30, 2024, I left behind a data center network that was stable, thoroughly documented, secure and resilient. When my tenure concluded on November 30, 2024, I left behind a data center network that was stable, thoroughly documented, highly secure and resilient. This was achieved because the existing infrastructure had been upgraded from Tier-2 to Tier-3 just a year prior. Throughout that entire data center upgrade project, I worked closely with the System Integrator (SI) team from day one until the very end.
More importantly, I proved that it is possible to survive and thrive inside a politically complex semi-government department without compromising one's values, losing one's focus, or participating in toxic games. By relying on technical mastery, punctuality, and unwavering personal discipline, I turned what could have been a chaotic environment into a definitive chapter of professional excellence.
Would you like to move on to structuring Chapter 4 for your role at the Jammu Smart City Data Centre?
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