My learning in the first 6 months...of an IT Career !!!

I wouldn't say..this post covers all my learning....But yeah these 6 months...did help me get rid of all my myths regarding a high profile career in management...:::

Here's what I observed..::

The life of a middle level manager..(Anybody under the ProDuct manager ie "the man who directly and finally is responsible for delivering the product to the customer" is my definition a product manager) :::

* Its a slaves job....with a kings salary..
* U are pressurized from the higher ups n u have to shield the ppl working underneath.
* You work never gets over in the stipulated time and u are always over worked...
* You invariably have to carry work home ... in return for the stars you carry on your shoulder (the funky official cell phone and the latest lap top)
* You are never allowed to relax n take a deep breath... Until the project is relasesd
* When the project is released n you finally peek out for the one month (short) vacation...You get an emergency call ... saying the product has one bug in the alpha version n if u aren't there...this will move on to the beta version...And that amounts to XXX Crores loss..!!! WOW!!! "
* And thats when pressure builds from close to ur heart...Your wife screams.."Why don't you just throw that god forsaken cell phone in the bin when you go for a vacation... Make a choice on what you want on your lap- the laptop/me (Oh yeah...your wife better watch her weight before making such statements)!!! PJ...
* Now can you imagine a nice central focus point, and three stings pulling you from each direction......n being a cool n level headed man...You still smile n say "Hey my life is under full control.." n try to catch that precious 4 hour nap..n start off with another new project, n another deadline......!!!

And...the viscious cycle continues...

Phew....Kya zindagi hai :)) !!!!

The story of the missing 'H'

To start off...I've lived up to the name of my blog the last few months...Total lack of coherence. Was caught up with some feline instincts, but later realised that cats have a problem with me...A strong repulsion...:(

Neways, let me start off with this post. Now a days, I've pretty much got used to seeing my name as Deepti, probably thats how my parents should have christened me..but alas, being a typical South Indian (May I emphasize Mallu), they choose DeeptHi instead.

Guess this issue never cropped up all these days coz', people never had to refer to my name in written conversations, except for friends, who would jolly well opt for one of my many nick names...Jo, Anjala, Deeps, Deepu. But when I joined Motorola, the official conversations, the formalities, the forms, the team mails, the Americans, the Chinese,...all started 'mattering' to me. And there started began 'the story of the missing 'H'' !!!!

The very first day at job, even before induction, my manager spelt my name as Deepti. After all amidst all those official formalities, I could not correct him. After all how does an 'H' matter? Big deal !!! Thankfully I got to fill all the forms myself and I could retain "my H" in the required fields. I thought probably the next time ppl use my name, they would look at the email ID and learn/realise and correct themselves. But alas..!!! That remained a mere WISH!!!

After about 3 months, we had to fill out the details in our appraisal sheet. My manager filed in some good comments (after all how much can you comment about an employee who has worked for 2.5 months of which one full month was spent in induction trainings). But again finally in the comment, he used Deepti....This time I wanted it corrected. Motorola has very clear and transparent appraisal policies and my manger very magnanimously messaged each of the 30+ employees reporting to him and asked us if we had an issue. I gathered courage and told him "I have one issue...My name is DeeptHi and not Deepti"...He immediately apologised and made amends. WOW!!! I thought my troubles are over...but then...NO!!! The next day my mail box had the same ERROR and I could do nothing about it..!!!

The other day (5 months down the line) I happened to have loads of work, and was sitting at my Mangers desk attending a conference call. Amidst all the official hulla-bulla, I noticed that in the Instant messanger my name again gathered back at me with a wink and a sly smile...saying.."No H...no H..!!!"...Phew!! Ego issues...(Name has a lot to do with ego, u see)!!! I very politely told my manager, "P#$%^#, I have a small issue, you have misspelt my name"..!!! A very jovial person that he is, he smiled and spelt it right for the rest of the conversation!!! Mind you...the correction lasts, only till the end of 'one' conversation..!!! I really dunno why!!!

All this was okay...After all managers are busy people, thay can't keep track of etymological hassles, but the problem deteriorated, when the habit (what spreads over a period of 6 months and more is called a 'habit') started spreading to my team mates. Now most of my team mates refer to me as Deepti.....Infact even those who earlier cared to spell right have gone astray !!!

And you might wonder what inspired me to break my silence and blog...My roommate..(Yes a person who can afford to spend time and spell my name right)..Also referred to me as Deepti..!!! Did somebody very correctly say..."It all lies in a NAME"..!!! :)

Moto Annual Day

Venue : Taramati Baradari
Simply Fabulous :)

After a two year span..Motorola decided to celebrate its Annual day in a big way...And the venue couldn't have been any better.