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 ! 

Recruitment - Is it a Number Game or Much more ?

First four months in Recruitment,  Summing up What it is all about – Stakeholder Management,Process adherence, Market Intelligence, Result Orientation.

Stakeholder Management – On a daily basis a recruiter need to interact with the Business, Prospective Candidates, Background verification team, Induction team, Admin team, placement Vendors and Internal stakeholders. A recruiter is one who cuts and connects across all these teams to put in the best candidate experience and also to fulfill the business requirement. Everybody’s goals are different and yet it conspires with each other, that’s what a recruiter is responsible for.

Process Adherence - Whenever there is a process and policy in place, it’s not just to increase the complexity but on the other hand it’s a collective wisdom that has evolved over a period of time substantiated by the past data and trend . Particularly in recruitment, being the gate keepers of the organization it’s extremely important to uphold the integrity of the system.

Market Intelligence – If you are aware which company has which skill in abundance, what’s their notice period, What’s the salary each company pays for certain experience, Who is downsizing ,  Client relationships with your competitors in the market, Which skill is hot in the market , Recruitment is a cake walk for you !

Result Orientation – At the end of the day, all matters is Cost, Quality and time. How many billability loss positions you were able to fill without any billing leakages and how many deals were not lost because you brought in at right talent @ right place @ right cost.

Stakeholder Management, Process Adherence, Market Intelligence all zeros in to the single end product of Result Orientation and Customer Delight !

It’s high time that as a recruiting partner, not to be a mere process owner but also be aware of the business, talent market and recent trends in Talent Acquisition.

 Being a process might help you internally but it's the other aspects that would help you when you move out of your current employer ! So it's time to look beyond !

Nuggets from my Learning !!!

·        People Around- # You should be of some use to people Physically, emotionally or mentally to have them around # When you stop contributing to person or situation you become irrelevant # Nobody is with you for free #

·        Family - # Loosing some part of yourself to accommodate somebody else in your life is the biggest thing you can do # Respect Individuality, Passion and help people blossom # Let nobody who steps into your home walks out hungry #

·        Career - # Joy of Action is known only to the person who doesn’t have a need for it # Never Stop Learning # Concepts are Universal, Contexts are different. No two situations are similar # Perceive to Prosper #

·        God - # It’s a Cosmic congruence # Something that is perfect, flawless, beyond the comprehension of human mind, devoid of ego, prejudice, doctrine and duality # Advaita # Whatever is not under your experience doesn’t exist in reality is the peak of ignorance #

·        Success - # It’s not the same for all – for some its getting rich, for some it’s to reach greater heights in their career, for some it’s about a happy family # Depends on what kind of impressions, aspirations they have gathered in their life all the way # Better don’t weigh others success on your Scale, let them weigh on their own # You might be successful and still not married ;) # Different dimensions need different stokes, efforts, setting # All don’t get all !

·        Getting Married – # It’s not the nine planets that decide your marriage, it’s the people around who make or break yours # Beware People are Watching you ! They sell you or scrap you – Do bit of Branding, Positioning # You are responsible for how people perceive you # You are matured enough to search one for you, if you are responsible #

Bell Curve Fever - HR's Curse !

It’s Performance appraisal time at the IT services companies and for quite couple of days I am hearing my friends cribbing about the Human Resources Department for the ineffective bell curve appraisal method.

During the college days, Students were comfortable with whatever they are being offered in terms of Salary, Place of work, domain etc. In fact it’s notable that IT services companies were not forced to change their entry level salary for the past of 7 – 8 years owing to the huge number of engineering graduates churned out from the engineering colleges and lack of employment / employability skills.

But in College, nobody cribs about being a Computer Science Engineer or any other engineer not getting into a core Industry of their engineering specialization. Why aren’t Computer Engineers not getting into Product Companies which pay them well ? It’s pretty simple that it demands higher level of competencies compared to working in IT companies.

After spending one or two years at IT services companies then comes the rat race for performance appraisals and promotions. First I wish to highlight, Performance appraisal is not a stand-alone tool in IT services industry, there are indeed a gamut of offerings like Promotions, Onsite Opportunities, Location transfers, Project assignments of choice, Career planning options available in the company

Putting into perspective the HR Challenges, IT services industries are the largest private employers in India and the IT landscape in which we are operating is pretty challenging to have predefined goals and monitor due to its dynamism in terms of stability of the environment and complexity in operations model. Even then we have been doing its best in terms of compensation and employee engagement reflected through Industry attrition of 13 % (NASSCOM estimates) well lesser against the Banking sector. Also Tata Consultancy Solutions  and Cognizant, two major players have been consistently rated as the Best Employers during last two years.

Even then IT Industries HR fraternity is vigilant in terms of keeping people engaged by providing with learning opportunities during their initial entry level stage and by the end of two or three years they are provided with gamut of options from which they can choose , but only pain point is the employees want it all ! Isn’t a certain trade off  required ?

But on the other hand, I don’t agree with some companies who have a clause saying that who gets 1^st rating twice would be promoted first as I personally feel under this clause the basic fundamental of “Appraise for performance and promote for potential” fails and at times even the rationale of performance appraisal is lost because of the trade-off with other options.

I have listened to so many people saying , this time I got promotion so I was rate less even though I performed well and on the other hand one of my friend told I will be given an onsite opportunity so I have been rated less. So Is’nt the rationale behind appraisals which is primarily a feedback and developmental tool is lost?

