Life of an average IT Employee - Chapter 1

Introduction:

After almost 14 short years, I never thought would be writing this, at least not this early. The reason I mentioned short years is due to the fact that memories are fresh in my mind of the day Oct 28^th, 2010. I was standing in the long queue waiting outside the Tidel Park building, Cognizant Chennai office to enter into my first job as Programmer Analyst Trainee. Time flies indeed.

My journey into the world of IT started with a simple curiosity: how do things work? I’ve always been the kind of person who loves to take things apart (sometimes literally) just to figure them out. Over time, that curiosity turned into a passion for technology—and eventually, a career.

This series of blog isn’t just a timeline of jobs or a list of achievements; it’s the story of how I stumbled, learned, and grew in the fast-paced, ever-changing world of IT. From meeting my first colleagues, tackling my first bug that made me question my life choices to celebrating the little wins (like getting a system to finally work at 2 a.m.), it’s been a wild ride so far. 

Through this journey, I’ve learned that IT isn’t just about coding or fixing systems—it’s about problem-solving, collaboration, staying curious and of course enjoying life. So, if you’re ready for a peek into my tech-filled world, let’s dive in. I promise it’s a mix of lessons, laughs, and maybe a few late-night caffeine-fueled adventures.

The Honeymoon Period:

There were almost 200+ freshers who joined on that day (Oct 28th, 2010) along with me. We were asked to submit our educational certificates for verification and briefed about the various initiatives within the organization. Basically what the company stands for, its core values, vision and mission, Though it was a boring session for me, later in my career I understood that it adds value to know where you work and to whom we work. It helps us in getting our goals aligned for a better career progression. The sessions went on till 2 or 3 PM. Once the sessions were over the bank representatives were waiting outside to create our first salary account (first-hand experience of experiencing corporate and white-collar job privileges), till date that is the only account I have. Later in the day we were all split into groups and each group had around 20 to 25 trainees. We then got our IDs created and assigned to various technology batches. I was assigned to the .NET batch - DN40 and asked to report to Siruseri, Chennai academy the next day. Back then we were provided with transportation facilities, buses were plying to and from different parts of the city to various office locations.

With all excitement I landed at Siruseri (Academy) the next day where for the very first time I met my colleagues (batch mates). We got introduced ourselves to each other and I remember one of our batch mates had a birthday too which we celebrated together on our first day at office (though it was just academy, we could call it office). We spent the first day discussing various things and trying to get to know each other better and by the end of the day we got to know that our trainings were fast tracked and we were asked to report to a vendor training center at Saidapet, Chennai for the next 45 days. That 45 days actually brought about a lot of perspective change in me and I would rate them as the best time of my life. We were all naïve, just getting out from college not knowing the responsibilities that would come our way in the future and were going with the flow. For an introvert like me, my batch mates were my get away people.

It was a small training center in middle of a residential area and I just realized that I had travelled around 120 kilometers daily and it never came to my mind till date. We were assigned a trainer, who I think was also learning .NET along with us. Not undermining his skills or potential, but I hardly remember a day where he taught us something. It was always self learning or seminars which we would take among ourselves. With each day passing in training I was intrigued by people around me, I mean my first transition was back in college meeting new friends coming from different places and different cultures. But this transition was another level. People around here were highly skilled, some specializing in technology, some pouring knowledge about world politics, some sharing insights about books which they are currently reading, some flaunting their gaming skills. I was getting overwhelmed, but never felt left out in the group. The best part in getting trained with a vendor is that there are no restrictions, our systems there were not being monitored but were connected in LAN. We sideloaded NFS and Counterstrike and started playing during breaks and free time. Getting paid for learning, playing games and have fun what else do you need.

We planned frequent outings and team lunches, one of which I remember was planned after our first salary. It was the most fun filled. One of my batch mate was convinced to pay for the whole batch as a treat before the lunch and she agreed to pay not realizing the fact that it was for 23 members including our trainer. Everyone ordered left, right and center knowing that it was treat and when it was time for the cheque, the amount was almost of her salary. Since she had already committed, she paid the full amount and we literally saw the smile (pain) in her eyes that day. Eventually we all shared the amount later. In the middle of those unforgettable days there were some days which we all feared (exam days), some clearing in the first attempt and some clearing in the last, eventually we all came out unscathed from the training and were asked to report back to Siruseri for our BU related training sessions.

And for some reason our training was delayed, all we used to do is come to office, play some team building games and go back home and this went on for two or three weeks. In the meantime, we were giving our assessments and this was our routine for quite some time and then came the time for our MFRP (My First Realtime Project). We formed groups as per our convenience and started developing the project with all our learnings and somehow convinced our evaluator to clear that as well.

At this point in time at least I did not realize that my honeymoon period is over. Our training got completed and our scores were published, then came the time for BU (Business Unit) deployment. I would say we all felt the pain of separation and felt emotional. Yes, I literally cried and broke down that day and could not accept the fact that I will not be able to come back again to the academy and be together like we used to be. Such was our bonding and some of my them are my friends even today extending to family like the quote “There are friends, there is family and then there are friends that become family”. End of the day we moved on and I was asked to report to MEPZ, Chennai for my project deployment. During the 5 months of training apart from the fun I learned few things of course, the basics of .NET. I became the topper in ASP.NET assessment of the whole October 2010 intake. I still did not know how to code at this point in time which I learned the hard way later. One more thing I realized was almost everyone in my batch had the habit of reading books and their perspective of looking at the same thing is different than mine. Knowing about different worlds / culture actually helps. Drawing an inspiration I read my first book “How I Braved Anu Aunty and Co-Founded a Million Dollar Company”. Though I could not make reading a habit, I strongly believe reading books can change your thought process and gives you clarity in your thoughts. If at all you get a chance and find time start reading and see the difference. As I write this, I have bought a book for myself and hopefully begin afresh this new year.

Here is a glimpse of what we went through:

Our first day at Siruseri office

My partners in crime

Look at the monitor

Last day of our training at Siruseri

Our training center at Saidapet (CMC)

Not knowing what to do

The treat bill

With this I end my first chapter here, more to come. If you want to share your training journey / the initial days of your job pour it out in the comments section. And stay tuned for the next chapter...