The Team

Pingg... the card swiper buzzed. I'm probably signing out for the last time as a developer for the International account. A little more than three years.. Three years of building a career, three years of building friendships and relations... And now things are going to change. Time of beckoning is here. The US of A beckons...

I wish to dedicate this post to my team mates who have helped me become what I am.

Mar 15 , 2004
I joined UST as a fresher. With expectations galore of making a career. Of making a name; of making the moolah. The initial days were spent on trainings. By the end of the month I was allocated to a team which was servicing one of the biggest names in the Finance domain. I was there for about three months before I had the chance to move on.

July 15 , 2004
My story begins on this day. The day I was allocated to International. I was put in a team which was developing an internal tool for account management activities. I put in my best efforts on this project, and was recognized for my contributions by making me billable. "Billable" was a big thing for any fresher. It meant that the company was starting to gain from your work, and the client was going to pay for it.

Aug 17 , 2004
I started my first project as a billable resource. I had the satisfaction of having turned billable within a month of being in the account. Manoj was leading the two member team, and the team being just two in size put a lot of stress on me. I had to work on technologies I had no first hand experience with. The quality could not be compromised; neither could the schedule, since it was directly going to the client. Looking back, I believe that whatever I could achieve was due to the fact that I learnt to face pressure right from the start of my career; and believe me it was one heck of pressure. It meant spending virtually 12+ hours in office. It meant being scolded for producing shoddy work. It meant missing parties; it meant lesser time for friends. Fortunately for me, the team was simply superb. There would always be someone who could spot if you were in trouble and then come forward to help you. I always wonder where I would have ended up if not for such a team.

Sep 15 , 2004
My confirmation happened. This was the first appraisal of my career, and I felt good about having really done something and having made a good start to my career. If only I knew what lay ahead.

Oct 2 , 2004
The first project was successfully moved to production on this day. Manoj moved to another project, and I was asked to take over another project, which was an extension of the first one; only that it was being done in .net, which was something I'd been trained on. And so there it was! I was technically a project lead in 6 months. Of course, of a single member team (a fact that I conveniently "forget"). It was like jumping from the frying pan into the fire. I realized that being solely responsible for a project was not something easy to be doing. You could always rely on other members in the account, but finally it was your project and anything going out of control would be deemed a failure. Survive or Perish. For more than a year I handled this project. In between, there were two freshers allocated to the project, and I could say that added on the pressure. I had to do my work; in addition, I had to give them work, review it and also mentor them. Often I ended up wishing there were more than 24 hours a day. This hectic a schedule meant that I missed the Foundation week celebrations. I had to sit back in office and finish something urgently required for the client. I remember walking down the corridors and seeing no one there; feeling terribly let down. There were numerous such times when I would hit an ultimate low; but the only thing that kept me going is the urge to achieve something and to make a worthwhile career. Nowadays I see freshers wilting under even sublime amounts of pressure and I wonder at their attitude. Or is it that we are faltering in our recruitment strategies?

Mar 15, 2005 - appraisal
In March, my first real appraisal happened (the first one was only for conformation; from this time on, there would be different band based on performance..) All the while I'd believed that I'd done pretty well to be slotted in the top band, but when the letters were rolled out, I was shocked to find only a B grade. That destroyed me. I couldn’t believe that I was not being recognized for the work I had done. I ended up sending "senti" mails to my manager and the HR folks, who said they would try for an up-gradation. But by then, I'd come to believe that if my manager did not feel so, then there was no point in arguing. Also, I knew that it wasn’t sufficient to do the good work, it was also necessary to do good work and let your manager know about it. Seemed like blowing your own trumpets, but that is the way the industry is. Right then I decided that I wouldn’t work for anything less than an A band; and from that day on till now, I haven’t failed to keep my word to myself.

Nov 30, 2005
I finally ended the 1+ year long project. The biggest take always from this one was the ways of dealing with pressure and the process awareness I created leading the team. In December I started out with another project, but this time with two other seniors - and fortunately, there was lesser pressure. Ramesh was leading the team, and Varma was also there. The schedule was pretty much relaxed and I remember going to Veg World every evening, with Nattu and Ramesh - primarily to watch the TCS girls who would swarm the place by 7pm.

Mar 01, 2006
Once that project was completed, I moved on to one of the most challenging assignments of my career. Vipul Shah was a name everyone in my account fears. He is one of the toughest task masters with International. He was known for his ruthless criticism of any work we do. His project needed a person, and very few were willing to move in. I was kind of forced to move in. Initially, it was very tough. I understood why he was so deeply feared. He would ask a question on the name of a variable in a program; he wasn’t willing to accept anything but the highest standards and quality. Gradually, I got into the groove. The 1 year I spent on the project taught me things which I could never have learnt had I been elsewhere. Vipul also constantly talked to us in business terms, which made us understand the nuances of the business very well. All this augmented my knowledge to new heights. This one year was ht most rewarding phase of my career.

June 29th 2007
The friday that will be another date etched in my mind. A plethora of feelings, a flood of emotions as I walked out of the door. Lots of memories I have omitted from here; a vast majority being personal. These 3 years have given me some unforgettable memories; friends for a life time, hope, love and also despair. Life here has taught me to get up when I fall, to hope and risk, and to live it to the fullest. I will miss the raucous laughter, the birthday parties, the team meetings and the "California" tea; but life must go on. I am praying it goes one full circle.