Some people plan their lives to the smallest detail. Saswata Ray, PhD, was never one of them. He just kept moving forward. One job led to another. One city led to the next. Kolkata to Pune. Pune to Mumbai. Mumbai to Auckland. Fifteen years of continuous work. No breaks. No pauses. Just momentum.
Then, in 2024, everything stopped.
Saswata lost his job for the first time in his life. It was not his choice. It was not a break he had planned. It was a sudden, unexpected shift that left him standing in the middle of uncertainty, fear, and a loss of identity. He had spent years building a career across India and New Zealand, and in one moment, the ground beneath him disappeared.
But here is the thing about Saswata. He is not someone who stays down for long.
Saswata is a seasoned Project Management and Business Analysis professional with over fifteen years of cross-industry experience. He holds a PhD from the University of Auckland, where his research examined how social media influences food decisions among young adults. He is also PRINCE2 certified, bringing both academic rigour and practical execution to every project he leads. His work has spanned healthcare, government, and digital transformation, delivering complex programmes in regulated environments across two countries.
But his credentials tell only half the story. Saswata is also a songwriter, a musician, and a creative soul who has written over thirty-five songs across three languages: Bengali, Hindi, and English. He is someone who found structure and discipline in his boarding school years and carried that into every aspect of his life. He is an extrovert who thrives on connection but also knows the value of quiet reflection. Above all, he is someone who believes that the hardest moments in life often reveal who we truly are.
When Saswata lost his job, he did something unexpected. Instead of letting that moment define him, he chose to document it. He opened his laptop and started writing. Not to make sense of it immediately. Not to seek validation. Just to place it somewhere outside himself. He wanted to share it with someone, anyone, or many.
The result is And Then I Lost My Job, a deeply personal memoir and practical playbook for professionals navigating the modern job market. It is his story of grief and resilience, but it is also a guide for anyone who has ever felt lost in their career.
Saswata is not just a professional with an impressive resume. He is a human being who has lived through the highs and lows of life. He is someone who has cried on difficult days, laughed on good ones, and found peace in the quiet moments in between.
He is a movie buff who loses himself in stories. A lover of quotes who finds wisdom in unexpected places. A songwriter who turns emotions into melodies. A husband, a son, a brother, and a friend. He is someone who believes that emotions are strengths, not weaknesses, as long as you know how to hold them.
Music has been a constant companion through the highs and lows of his life. Whether it is writing a new song in Bengali or listening to Take It Easy by the Eagles on repeat, music offers him peace, comfort, and a creative outlet when words are not enough. It is a reminder that even in the darkest moments, there is always a melody waiting to be found.
Saswata wrote this book for one reason: to help others navigate the storm he once faced.
He knows what it feels like to be without work. He knows the fear, the uncertainty, the quiet desperation that creeps in when you are not sure what comes next. He also knows that the storm does not break you. It reveals you.
His mission is simple. To help professionals turn redundancy into renewal. To show them that losing a job is not the end of their story. To remind them that they are not alone in their journey. Through his book, coaching services, and speaking engagements, Saswata offers honest conversations, battle-tested strategies, and the quiet reassurance that someone has walked this path before and come out the other side.
He does not offer quick fixes or empty promises. He offers real talk, real tools, and real hope.
Saswata brings something rare to the table. He combines academic rigour with practical execution. He has the research credentials, a PhD, and the real-world experience of delivering complex programmes in healthcare, government, and digital transformation. But he also has the emotional intelligence to understand what it feels like to be in the middle of uncertainty.
He has walked the walk. He has been through redundancy, navigated the job market, faced rejection, and emerged stronger. He has documented every step of the journey so that others do not have to navigate it alone.
His approach is grounded in honesty, empathy, and practicality. He does not pretend to have all the answers. He simply shares what he learned and offers a hand to those who are still finding their way.
