I did it 'My way'

XXX - my first company has given me everything (in every true sense)what one’s first organization should give him/her.Dating back to the day when I went for 'XXX walk-in' at Dr. AIT college, Bangalore cos my college(established late) was not among those lucky one's whom s/w firms short list for 'campus placements'.XXX conducted 2-day walk in at this college where students turn out in huge numbers(in figure of thousands) and I was one among them in this crowd with few of my class mates who reached the spot at early hours of 7 AM to avoid waiting in long queue which was more than expected .XXX conducted the entire thing in very a organized manner except some small feuds which was not surprising though because public made their presence there much before break of day(3 AM to be precise) and holdings were going on at normal pace.After sometime waiting in stand up I got a call,entered the premises, recieved the papers and can you believe YES I pulled off to finish it before time.Paper was not tough,and hence I did okay but my chances of getting selected was entirely depended on,"How bad others did...".Months passed by and one fine day while checking my mails(which was very frequent activity I use to do during those days...u know the reason...WHY)I saw one mail from XXX recruitment cell, that I have cleared the written round and I have to prepare myself for next battle which was yes you guessed right again...Interview round.There was nothing I could have prepared for this interrogation other than going through once again few of my electives,projects and gupshup with some of my seniors who were already there working for XXX.Since 'Time waits for none', how can it leave me, D-day has arrived...and yes I 'dressed to the nines' formally of course equipped for any unforeseen crunch."Mr. Pranjal", I was called and so I went...in one corner cubicle where one person who's already sitting there greeted me with conventional handshake tho' 'HE' was looking grim at me as if I've come for unspecified legal hearing acquitted in felonious intent.Enquiry(indeed that is WHAT it was for me) started with brief introduction about me,my intrests,qualification etc.and then he asked me few queries on C pointers,Unix OS,Socket networking etc and GOD knows what all.I responded most of them...in 'Yes or No' and few on paper justifications.Candidly, what I was thinking at that time was, "Why the hell have I put in so much in my resume; it pays you well correct...but 'through the nose sometimes'". For some reason , this catechism ended with another handshake not a 'bone-cruncher' this time.

I waited and waited but as I have mentioned above also 'hard work pays none...sorry one', I got additional mail for my final SELECTION in XXX."MY GOD, 'I' did it" were the words came from my mouth after reading the subject line(detailed mail was on same lines..not opposite) of mail.I told my family members,friends and enemies particurarly this news.Reactions were accommodating from everywhere.Though date of joining was not mentioned in mail, but few months later I got call from them that your date of joining will be Mar 7,2005 (tentatively...hhehe me kidin this time) which from sysdate was 4 months ahead.I had absolutely nothing to do than doing time-pass with leisure activities like chatting,watching movies on comp,listening songs and gossiping.March the 7 of 2005 has come and I have to report in Coimbatore ,my centre for ILP(Initial Learning Programme).Hot and humid the climate was there , but friends which I made there were cool and cooperative(even now...no literal meaning this time).2 months passed with feverish schedules but full masti,you can find other intresting things happened at link:



Almighty never gave me too many choices so I had to come down to Mumbai because that was the only location left for most of our ILP mates who fared equally well in end terms.We came here, and luckily had few friends here to stay with in new city like Mumbai, attended our induction which was again nice.

Unfortunately, most of us were not allocated to projects on induction day itself, reason being, they wanted to sharpen our skills for particular technology; projects on which XXX was expecting.Not a problem for me, but I was perplexed and amused when I found that after doing project on Web tech. in ILP ,made to join 3 weeks course by CMC in Microsoft tech. I am being put/allocated to Oracle tech. project(thanks to MATC!).The project was for GE corporate(yes BIG client for XXX)in Oracle Apps HRMS.Every technical term was Arabic to me that point of time(which my would be colleagues were communicating there) but heard from word of mouth that, I got very good project and client to work with and so was I contented.Since large was the client, so were there processes,we had to experience few mandatory procedures like BGC(background check), NASA agreement(no not that space agency but some n/w security act) etc. before entering GE premises.It took nearly 2 months to get everything done and me hitting the floor without any escort.I was fortunate(sometimes I am ;o)) to get in module like 'Configuration and Security' of this esteemed project 'OHR' where I had got best people to learn from.Our's was infact,OHR is very big team of around 60 members including Offshore/Onsite and several modules with some real good work to learn.Work environment is best here with adequate resources(hardware and ppl both...no pun intended)and some fun-at-work activities too which our team use to enjoy the most because, "NO we never participated" but we loved spectatorship(no yaar...no eye candy here). I have learnt lot both personally and professionally interacting with different team members whatever I worth today in market today I owe to XXX and OHR(I am serious now).Things were not always good but I am told it's same everywhere, initiative has to come from you.What Gandhi said is true, "Be the change you want to see in others" but practically speaking only a small populace really call for this theory(atleast I was not the one...and I repented).There were many other 'words of wisdom' I heard from grapevine that, 'It's not always how much or how you work that matters, it's what you work that's substantial'.Another important state of affair/word I came to know here is 'Visibility' is of utmost magnitude especially working with client;you have to 'beat the drum' with both the hands and stop working with them if you wanna grow fast(not sure...how true it is).List is endless; you will say now I am too a critic or discomfited person, but this is what I have learnt and told(true untrue ..no idea).

Hmmm...I guess I am getting too much distressing from humourous start but this is life in cyclic manner.My 2 years stint with XXX was undoubtedly like joyride in simple terms.I have yet not decided where I will be tomorrow(though have few preliminary things in mind) XXX or GMPK but I will decidedly add on to 'what I lacked' and improve on 'what I have'.One line for XXX and for all of us(not mine this one) would be "Try to be proactive than being reactive" and you might go places.Since this is ending and sounding like farewell note,the lyrics of the song ‘My Way’ popularized by the late Frank Sinatra resonate in my mind. In particular,

'Regrets, I had a few; but then
again, too few to mention. I did what I have to do, and did
it all without exemption ... I did it my way.'