Today is September 16th.. and I have been here, at IBM for an year and 5days now.. Hmmm.. How does it feel? Well, great!!! Am no more an ELTP (Freshers recruited into IBM are called ELTPs until we finish our first year), am an IT professional, with one of the world's greatest companies...
Let me take a ride along the tunnels of my memory, of how my year here was..Everything started the moment I touched my plastered feet at Majestic Railway Station, cut the plaster the very next day, and took a rick(started with Auto rides on the very first day!!) to go to Grand Ashoka, for my Induction Programme.. Little did I know then that the people I am about to meet there are gonna be my buddies, little did I know then what IBM had in store for me.. And when I walked back that day, I didnt know what awaited me here...
We were put into batches and the trainings started, in Software Testing. And to be honest, was feeling a little aloof that I was put into testing :( . But then, those trainings were as good as college days. And when I say as good as college, you can definitely imagine the kind of fun we had. And after the training, just when we thought that all fun is over, we entered a phase of life called 'Bench-Life', inevitable for all budding software engineers. The old IBM towers at Airport Road, became a second home to us, with all of us looking forward to those long walks everyday to have lunch at various restaurants. Vicky, Swetha, Swathi, Sriram, Vinai, Rahul.. all of us had a grt time then.. After that came FTP days with GT closing down. Well... Hamara ek dushman tha vahan, naam hein Dush, Dushyanth!!! He started taking attendance and made us take that looong trip to FTP everyday.. We thought that the worse will be over once we enter projects, but then, came another vampire, in the form of RCM exams. We witnessed many colleagues moving out of the company. And all of us went different ways too, to different projects, different offices, different locations and so on... And my life took twisted turns too, like moving from Testing to Java, and then to C++. But we had this ray of good hope, MS program, where we get to meet all our dear friends. Only thing is that you need to bear with the professors.. But then, thats ok.. ;)
And once we got to work, we all learnt what professional life is all about. There are days, when all you do is check the mails and listen to music, and there are those days, when you dont know what day it is, what time it is or how many days has it been since you came to office. But the best part is that there are always people around you, to help you, to support you and to say encouraging words. You would never know yourself maturing into a young professional...
There are status calls, meetings, lunch-outs (Yummeee), n cafe lunches (Well, I just hate that :( )... There are smiles around me, and fights too. There is innovation n there are mistakes too. There are friends and Managers too ;)
And its not just your professional life that improves too.. Personally, one becomes a much better person than what one was when he/she started out. I have now learnt to put up with my friends, one who puts looooots of salt in whatever she cooks, another who puts looots of chillies, and another who likes to have everything around her clean. I have learnt the A,B,C,D of cooking (and when I say this, I mean it, I do not know E,F,G..,Z !!) , I can now travel long distances alone, I now have a confidence on myself, I am independent, I have made a few friends whom I know will be with me forever, and so on...
And going back to my professional life, am now with AT&T.. Ahead Today & Tomorrow, is what the T-Shirts around me say, and let me see where I go...
(To be contd. like a mega-serial !!!)
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