Why did I leave Infosys?

Well, for those who didn't knew, I left Infosys on April 6th,2010 and now I am working as a lecturer in Computer Science Dept. Viswajyothi College of Engineering & Technology (VJCET), Vazhakulam. And very few of my friends know the reasons why I decided to leave Infy. I am deluged with the question "Why you left Infy" everyday, and so I thought I will blog about it.

I left Infy for a variety of reasons. I cant arrange them in any order of priority so here are some of them in no particular order at all.

I didn't find the work in a software services company to be that challenging. Yes, I had to sit late to finish off works sometimes, but the job was not a challenging one. I am reasonably good with 2 web development platforms, JEE and .NET , but the last project I worked didn't require neither. (Don't ask me what skill was required for that!!). And getting reassigned to a project of my choice is elusive in Infosys. Our senior delivery manager and head of Mangalore Infosys, almost, I repeat, almost had me convinced to repeal my decision, but finally I decided to go ahead with my decision. This guy is the person whom I respect the most in Infosys :)

Another reason is my longing to get a masters degree. There was lot of confusion whether MBA or MS, whether to do masters from India or abroad, but finally I made up my mind to do MS. I have so many dreams to fulfill and I found that my job was not helping me to achieve my goals. Yes, Infy did give me plenty of exposure, but I need more. A masters degree from abroad should help me get to my goals faster.

Now you might ask why did I join as a lecturer? Main reason is I have a passion for teaching. I have earlier made 2 unsuccessful attempts to become an educator(One at MACE,my alma mater, and one at Infosys; not many know about this!) VJCET was the best choice for me for a number of reasons and without much effort, I got an offer from the college. (I had given my 'unofficial' resignation letter to Infy much before I got vjcet offer) Now the answer to the question"if you like teaching, why you talk about leaving the teaching job after a year or so?": Yes I love teaching and I am really passionate about it. But I don't want to miss industry action by being tied down to a college. Working in industry will give me lot of hands on experience which I can pass on to my students. So I will definitely take break from teaching career to do my masters degree as well as to gain Industry exposure.

Now the reason I put in my official resignation letter is "....I have decided to discontinue my career with Infosys to pursue my ambition of becoming an economist ....". Surprised ? Yes, thats true. My long term dream is to become an economist and an entrepreneur. This should explain some of my 'tweets' related to economics and finance.

I can add some more points to this list, but those are negligible. But the following two definitely have no place in the list!
-that I got fired since I couldn't clear training. (FYI, my training GPAs were 5,4.86,5 )
-that I have a girl friend in viswajyothi.

And about my new job as lecturer, keep reading my blogs...

Thanks,
Cijo

Onam @ Mangalore Infosys

There are some events in life which we never forget.. Onam celebs @ Mangalore infosys (Nethra) was one such event in my life. Celebrations like what we had here was totally unimaginable for anyone whose college life is over.. It really brought memories of college life... Onam celebs lasted for more than a week here... There were games like 'biscuit kadi','music chair'... etc which is not there nowadays even in many kerala villages! Chingari melam and 'thullal' along with that really reminded me of our college.... There were 3 pookkalams.. and all mallus were working hard @ night to set this things up.. There was a cultural day, where we had onam dances, ganamela and all fun events..... and to add to it all, the Grand Onam Feast! With 2 types payasam, parippu with neyyu....! These Onam days were unforgettable. In between all the 'meetings' and 'nullpointer exceptions' these really lift our mood. Must appreciate the spirit of mangalore infosys mallus, for making the onam so wonderful.... If someone visited our office during these days, nobody is gonna believe that its a bunch of software engineers who did all these works here.... I never felt like an engineer those days!! Vella mundum madakki uduthu, thalayil oru thorthum chutti, sadhyakku sambarum payasavum vilambunna engineers, project managers, architects.... Thats Mangalore Infosys.....MINFY.... No other office nowhere can provide such a fun filled celebration other than MINFY...... (we just celebratd 14th b'day of MINFY.....) "Money" is not the only thing which we get from Infy!!!!

Mangalore Life Begins..........

After Mysore, its Mangalore -(a.k.a Mangalapuram ) now. Yea... I successfully finished my Infosys training which lasted for around 7 months, and got posted to Mangalore. I am no more a trainee, but a fully trained Software Engineer of Infosys!

Mangalore is pretty much like kerala. Just 15km from mangalore is kerala border and Kasargode is just 40km .

Infosys has 2 DC(Development Centre) in Mangalore. 1 in proper city and other one where I got posted , around 25 Km from main city.

My DC is called "Nethra" after the Nethravathi River which we daily see on our way to and back from office! Environment in Nethra is pretty much different from Mysore. The DC is small, just 1200 folks working here. Sometimes I feel like sitting in a mini hill station. The place is so beautiful and on a rainy day, we never feel like working..(sunny days are no different ;))
Watching the rain from our food court is best thing one can do here!

