Campus to Corporate

Here are couple of things, I always wanted to tell my friends who are joining the IT Industry fresh from the Campus Corridors.

The entire IT Industry is in full swing towards moving up the value chain, we are drastically moving from IT Infrastructure support to Maintenance support to Application development to Business Consulting.

Long back, it was all about digitizing the manual work and automation, Infrastructure support. But at some point in time, we started exhausting the automation and Infrastructure support opportunities in most of the business domains across most of the markets and business started expecting more than from us.

To do business profitably & stay relevant to customers, we need to move up the value chain either in terms of delivering business through new innovative ways or in terms of predicting, solving business problems enabled through technology. It’s time for us to tell our customers how to run their business as they bank upon us .Technology as a standalone is mere enabler and not a solution by itself.

We are still in the Game, because of the large wisdom companies like TCS have gained about their business domains like BFS, Insurance, Manufacturing and application of technology over the period of last two decades that has built capabilities to predict, enable and add value to business.

Shelf life of technology is also getting lesser and lesser nowadays, Five to Seven years back, if I am not wrong it was all about Java, Dot Net, Mainframe. But today, a solution that requires 1000 lines of Java code is executed by click of a single button using the tool.

Having said this, as you are going to be part of the IT fraternity in days to come – According to me, Agility & Business acumen, are going to be the 2 key things apart from the technical expertise that’s going to help you in climbing greater heights.

Prefer depth over breadth, Ability the get deep into the business domains you are working with will give you the ability to envisage future of that business domains, ability to solve complex problems. At the same time, Agility in terms of learning and adopting to new technologies would help you implement, deliver, reinvent the way business works.

Slog to make wonders for you and others, there is no use in slogging hours together unless it develops you as a person. Different situations in work or personal life require different set of competencies to handle. So if your daily work helps you develop such competencies, then you are on the right path.

Last but not the least, Most of us talk about Work- Life balance very often. As far as I am concerned, I don’t consider Work and Life to be two different things. There is no point is separating work and life as two different things, because the moment we separate Work and Life as two different things, we agree to ourselves that we are not finding any life in work and there is no point of working without life in it . So always do what you wanted to do! Don’t do something which others wanted you to do. That defines whether you work with passion or under pressure.

After a Slight Fever - I took time to Reflect !

# Panic # Unorganized # No time to fill fuel # No time to wash Clothes # No time to take bath # No time to Eat # Anger # Frustration # Grudges on People  # Talking behind the back #  Offers # Late Nights # No time to Call Friends #

This would summarize the last one week @ work.  Sadly I couldn’t attribute all these to one word called “Passion @ Work”.  

Only reason I could think of is “ME” I had an Option to Choose – Not to get frustrated! Not to be Angry! Not to Panic!

Don’t cut the branch, sitting at a Wrong End!

Whether It’s for a Nation or an Individual - Vision is about All, Ambition about more & more. Always be a Visionary for you & your fellow people. Work & Life has not been two different things for me, when I see life in work.  But don’t do something at the cost of losing something else without which you would be able to call it as “Life”. It’s like sitting on a branch of the tree and cutting at the wrong end.  Without a Wall you can’t paint!

Build Credibility & Don’t Lose Integrity– Learn to Say No!

Don’t promise for every damn thing that comes to you and end up doing nothing. There are things which you can do and which you can’t do - Out of passion and bandwidth and  it’s not about whether we are going to get rewarded for it or not. Don’t ever take up things that build up pressure on you, we are not a Pressure Cookers – Though we might get paid in Millions. A passionate Individual would understand and respond from within, where pressure brings Reactions. Responding comes with Integrity, more to do with the logic and Reactions are more skewed to Emotions.

Be Organized!

Panicking & Anger are like drinking a glass full of poison and thinking someone else would die.Even a Doctor @ the emergency ward in a hospital has a procedure manual to treat a Patient in a Death bed. But in day to day to life we panic too for things that's of nothing equal to death bed. Uncertainty, Loss of Credibility, Reliability, Anger, Frustration – are the end results of panicking and getting unorganized.

Priorities differ from People to People!

In today's world , In the name of Collaboration, Everyone wants to get most out of the other to achieve their own aspirations or their aspirations for others. But as an Individual, everyone has their own aspirations of their own. Being Collaborative is more about how we help each other to achieve their own aspirations rather their achieving our own aspirations. Stand up for People who have stood by you. 

Be Really Concerned!

I have started showing concern towards my people @ work, just to get my things get done. When things doesn’t get done I get angry. Doubting my own integrity, of whether I am really concerned about people I am dealing. Can’t keep on acting with People, I would be stripped soon. Intentions Matter.

# Respect for Individual # Trust # Creating Impact # - Are the three Values I wanted to live by !  . With the pace I am running in this Rat race, I doubt whether I have time to live by these values . Life is not a popularity contest , It’s about doing something meaningful even at the cost of being unpopular.

Miles to go !