I feel it’s high time the organizations use the performance appraisals as a developmental tool and base promotion policies out of competency based management systems. Use motivation tools like onsite opportunities and other career planning as allied engagement options. Trading off Performance appraisal with others might be a serious trouble. !

You are views and critics on this subject / article are most welcome !

Recent Read - Quiet : Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking

For a long time,this thought has been lingering in my mind “Why Extroverts are widely accepted and Introverts are seen inferior in most of the situations”. Being an Introverted Kid, who prefer to be alone with books lying around, prefer more on ideation than going out and executing, wanted to be in quiet place, spend meaningful time with people rather than partying hard.

 I came across this book Quiet: Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking written by Susan Cain, a lawyer, Psychologist and an introvert by herself.

In this book, she explores how the Socio-Economic changes have influenced the change from Culture of Character to Culture of Personality – She says globalization and liberalization has turned the focus on how people are perceived rather than what actually we are, on the way sacrificing something meaningful we had.

She quotes couple of examples on the Communication Skills workshop, how Harvard is place for Extroverts and even the Churches in US are not accommodating the Introverts, a prime requisite for Inquisitiveness. She brings out how Extroverts are gregarious, sociable and act with less information rather than getting deep into the topic, on the other side Introverts are less sociable and get deeper into topic, Insightful. Introverts prefer Ideation and Extroverts prefer Execution. (All the thoughts has been substantiated with experiences, research data)

She also quotes how collaboration was brought about in the wake of internet based work systems with virtual teams, where people were not physically interacting instead were mostly anonymous and in case of today’s context collaboration in organization where people are physically working together, having their own predispositions about the other might give rise to organizational politics, social loafing behavior and might kill creativity.

She explores the anatomy of the human brain where one of research  findings found children who were highly reactive during their childhood days turned out to be Introvert and vice versa. It’s because of the their amygdala referred to as emotional brain being sensitive towards novelty compared to the extroverts. However, she says that the neo-cortex that carries the experiences, impressions can help introverts to act as pseudo extroverts if situations demand and how people might be pulled back as introverts after a certain threshold getting back to their amygdala.

In line with this she also explains how the Ascending Reticular Activating System (ARAS ) a part of the brain , a pipe like structure which is responsible for arousal is wider in case of the extroverts demanding more sensory outside stimulus for their arousal and on the other hand its narrower in case of Introverts making them self-aroused without any external stimulus.

She also talks about creating Restorative niches and sweat spots where introverts though involved in pseudo extrovert activities can rejuvenate themselves on regular intervals and form agreements with their closed one’s for spending times on things they love to do !

Extroverts are reward oriented and Introverts are threat oriented. She puts into perspective how corporates are responsive to short terms rewards and therefore value extroverts over Introverts. Also provides data on how Introverts investments sustained the Wall Street Crash compared to the investments made by Extroverts.

She talks about the Rubber band theory, which says every human being has his / her own Free Will to certain extent to modify his / her traits and this would happen mostly when people work projects that are close to their heart given by Free Trait Theory !

She also brings out how Asians Culture propounded Introvert ideal and the American Culture propounded the Extrovert ideal, how we are changing nowadays. She also has discussed about how to deal with Introverted kids rather than try turning them into extroverts.

Altogether a Brilliant work ! Must read for an Introvert and people dealing with introverts to understand their potential & possibility. It's much more than what we really think of an Introvert !

Here is the link for one of her TED talk on this book : http://www.ted.com/talks/susan_cain_the_power_of_introverts.html

Reflections on Social Business !

Few points to ponder from last week’s session by Mr.Harish Hande , MD,SELCO.

·        If a non-English speaker can become the CEO in China / Japan, why an Non-English speaker in India can’t become the CEO of an Indian MNC.
·        If you don’t ensure social sustainability, it would be five times more expensive than the financial sustainability five years down the lane.
·        Doing a Socially Responsible Business is all about how far you can connect the different economic strata of the society in the value chain process.
·        Is it only the metro people who can teach a rural government school kid ? Isn’t it possible the other way round ?
·        Social Investments to create equity is the main rationale behind CSR and its not a philanthropy
·        It’s all about increasing the buying power and not about offering discounts !

Today giving takes the quality of boomerang !!!

Ten years ago, giving was all about churning out money for the marginalized communities. But today it’s all about how to make them employable and empowered to survive. Social sector has undergone a complete metamorphosis, where the primary focus is on creating a social capital through addressing the needs of marginalized communities such that they become self- sustainable. Giving back to the society has become a mandatory responsibility from an act of philanthropy.

When things are scarce and needs are more - it’s very important to make investments that have higher impact on the long term well-being of the society moving from more to all.

At this juncture, business organizations are proactive enough to realize that in a country that has a third of the world's poor, 200 million people being food insecure and 300 million people having no access to electricity - they can’t do business any more. Selling gets tough when there is no potential market to tap.

In order to grow, business needs employable labors to work and more affordable individuals to buy. In this regard business fraternity was proactive enough to realize that leaving behind 50 % of the population in the growth trajectory would be synonymous to a man cutting a tree sitting at a wrong end and hence companies have started collaborating for growth.

This led companies to look beyond profits addressing the needs of the marginalized sector, empowering them to become affordable, creating social capital beyond generating economic value for the business and nation.

