I am bit late in congratulating but its always better to be late than never. 6th November 2006. This date might not be holding any importance to the most of the world. But this is one of the most important date in the life of a small bunch of people grouped as ELTP 614. On this day, all the people of this bunch started their professional life completely different from what they have experienced in their life before this date. And this year on 6th November 2011, we became FIVE years experienced. FIVE is quite an important number. 5 wickets for a bowler, 5 years for a government, 5 years for a scheme, 5 fingers in a hand, 5 senses and list can keep on going. But 5 years for a software engineer means he is officially eligible for Team Lead position in most of the organizations :). Some of you might have already become TL even before 5 years, some might be going to become soon and some may become in 1-2 years, but this 5 year tag has made us eligible for the time when we can lead others with our expertise and skills which we have acquired in these 5 years.
These 5 years were not easy. We have been to different locations, fightings for the projects and work. Trying to prove ourselves to our seniors, putting our full efforts to everything thrown to us whether it was documentation or trainings. Most of us being from non-computer background found it difficult to adjust to the alien domain, SOFTWARE ENGINEERING and it was not easy for those from Computers also as it was very different from what they have learnt in their academics. But in the end, we came out as a person who can survive in any working conditions with any quantity or type of work still trying to give our best.
The start of all this was not easy too. Let me try to go 5 years back.
For most of us (Punjab & Haryana) it started from Chitkara college. For rest also I believe the process might have been the same less or more. It was in summer I believe 7th and 8th July 2006 before our final results were out. For chitkara students, it was a On campus while for rest it was a regular off-campus. You can say it is an irony for small colleges but it makes them flexible and hard working too as they have to travel a lot to even appear for an entrance.
First day was a casual entrance exam with objective questions. I just answered 8 out of 15 and dont know how I got through. I dont know whether it was volume of students or slowness in the management, they were able to announce the result by evening only. People who got selected were excited as well as nervous as next round was next day only. Some stayed nearby to the college and some like me went back to home for 4-5 hours in the night. I was not able to sleep as I need to move again after spending some hours on my bed. Unfortunately, it started raining the next night and that too very heavily. I reached bus stand at 4 AM in the morning riding on my bicycle with one hand and holding umbrella in the other. At that time I wished that I would not have selected in the first round and just because of my parents I put so much efforts for the second day.
Next day was GD round and interview. My first GD and I knew one thing, never argue and speak when ever get some chance and that too diplomatic as everything has some positives and negatives and you should never be biased. Aditi Rhency and I was in same group and both got selected. For interviews, I waited for around 8 hours. People in my room keep on disappearing and remaining keep on reading. Only one advantage was there that I was from non-computer background so there was no reason for reading as I did not know anything. In the end from my room, only 3 people remained, everyone almost confirmed that there is no chance now but finally interview happened and after some time it was confirmed that I have been short listed finally.
Even after getting short listed, Satyam was too slow in providing appointment letter and all this results in stress in the minds of all who have cleared it and as a result our first group got created even before joining. A community on Orkut. This was our first communication medium and all of us kept on raising doubts in each others' mind but still it always gave the feeling that some one is there who is like us. Now our community on Orkut is almost dead and that happened much before people stopped using Orkut. May be because we are closer to each other or we have moved very far away. None the less finally we got the joining date along with offer letter and as I was not able to get any relevant job in my field, first time in life I had to step out of my home for such a long distance and such a long stay. My father accompanied me along with Vinay to hyderabad. There were lots of concerns about the medical examination but finally it was also done successfully. In the induction we went through the Satyam's policies and joining formalities for 2 days. We might have joined many companies but most of us will still agree that Satyam's induction was the best induction which we have seen though we might not have made so much signatures on papers as we did in Satyam's induction.
Then comes 6th november 2006 when our training finally started. New environment, new people. Lots of excitement and loads of tension. None of us was expert in software engineering. Some of us knows a bit and some of us were completely novice. Training for 2-4 days on each subject and after that examination, failure of which result in re-appearance. Arrangement of dumps, cramming them sitting in the night made the day similar to college but many a times stressful than those exams where we used to get 6 months for exams.
We tried helping each other in the exams to the best of our capacity and thus become friends for life. Dorms were allocated and most of us moved to them to get more time to study and avoid waking up early in the morning around 4 AM like me, Kamal and abhishek who were still staying in our PG cum home. Getting up in half sleep, taking bath and running for bus in front of Anand theater was a regular routine. Some times we felt that people staying in Dorms were much better. We had to reach bahadurpally and stay there in training room where as people in dorms enjoyed the facility to sign the register and moved back to their rooms.
Some how all of us completed first month training and were allocated to PeopleSoft which was advertised as one of the best domain from the career prospective and we had no choice here also and accepted it with happiness. Some other friends from CSE domain also joined us along with laterals.
PeopleSoft training was a different chapter itself. Out of 2 months training, we hardly got training for 15 days effectively and that too for some hours everyday. There was complete lack of trainers or I must say lack of trainers who were interested in training us. Training started with all of us failing in SQL exam except 3 people. In peoplesoft we tried to grasp the fundae of Purnendu pandey and the great Inderjeet kang who keep on repeating the name of RAGHU to scare us. Every morning they used to come and tell us Raghu or Satya might come and may test our knowledge and can move us to some older technology. There are random information about some trainer which might come or might not come. No one can forget NINE STEPS of application design in the whole life. Such was the greatness of Inderjeet sir :).
Crawling with the course, we some how got the training completed. Lots of memories of staying late in labs, eating food in cafeteria, watching a part of Rang de Basanti in auditorium, team outing with games and final cultural eve. I might not be an active partner in all these but what ever be the participation level, all these memories have sweet spot of their own in mind.
Finally, separation procedure started. It was a very controversial in its own way and I dont want to say anything for that but yes there was lots of drama involved. Lots of swapping, medical certificates, reasons for staying in hyderabad and lots of acting by none other than highly talented Inderjeet and Purnendu. In the end, a group was selected to move to chennai. Everyone was having sympathy for us like we were going to exile. Lots of tears shed for us by our friends who stayed behind in hyderabad. But we had to move and we moved to another unknown place, second time in 3 months.
After some struggle, we got settled in chennai too. Some got projects, some were on bench. Same was the condition in Hyderabad. Still many of us kept in touch of each other. In 2 years of time, all of us got something or else to learn to survive in the industry. As soon as our Satyam's bond got over, many of us left the organization for higher salaries or location constraints which is the only lifeline for software engineers and many of us were finally forced to leave Satyam because of scam by our beloved RamaLinga Raju.
Coincidently and luckily for raju, Just 1 day before our 5 year completion, he got bailed out of jail. Currently we all are in different companies, different locations. Some are in the country, some are out of country. Some have left software engineering and did MBA. But one thing everyone will agree that all of us are unique and have one or other quality which make us different from all other software engineers. We are moody at times and dedicated at the other time. It gives a very good feeling when I come to know that I have some one or the other of our batch working in almost all the companies and covering almost all the locations. We may be out of touch for years but still keep on enquiring about each other. Many of us became very good friends and still there is seem less bonding between us.
There are lots of lots to say, unlimited memories are there and a book can be written for that. But in the end I just want to wish all of us again for successful completion of this milestone. May GOD keep on showering HIS love on all of us and we keep on progressing in our life both professionally and personally.
Cheers to one of the best PeopleSoft professionals.