Lot of things have changed since I reached Manglore. Until now, I had in-campus accommodation. Now I am staying with 5 of my friends in a rented house. Its much different from the solitary cell in Mysore.. It had AC,LCD TV.... but it lacked something else.. I dont know what it is, but it definitely lacked something!!

Its not just the climate around me which changed! I myself changed a lot! Back in Mysore , I was only interested in my technical training, and nothing else..not even the 'beauties' of mysore!
But now I am actively looking for beauties :D


This is just the beginning of new life here... Still not allocated to any project.. So mostly enjoying a free worry less life... Things might change once projects start.

Everyday routine is : wakeup @ 5.30-6 , Watch Movie in lap/Reading... Leave to office by 7.45.. browsing internet/check mails till 9 am.. then brkfast from company food court.. Sight seeing(:D), chats with colleagues, back to cubicle checking mails... or doing something in.net/java!! a looong lunch break, then by 6 we leave the office. Back home, its mostly some movie watching..

and eagerly waiting for that project call!!!

...

To be Continued!

(Cijo)

MainFrame life .......

Its been almost 3 months since i joined Infosys.
My generic training was a big success. Got around 96%.. CGPA of 5 out of 5 :)
Then started the so called Stream training..My stream was MainFrames... :)

Before I was least interested in Mainframes as I heard its something 30 years old.. But I started liking it once I learned the importance of Mainframes. for industry....
MainFrames training was not as easy as generic. Things which I've never heard of before..
Unlike in java,.net etc... in MF we have to write a program to make another program run!! We have studies how to write batch processing programs in mainframes using cobol, then studies how to make those programs interactive,....and then studies how to change backend to DB from files........ Learned a lot of stuffs... Totally new as far as I'm, concerned!

Most days I will be in GEC (Global Education Centre) till midnight or some days even till 4am. :) I find it difficult to balance personal life with my work.. :) I am not tensed anyway.. But even if somebody says 'u look tensed'... then i say 'i enjoy this tension'...

Somebody must be tensed always to make others tension-free!

There was no shortage of bad news during this time.. including lay-offs news .
Big boy Microsoft laying off 5000...Caterpillar laying off..Boeing....
Capital One making billion dollar loss in 1 quarter (infy client)...
RBS expecting multibillion dollar losses.....


and the most shocking Satyam issue....
Infy,Tcs etc produced decent set of numbers , but still lowered guidance marginally.....
Economic Crisis was deepening... India GDP numbers and interim budget disappointed India Inc.


But as always. ' see opportunity in every crisis'...
These bad news shouldn't have any -ve effect.

Happened to read 2 inspiring books..
India 2020 by Dr.APJ Abdul Kalam.
and the most inspiring one 'Jack Welch and the GE way' . where I learned how Jack Welch, the legendary CEO of General Electric., transformed GE with his breakthrough ideas like 'less managing..more leading...' , 'inside out'..etc


Had managed to get A grade in all modules, but I might just miss the A grade in comprehensive exam, thanks to the 'extra' tough practical exam and some poor time management from my side.

It was my great dream to finish Infy training with 5CGPA..But i might end up getting 4.9 or so. :( :(

The 1st month….

The 1^st month….

Its been more than a month since I’ve joined Infy. As blogger is blocked in infy, I grew lazy about blogging! Still, after my 1 month of stay in infy, I am tempted to write this blog!!

We (4 other friends of me) reached early morning in Infy campus on nov 9^th. After thorough security checks, we were taken to hostel rooms in infy golf cars (electric cars). I think I should describe the hostel rooms in atleast one paragraph !

Rooms are air conditioned, with attached bathrooms 24*7 supply of hot water and fully furnished with coat,chairs,tables,password operated safe locker, blankets, kettle and an iron box!. Coffee,tea could be made anytime inside room. Room is lavishly lightened with 2 big lights and 2 table lamps.

This is all about the hostel rooms. And I think I should dedicate at least 3 paragraphs to describe the other facilities here!! The multiplex was the first attraction, with its ball like structure in glass. Movies are screened only on weekends. The sound and picture quality are simply the best in here! Other attractions include, swimming pools, bowling alley, snookers, table tennis, courts for all sort of outdoor games like cricket,basketball, tennis!! (many Indian cricketers come to practice in infy cricket grounds!)

The next is the Global education centre a.k.a GEC. GEC 1 is where my class is, and GEC-2 is being built (almost finished I guess). The front view of GEC resembles roman architecture and from one side it looks like Colosseum.! The software development buildings are of different styles, one in paper-fold style, one like a U.S Senate. Internet is available except during classhours, but no access to public mail (g mail etc), orkut, and youtube!!

The entire campus and facilities made me feel like a king!!