Recent bill by Government of India that mandates 2 % of three years average profit of the companies with investment of 500 crore and above (or) with annual turnover of 1000 crore and above (or) yearly profit of 5 crore and above, to be spend on CSR programs targeting 10 high impact areas specified by the government is great step forward in this line.

It intends inclusive economics and creating meaningful investments that would reap long term benefits where investments are not only for nurturing the marginalized community but also to tap the latent customer base to create economic value for business. Here giving takes the quality of boomerang.

Nalanda - A Dream Place to Live In !!!

This post was largely inspired by the below words 

"No matter what the landscape – whether hills or forests – it takes its goodness from the people inhabiting it "

which moved me to think of what kind of home i would wish to live in 

Nalanda - A Dream Home !!!

 A Space inhibited by rapturous souls,

With a longing to know the truth of life,

Obsessed to embrace all those who come into this space,

And no matter what we give and what life gets back,

Giving would be the ultimate quality of this place,

Filled with loads of love and compassion within,

With this in abundance we live in a plane of ecstasy,

Everything out of nothing is Nalanda’s nature,

Under divine conscious the cosmos conspire,

and life blossoms in million different ways !!!

* Nalanda - Sanskrit word meaning " Insatiable in giving / quest for knowledge"

Disclaimer - I might betray your Convictions !!!

Down these twenty five years, life has been offering me lots of experience most of them unconsciously and some consciously .There had been never a shortage for information from people around me and things that happened around me to clutter my mind.

I put tons of energy to make convictions, every conviction I make fail at some point of time later and this shows the kind of ignorance that has crept into mind while making decisions. Here is a famous quote “ Whatever is not under our experience, doesn’t exist in reality is the crown of ignorance “ 

Economist had tons of theories to their credit and now most famous economic theories fail because of the fact that they predicted based on “ Cetris Paribus “ which means “everything else remains constant”, but in reality it doesn’t work that way.

Same applies for the human life’s, Sigmund Freud said Human beings are irrational - something that holds good for a particular situation or particular person may not hold good even for the next moment or next person. Human being behaves according to the needs, moods, outcomes and humpty number of other factors as a human being is not a gadget to be consistent in the way he/she emote or behave.

With this baseline, for the past five to six years I have been a perfect Good Bad Ugly boy on this earth doing the most prettiest to the nastiest things possible for me on this Earth and I have never claimed myself as good guy.

People start scaling others based on their perceptions, value systems, what they believe to be good and bad on this according to them on this world based on the situations, experiences and people they encountered in their life. But it’s important for everyone to understand the fact that the world doesn’t offer same kind of opportunities, situations, people for every one on this earth. Everybody encounters a unique set of all these and the perceptions, values, beliefs, good and bad are outcome of this.

In my recent times I never wanted me to try behaving or altering my personality in a certain way based upon the needs of the society, because whenever I do that I am going to act. A human being can’t act for long time and hence I always wanted to provoke & blossom the way of being human. 

For me being human is nothing but being inclusive .Inclusiveness for me means accepting people, situation at hand as they are and then trying to act on it in a way i am considerate about .

I never want my loved ones to get into a judgement mode instead perceive me as I am … Prediction models doesn’t work on me as I myself complex by nature. Whether your  prediction models predict me as good ,bad, insane, weak, strong or fair doesn’t really matter for me, I would stay by you whole lifetime to perceive your presence and touch your life by some means instead of trying to fail by judging you.

For a moment I am good and the very next moment I am nasty – Better don’t make convictions on me ..I might not betray you but for sure your convictions !!!

Being Inclusive - Business of Business !!!

Business is all about expansion and whether we do this by exploiting or inclusion is what that determines its success over long run because in this world, irrespective of whatever might be one’s immediate business there is only one business in reality that’s human wellbeing.

Over the last century, India has moved from the feudalistic to democratic leadership and now we are in need for Economic & Business leadership. In this context, it’s greater responsibility of the business leaders to conduct or expand their business by embracing and not disgracing or excluding the marginalized communities.

In a growing country like India with huge diversity in terms of Religion, Values, Skills and Needs . With regard to marginalized communities it's not that they aren't capable to perform,the challenge lies in providing right platforms to reflect their capability and grow.

Each clan is unique by itself and human potential left unexplored in marginalized communities is a biggest hurdle to the growth of individual and nation.Leaving behind 50 % of the population in the growth cloud would prove to be a disaster in terms of provoking terrorism, hunger and socio-economic imbalance.

On the other hand, marginalized communities are greatest potential that remain untapped by the business organizations in terms of capitalizing them on Market penetration, enhancing sales, human talent and building businesses by including them as stakeholders in various capacities.

Social Entrepreneurship is an emerging concept that provides a striking balance between lessening the socio economic divide and profits for the promoter. It’s very important that these entities not only make services and products available to the marginalized populace at affordable price, but also help them to create a self-sustained environment where people can learn, earn and grow to stand by their own on a long run without any handhold.

Inclusive business and economic policies would not only include the marginalized communities in the growth trajectory but also would make the expansion of business entity more purposeful.

Passion + Pressure = Christ !!!

It has been three months since I joined Christ University for my MBA leaving Cognizant. Leaving back cognizant and joining Christ was a tough decision in my life and being @ Christ is even more challenging. 

These three months have been challenging for me in terms of adapting to the so called Christ Culture that includes - Surface reading, Information overload, Book Review, OBT, CIA, End term, 0.49 weightage assessment’s, typical school rules and people with from diverse background.At times what people perceived to be exact fun here was not so for me.

