In this talk, using my own life as an example, I discuss the excitement of doing research and developing advanced technologies. Starting with my undergraduate days as a chemical engineering student at IIT Madras, I narrate how my academic life changed when I got introduced to an IBM mainframe machine which led to my ultimately doing a PhD in computer science at University of Texas at Austin. Along the way, I talk about the prolonged hunt for a PhD thesis topic. Then, I trace my professional career at IBM which included working on hot topics as well as what were initially thought to be dead topics which turned out to be not so! I deal with the di culties of getting papers published and doing technology transfer to new products as well as old ones. Having never been a manager during my entire 32 year IBM career, even though as an IBM Fellow I have been an IBM executive for 16 years, I bring a unique perspective on what it takes to be on a long term technical career.