Probably one of my biggest mistakes in my life could be choosing Christ for an MBA but I didn’t have a better option to pursue when I was to choose between Passion and Pressure. However to a greater extend it serves the purpose apart from the fact that it doesn’t pays me well and of course HR’s are never paid well ;).At this juncture another confusion crept into my mind – if HR’s are paid less, then why HR. I had a quick answer for this- Simply bcoz I love it and wish i shouldn't hate it for money :)

My decisions have gone wrong because of considering the fact - “Greater good for larger number of People”. So have to learn to Say ‘NO’ and at times be Self-serving.

Irrespective of whether the Christ MBA had a trajectory for me or not to evolve as a HR professional, to a greater extend in these three months I had people betraying me, exploiting me and making it learnable for me to handle emotions. It was peak of learning experience when even my closed ones were closed ended :)

At the same time, I had lot of people who cared for me to a greater extend and  at many times i wasn’t in a position to respond to those people due to my mood swings.

On the whole these three months got me new perspectives on relationships, betrayal, exploitation and how taking decisions on pressure might have a negative pay off.

With a rocking combo of Passion and Pressure, begins a new trimester with greater responsibility and higher agenda. Believe my buddies - Aditya ,Saro ,Vignesh would make things interesting and worthwhile... May our life’s blossom together !!!

Shyam

Adieu Cognizant!!!

It has been a long wait looking for opportunities to pursue my passion and it’s high time that I decide. Though its risky and unpopular to quit a lucrative job to join a fair B school, for me nothing could compromise passion. So quitting cognizant has been a concrete option to take up something close to my heart.

Going back to the college days the whole reason behind my desire to be here @ Cognizant was it’s  single line philosophy “Celebrating People” and once I am on board the way I experienced its expression is a different story altogether.

 Being @ Cognizant from Dec 2009 till date was like a roller coaster ride starting from the Academy batch days – flunking the exams , long waits for getting into project after coming into the BU, Alienated Chennai Stint for Hartford assignment, Toyota Tremor’s, Amazing Aetna and Wellpoint #168 days.

 Amidst this there were loads of fun with Birthday bashes & team treats, Allepy Trip, Siruvani Trip, Batch mate marriages (quite a lot for batch of 25), Dinner with folks @ my home, batch outings, late night chats, Times together @ Chennai guest house, JA Saturdays, Sunday movies & team Lunch, Thrilling team politics, Lovely lunch gang, Lime Soda’s and few nostalgic moments where life showed its tint of toughness.

Cognizant as a corporate setting gave me an exposure to a Professional setting after college life, Outreach platforms to touch life’s of thousands of children, Pouring Accolades for volunteering that kindled in me the spirit to do more, tons of people from whom I learnt and whom I love, trust as life time companions- would top everything else on my take away’s.

 Having attended nearly around 30 Junior Achievement programs across 2 years igniting the young minds in the schools on "Career with a Purpose" - this would be the best thing I could have done being @ Cognizant. Thanks a million Outreach – JA !!! Your people, awards, enthusiasm kept me going. Would wish to join you back anytime. Way to go and Godspeed Team – JA .

On the contrary, Cognizant could have been better in implementing its value system across board and building process maturity. One simple aspect that would falsify its value – Opportunity filled would be its lack of robustness in providing roles according to employee’s aspirations and this case kindled in me the desire to quit cognizant to pursue my passion of doing an MBA. Yet I do believe it’s still a budding company with its own challenges and would stabilize on this very soon.

Critics apart, It’s written values C-FOOTED would linger in minds were ever I go. I would love to adopt and live by it in any corporate setting.

Thanks a million Cognizant for being my First employer!!! You got me exposure, experience, people and loads of fun(d) :)

With a Cognizant DNA, I look forward to come back to Cognizant after my MBA if there exists a mutually beneficial opportunity :)

Wish all my Cognizant folks exciting careers and pink of health :)

Keep Rocking!!! Emotions Galore - Adieu Cognizant – Keep Celebrating People !!!

Ramp Up's or Down's-Its me who Rock the Floor.

It’s again a long time since i posted my last blog and here it is J

Once I was back from Chennai, I was into Toyota for two months and then was into Aetna starting January 2011 and now from May 2011 till date it’s WellPoint!!!

Ramp-Up's and Ramp-Downs's was the easiest thing that has happened to me all along since I have been associated with Cognizant!!! Whoever gives me the Billability there I go!!!

Once I start to Learn or understand something, they move me out of it bcoz once I get to know things I might make wonders J Jus Kidding!!!

Toyota - Working with a Techie Wizard like Chandru was the most easiest thing for techie novice like me and should have been the toughest for him supporting me amidst heavy work.It was like a Roller-Coaster Ride, Everyday i had something unknown that has to be delivered by EOD or I did a blunder.Come what May I Came at Eleven,left at Eleven.But at any cost Chandru comes at 9 and leaves at 1 midnight.Works on Saturday.Relatively I worked lesser.Payback - It was a fantastic Zero Defect Deliverable at end of the Game.Tamil joined in Later and was good to work with both of them.Thanks a lot Chandru ,Tamil for the Non Hesitating Support and No Escalation J J

Aetna - I was Working with Vinod,Bibin,Hema,Pramod.It wasn't a Roller Coaster,it was like a Perfect Cool Headed assignment.Vinod knows In's and Out's of my likes and dislikes in terms of the work that i can do.He never assigned me something that i disliked.I did documentations,designing templates,QC,Executions everything apart from Querying.Hema,Vinod,Bibin,Pramod was kind enough to take up all my Query stuff..Thanks a million for it folks.
Vinod – Humorous, Straight-forward, Kewl Headed though managed accomplishing EOD deliverables.
Hema - Have been with her since Academy days all along, Car mate, Plays a Win-Win at Work.
Bibin & Pramod - Both were friendly and Helpful throughout…Pramod’s Love stories and Tamil linguistic abilities are worth to Envy off.

Thanks a million Team Aetna .It was Enjoyable Working with you Folks.

Now it’s WellPoint, Altogether it’s a different Story will keep u posted :) :) :)

Nano months @ Cognizant

It has been so long, since my last post and it comes coincidently along with end of my stint at Cognizant Chennai and back to my base location-Coimbatore.

At the outset, after my training I was in CBE waiting to get into some assignments and at last midst of tough times Chennai beckoned me on deputation to join Hartford on 7th July and since then I have been here till date.

Being at work, Hartford was the first to teach me “What is What” in terms of BISQuAD and though if not in full it was a good kick start to carry forward. Madhu's ever smiling face, Mahesh and Siva's Project acquaintance are worth to envy of…Senthil have been at his best when it comes to helping me.

Most challenging thing here was being at the mid of execution, not in a position to do a better justification to my work without being fully equipped with Biz.Knowledge and most of the times i kept on Nudging my team amidst their work and it’s my introspection that it’s high time I evolve as " Plug and Play" resource with an ability to extract what I want from people as effective as possible.

At final stages, I understood that I missed out a lot in terms establishing quick relationships, putting in place better communications at early stages which probably would have reaped richer benefits out of the stay and for sure would patch it up in the days to come.

Apart from this, I always had a passion over Business and People Management and here i had a chance to fuel it by observing people across the team, their diplomacy and perspectives. Across the team every Single individual had something to learn from either directly or indirectly .To quote a few Sabitha's "Converge for Cup of Coffee"/Madhu's,Vaithi's “Fun at Work’ spirit /Balaji’s "Be better @ Business" /Mahesh's "Passion for Defects" were a few that I admired. With all this adroitness in place, Hope leveraging emotional bonding among people would help enhance retention and elevate Hartford to greater levels. Godspeed Team Hartford.

Personally ,Being at Chennai was all together a different experience from Coimbatore, Days never started or either ended early as it was before, by the time I commute to my office changing three share auto's shared by at least 10 members i ll be drenched with sweat and turn lazy .

On the other side, there were times when I had some air to breath with Suresh accommodating us in his car along with Sathya, Sadhana and Vaithi. All those fun-filled commutations were my best moments and was soothing enough to keep my soul tranquil. Thanks a million all Stakeholders .You people would remain intact in my heart for life time.

Stay at the guest house was simply fantastic with sumptuous food and a fabulous ambience with bunch of DW Coimbatore accompanying me throughout. Being a nocturnal I enjoyed late night chats, mid-night birthday blasts, candle lit cake cuttings going to sleep at 2 AM, turning up late to work next morning getting screwed up by Mahesh though managed to escape most of the times

Yet another thing to cherish is- in all these three months here, the frequency of the team lunches was amazing and I never stayed back at my place during weekends ,without roaming around the city..I should have hardly missed out the hotspots of this Metropolitan. Having a Buzzing life around all these days, I am sure once i get back to Coimbatore, it would deem to me as a retreat Zone.

I foresee the lines
“ Woods are lovely, dark and deep, Miles to go before I sleep and Tons to learn for long run”.

For What’s Next–Would say “Its the hope Vidhyaa has something in stock that I deserve”

Will Keep you Posted…..:)

My Cognizant and My People...

It has been five months long, since I wrote my last blog and I haven't been keeping people posted on the happenings @ Cognizant.So before I post those happenings its high time on my 22 nd birthday to Celebrate and Value my people who have kept me Flying with Good times at Cognizant.

Here comes what I admired and learnt from being with my DW people all these five months long...

*STRICTLY CHRONOLOGY DOESN'T MATTER.

Archana A soul that never gets angry on anybody,always laughs when anybody irritates,u cant see her tensed,i wonder how she Stays Cool always.
Gayathri Bava,Stays cool and take life as it comes,No hard rules,No hard feelings.
Manoj You can see him always thinking on something,even he thinks a lot before start speaking,analyses a lot,thought me what patience is all about.
Shen My cute sister,caring by heart,a chatter box,life is never hard when she is near u.
Shantha Has his own unique perspective, DW-Pogo character,each one of us would nt have been so much interactive without him.
Vijay A gadget freak,if u wanna know what can be done trendy he will help u out for sure.
Ram Most Silent and Most Studious brain of DW.
Raj U dont wanna hurt anybody, for sure you can learn it from him.
Sridhar Sarcastic Master of DW and very studious too.
Sathish A brainy rocking Boss who carries a smile always with no pressures on people at any cost,legend on handling people.
Shan DW- Fun @ Work Brand Ambassador and a good Informatican too
Sujitha Epitome of the words " U can have all the best things and yet can Stay Simple"
Kavitha Highly ambitious,Cares for People in her own way.
Vimala Very good singer,never lacks her originality,thinks beyond bounds at times.
Hema A very good singer,ever smiling and a bit sensitive,possesive too.
Lakshmi Smallest things in the life are more enjoyable than bigger ones.
Kokila Very Bold and cautious girl,a bit philoshopical too.Wanna know the wonders in small things u can catch her.
Sindhu A very good friend of mine,she knows my best and worst part in full.
Ramya Smiling Beauty of DW,Life is never hard to live and there is nothing to worry in life.
Vanitha Life needs some Protocols and Systematic approaches to deal with certain things and She does it.
Jinoo Passion @Work and Sarcasism are her inborn twin characters.
Nimitha Sometimes it takes time to break the ice and once its done,for sure you may fly out with colors.
Suba The way she thinks to add value to the environment wherever she is in any possible way is her unique character.
Sriram Loves to be Creative,football freak,Aims for the best at what he desires for.
Nandhini Never stay idle, Always work on something.Idle brain is Devil's Workshop and ofcourse hers is not.
Revathi Stays silent and Observes people.Speaks little but Sensible.
Shoba Very Jovial,Khol's Comedian,Without him No Khols ETL would probably crash.
Shobana DW Parrot.Without her we would nt have been laughing at the toughest moments and downtimes

FOR SURE LOTS TO ADD IN THE LIST IN DAYS TO COME..

THANKS A BILLON FOR EACH AND EVERY SOUL WHO HAVE BEEN MAKING MY COGNIZANT JOURNEY A MEMORABLE ONE.BEING PART OF COGNIZANT I GOT A RICH SET OF INTAGIBLE ASSETS OF MY LIFE.KEEP ROCKING...GODSPEED....

THREE MONTHS - STUPID IN ME EXPLORED

It has been three months since i have posted my last blog and its now i thought of rembarking it after a gap of three months,and ofcourse the reason for not blogging is nothing much productive was happening around the corners of my life.If at all i could say something productive , i would say i have understood how a ideal brain can drain out all your energy,dynamism,passion, pulls you down at most of times and above all how could it give you a sense of insecurity.

Since the time i left the college, i have done a list of stupidities..

1.I joined for a course at IMS for CAT training, i attended only some five classes that too never focussed on it,waste of 8000 bucks.For me clearing the competitive exams was the most hasty thing in this world so though i tried a lot,i could not win my mind in sitting to prepare for CAT, but there was always a burning desire to join MBA.( i do understand it is nt fair,but to be true it was my state)

2. I came to Chennai took a room along with my friends, went out searching for Jobs,there wasnt a shortage of reccomendations but people couldnt help me out, only thing why they cant was because they could nt offer me a non technical profile which i was i need off. I could nt stay in chennai for a long time, i did nt like it too..so i said a good bye to chennai and left.

My take on Chennai - a worst place to live @ economy class.

3. Went home and was sitting idle but after some time,my astrology chart predictions said me to stay in a seperate room away from my home , I did it too...but nothing happened too fabulous instead things were so worse.

4. Then came the fantasy of having my own small venture as like a Play School or CBSE school, same way i explored every possibility and atlast people said you cant earn much out of all these and its pretty tough to brand such institutions at this point of time without any post expericence,again my dreams shattered.

5.Then came the so called fantasy of higher education abroad,i did every possible search to find the best course that could offer me with business profile and atlast found out Mbus in SAP @Victoria university,Australia .At that point of time, i heard people saying Job opportunities are much less so i dropped my plan abruptly.

All through these five steps, if i can say i had some air to breath ,then i would say that was the back up option i had -Cognizant job and my joining of MBA @ Amrita as a dream.

"COMPETENCY - PASSION - MONEY - LUCK - ALL THATS THE NEED OF HOUR "

Take Stock of the Situation

For a typical fresh Engineering graduate like me waiting for his/her company call letters or placements,at the time of what we call an economic downturn or in stock market vocab -a market correction,or to put it even more simpler a BLEAK juncture,whose most amazing part is that it showcases you with tons of eye catchy,wangling ,multitude,diverse,"not so passionate for you" opportunities for you in this flat world.This most confusing,job hunger hitherto may covet you to pursue those wangling mission of serendipity for virtual glory,which you are in no need of at the end of game but what you are in search of is an accolade in your own dimension .So to be precise about the dimension,With all those outside fantasies wandering in our minds,our heart finds it so tough to find out what we are really passionate about,not only about what we are passionate ,but also for what we are ready to toil our self to make our footprints a fashion in our area of passion.But i fear the evil may pull us from the race lane and take us entirely away from our destination.So its the moment to take stock of the situation and invigorate ourselves to travel in our zealous path.

Catch 22 - On a voyage towards Destiny

It had been hardly two months from then when i left the bounds of Kongu and its time to introspect the life outside the institution.On those days when i was at Kongu i really enjoyed myself not with all those academic credentials but with all those fruitfulness that i got out accomplishing the responsibilities that was assigned to me as a placement coordinator or as a program coordinator.I was enjoying all those tiresome work - planning and executing the plan with utmost perfection to the best of my ability and have been an initiator for most of the agendas on my own personal interest.Whenever i accomplish a task, i used to energize myself with a thought that i am adding value to me ,so that I could shine in my career that's due in the future.Now the future being here, the days outside Kongu is not so fabulous to offer me with Responsibilities of a kind which im passionate about.So the story of me is here
"I am a starved traveler on a life lane towards business arena,four years back when i started my journey towards the destiny with out knowing my strong intentions my mom boarded me into an alienated ship called "Engineering" since the World said its the Savior of the Earth, i had no way to escape from the ship, so i managed to find some food for mind and also packed up pile of human network along with me on my way to the shore and the Captain (Almighty)made it a bon voyage too,i thought the captain of the ship would drop me at a shore that would be awesome but he failed.Instead he dropped me in middle of a deep ocean and asked me to use any of the various available life boats to reach my destiny.I chose the Cognizant life boat to reach the Management horizon but the life boats chief said "I am sure i cant board you now but for sure will board you by March 2010 but till then you keep on sinking/swimming in the ocean,more than this i cant help you" so now i am helpless , i know only a bit of swimming and above all i am tired of monotonous sinking and swimming at the same place without any food to my mind .Captain haven't said me where to find some bliss,fun,frolic,satisfaction,success,and most importantly some food for my mind.At least the captain could have thought me a better swimming.Anyway hope the captain would get me some shelter for my soul ,food for my mind amidst the middle of ocean till the time comes for my life Cognizant to take me towards the business horizon.I am thinking of a stint at an Island named Amrita for a course of two years to sharpen my skills on the way to the Management horizon,Will the Cognizant lifeboat drop me at the Amrita Island to acclimatize myself with the corporate nuances.Who Knows ? Only the Captain (Almighty) knows...Captain could you get me a clue for this...Not possible fine...I don t need it now..First of all get me a shelter to my soul where it can cherish the accomplishments of responsibilities as of now...That would be your greatest help for me...HELP !!! HELP!!! Do you hear me Captain.."

Roots of Success

At the end of day, fruitfulness for a person depends on the accomplishment of passionate tasks.If you are ready to accomplish and achieve the goals you set in your areas of interest,next moment the World is ready to offer you with some more responsibilities that is directly proportional to increase in you power of influence and once range of influence gets higher,the probability of accomplishing GOALS get higher and eventually the ultimate success according to the Indian Philosophy namely "Wealth" adorns you.

On catching the roots of Success and Happiness,its not the money we make out ,but its the pride and joy we derive from accomplishments of our passionate tasks that matter at the end of the day.

For a passionate worker even a penny earned is worth a platinum

"No eyes are sharp enough to catch the riches in a hut and debits in a palace"

Boys Vs Girls in my Life...

It was today when i thought of Boys Vs Girls in my life...Living in a predominantly male society i always note there exists an ego between girls and boys as who is superior than the other.According to me both are equal and is special in their own way of leading life, its up to us to accept them as they exist in nature.I treat them as equal,for me boys and girls are not so different,as i do with boys i share A to Z with girls .Might be i can say i feel like sharing much of my emotions and feeling with girls since they are good in expressing their care for us by nature.Even my boys community care for me more than the other but they don't express their care as girls do and this doesn't mean that girls are more caring than boys.They are just good at expressing,the same boys does manifold without expressing.Likewise boys are good at the art of being frank and speaking from the heart,but at times girls do hesitate to do that for me,they feel shy or think they would hurt me.But boys would be so frank or more even sarcastic.My guys are good at this .So according to me both the male community and female community of my friends list are unique being very special in very different multitude aspects.So its up to us to find a balance between the two different genre instead of being egoistic and speaking about the superiority and inferiority.And ofcourse, I am in pursuit of finding the perfect balance.For Plan of action,read the book "Men are from Mars,Women are from Venus" I am gonna do that,Join with me to find the wisdom.

Im 21 Today - And its all bcoz of these Stars of My Life

Its high time to mention those people whom i value the most for making my life so beautiful,learnable,and what not i deserve for
(Disclaimer : For Sure the chronology doesnt matter)
My Dad - He is the man whom i admired from the day one i was aware of myself,i admire him for his flair for helping the needy,his concern for family and for every single dexterity he posses.
Ofcourse he is the role model for me on how to reach the pinnacle starting from the roots.
Tamil Selvan - My very first friend right from my UKG till now,he is the closest friend.Very frank,Speaks reality haven't seen him acting or bluffing,u can trust him a lot bcoz i trust a very few for multiple aspects and he is one whom i bestow trust upon for every single aspect.
Priyadharshini - My cousin sister,though i got close to her only four to five years back,she is the first girl whom i opened up my mind to speak out so frank.She is the one whom taught me about those frequency of girls,inspiration for making so many girls so special on my list and above all i have no reason to accept her in spite of all those indifference we have.Like here so much!!!
Dr.A.M.Natrajan -Former Principal - KEC ,a source of inspiration who fostered in me the crave to work in management genre.I usually make note of his each and every move from so silly things to the big ones,his vision,his perspectives,way of handling things,every nuance he posses is really a guiding light.He is my mentor for my career.
Jothi Akka - Our home servant , She works with us right from when i was born,I am sure i would not have grown this much without her being in our place turning all my parents prosperity into food served with care ,to be frank she knows what i m in need of better then anybody else.Without her it would not have been possible to spend so much time when my mom and dad arre not at home for long times.Inspite of changing situations indifferences, she has been there for me.
Sindhu - My first friend who is a girl in the college,my class mate,she holds a place next to my sister,She knows every single thing about me ,i have shared everything with her A to Z,we trust each other a lot,I can easily understand what she is thinking,Understood her so much,She is Very possesive about and i too a little.Times spent with her is the best of my college life.
Sowmiya - Again its my class mate ,closest friend of mine -a character who got into my life pretty late compared to the time i expected her,though i got her late she have managed to compensate all those lost moments in a four months time,she is very caring ,flexible,very particular about satissfying my expectations and not hurting me,We have shared a lot with each other, One special thing is Im her very very close friend ..its a testimony for how intimate we are in our life .
Nithya - Its my class mate again, a good friend of mine,so inspiring,caring,very sarcastic with me,has been with me all along my downtimes kindiling the spirits of good times,a good advisor,accepts people as they are and i note she is very possesive about me.She tooks so much pain to keep me always at ease inspite of whatever i do to her ,she shoulders the pain on her and says you havent done anything .Greatness Personified.
Saravanan - My favourite buddy in our class,You want an epitome for the words "In simplicity lies the real happiness" you can take him.Very flexible,adoptive and maintains very positive relationship with every body.Speaks less but sensible.Had lotz of fun with him.Learnt a lot from him and i dont wanna miss him in the days to come.
Vasudevan - I got close with him only in the third year,in most of the cases we go along with same frequency right from the thoughts we posses about each aspect to the food stuff we eat at ,but dont know why KFC..tis same DNA makes us so special.A great chap to spend time with,you can greatly enjoy his sense of humor and again speaks a lot sensible fitting to reality of life.

Kaven -Two different frequencies coming along so close is a miracle and its myself and Kaven ,we have never gone unanimous in any thought The two different frequencies,we never go along on most of the matter ,We have been so close all along these four years,we both expect a lot from each of us,the greatest asset i posses through him is their family network,he values me a lot for suggestions and trusts me to an extend,What makes him so special is he takes advantage of me a lot and in turn values me.

Ashok - My college mate,great companion during hostel days and of course now,a good advisor on relationships,adventure and reality of life.Certified for Trustworthiness.Trying out different things is his passion.Im always curious on looking out how different he tries hands on.You want me to name somebody as a Good Friend on multitude aspects i would name Ashok

Ram anna -My cousin brother indeed a very distant relative but stays close not only to my home but also to my heart.My source of inspiration to deal tough times in family issues,also shares lots of wisdom on very small noteworthy things.A great companion of me in family bounds.
Easvar - Famously known as Dhadha - Enga college nattama,Maturity personified,So humorous,Caring at times,of course my life saver-saved me from an accident,room mate right from first year,Once committed he never steps back,Lotz to say but in a word so Humane.
Pradeep -Infoscian,my room mate again from the first year,ofcourse my life saver along with easvar,Very caring at same time very sarcastic,Trustworthy,Advice u can get it here free of cost -0fcourse it would be valuable,Bit hard working,He would keep you at ease if you could understand him better.
Sasidharan -My final year room mate,he is one among very few whom im more possesive about,i enjoy his company a lot and always look forward his presence but i would fail miserably by missing those mostly.Anyway at times together he has always been a source of inspiration,had lots of fun ,both of us havent expressed our love on eachother mostly but anyhow behind althose untold words we are so intimate.
Panneer- In a single line, a tension free, very balanced -multitude personality,very flexible,a good companion round the clock but again i fail miserably in enjoying our times together at most of times.
Parnidharan-A person whom you can ask for anything from A to Z,he will atleast give you some stuff in turn,times with him r those which would be learnable in some aspect.He maintains a very well balanced relationships,good at managing things,smart at work and again an all rounder.

Tonz of thoughts in my mind..

All these days enjoying round the clock with full of those College day ,Farewell days,Ooty trekking,Moonar tours and those long lasting memories of my last days at the college.Just today i stuck up with the idea of blogging since i was pretty down.Though all these days the outsets of my mind was full of zeal with all those mind blowing friends,accolades for placement team,the opportunity to speak in the farewell,those cruises with my friends to ooty ,moonar and wat not..Now do i realise there is inner core of mind which was pricking me always for hurting my friends .. its says "you are deriving pleasure by hurting many" ...Am nt I making justification to my friendship....My heart is pricking me for not contributing to my final year project..This moment questions me whether do you deserve all these joy ,zeal,fun and frolic ...If i deserve all these it should have nurtured me to be at great heights and inturn full of greater spirits kindiling the soul in pursuit of excellence.why it pulls me down so much..making me like the only soul who doesnt deserve the real tint of happiness..Oh God ! My saviour answer me - Do I deserve a Ray of hope by filling myself with real happiness derived from not hurting others,justifying my responsibilities - If so do bless me with the Wisdom for that..Show some light upon on my life and let the light be glowing forever ,make me too shine in the days to come.I dont want you to make me shine but just give me the power , Let I make myself shine.

Twin Factors to be at Best

I read from an article that whenever something goes wrong in the mission Abdul Kalam s boss would address the press and whenever they achieve something he will ask Kalam to address the press meet its symbolic significance of taking the responsibility of failure and giving the benefit,fame of success to the persons who worked in his team.This is what Robin Sharma says Leadership is all about responsibility.At some times even friendships would be better if you could take responsibility for your friends mistake or communication gap or anything that would collapse the integrity of your friendship.Acceptance is the key to take the responsiblity on your shoulders when something goes wrong. So ready to accept and be responsible for both good and bad whether the reason for it is you or your friends .That would really help you to be at the best flying with good times....GOD BLESS....