A small note on our food courts: We have around 5 main food courts in here catered by various caterers. Dominos Pizza, Caffe Coffe Day, Coffe Day Express, Amul,….etc are also here. Food quality is just average only, though its pretty cheap.(around 30rs for non-veg meal, 12rs for fresh juices….etc)

1^st week was purely induction and presentation by various departments. 2^nd week onwards real traning started. 7 modules are there in generic traning which every trainee has to undergo., after which a stream specific training is there which could be anything from .net,java,open systems or mainframes or Finacle. I was expecting 5-10 year experienced people as educators, but most educators here are hardly 1 year experienced!! Nevertheless, the sessions were far informative than a normal engineering college lecture.

Classes are there from 9-12 forenoon. After noon from 2’0 clock, we have to do the assignments based on that days topic. And exams were quite easy for me though many have flunked in it! ( 65% is the pass cut-off )

One thing which we never run out of in here is rumors!!” Infy is making exams tougher to fire trainees, cut-of for pass is made to 75%, no retests”….. etc etc..it keeps on coming!!

The most important day so far here was the day when our chief mentor and co-founder NRN came to address us. His speech was marvelous. It was equally inspiring and disappointing! Disappointing in the sense that, I came to know from the chief mentor himself that, 75% of total trainees are classified as poor performers and they don’t want poor performers in production! Also he spoke a bit about the global recession and regarding most clients’ decision to cut down their IT outsourcing partners to 1or 2 from the current 4-5. NRN then boosted us up, by telling that the top level management is seeing this downturn as an opportunity to learn, and he gave an overall idea on how infy is positioned itself to fight global recession. I was really wondered when I learned that the facilities we get in here are better than those enjoyed by students in MIT,Wharton business school, Uni. Of Tokyo etc.

He also spoke about the hard works he and his team has to endure in the beginning and he also urged us to work smart and be focused.

Though its more than a month since I reached here, I am yet to see many of the facilities in here! I think the remaining 3-4 months will be more exciting, with stream traning and compre-exams. I heard like hardly 50% clear the stream tests and only 5% have cleared certain modules! Well, not only us, the whole world knows the toughness of infy training, and thats exactly why Infoscions are recognized and respected worldwide!

My path to Infosys.......

This being my first entry in this 'My Infosys Life' blog, I thought of writing about my way to Infosys..

From my 1st year onwards, Infosys was a dream company for me. After missing so many campus and off campus placements in the beggining, I finally got I-gate and Wipro bfore getting into Infy. I had cleared aptitude test of Subex also bfore getting into infy and finally i got also placed in Subex! Most 'techies' adviced me to go ahead with subex, but I had different plans in my mind!!

There was this guy Tarun, my best friend with me in all my plans! 1st we planned for MBA, as we both had a great deal of interest in management side. Our plans were to go abroad for MBA and we visited virtually every educational consultant in cochin. After reviewing 100s of options , we finally fixed Uni. of Stirling,Scotland for our dream programme! 

But we didnt stop our searching for alternate higher study options. and we actually found out that, it is difficult to find a decent job in UK after an MBA. After visiting more consultants and seeking 'expert' advice, we found james cook univeristy, singapore campus for MBA!! 

Again, my search continued and finally I came to learn that, James Cook MBA graduates are finding it hard to get good placement!! :( :(

Then came the idea of going to Uni. of Wollongong in Dubai for masters in engg.. management. The classes were taken from 6-10 pm and we could do full time job along with work. This seemed to be a great idea.! And with the intention of finding a job in dubai even before the course commences in december, we both went to dubai on july end!! We looked for suitable jobs in Dubai for around a month with no sucess/partial sucess. I had to come back for personal reasons.(brothers marriage etc) and then the search for alternate options continued......

It didnt take much time before I found interesting options in Australia to do masters in Computer Science. Unlike MBA, I could get admission in most top universities there.  Didnt wait this time, applied to 6 among top 10 universities in australia! And got admission as well in most!!

There was lot of happenings around the globe during this time. The financial crisis caught the whole globe following sub-prime crisis in USA.... Stock markets were falling..... people are being fired in numbers from most companies...... things were very bad outside.... India which at first seemed isolated from this global trouble, also felt the heat. GDP targets were revised downwards.... Sensex went below 10,000 and all sort of rumours started spreading....

One day, I was travelling on bus to ernakulam. All that was in my mind was regarding the australian education I was going to have soon...... But I was still worried about leaving my parents and friends.... and many other things.. Suddenly i was struck with the thought that... "I always did good in competitive exams like entrance test, aptitudes,placement tests etc.. and why haven't i tried GRE or GMAT??? I came home and searched a lot regarding GRE and GMAT.. Consulted a lot with my brother... some other people online.. etc......

                                        and.. i dont remember the exact time.. but i finally decided to go with Infosys for some time to learn about the business and then write gre/gmat for an MS or MBA. This time, i was  influenced by nobody except by some photos of my friend working in another IT company, wearing formals with tie... I finally decided to join Infosys itself considering the fact that, experience is the best thing to have in a time when  economic is crisis going on!

Next day while i was on bus my way back to home, i got an sms from a friend. "Infy anounced DOJ for us! nov 10"..

!! I couldnt believe it!! I came home, saw the call letter with my own eyes...and i was really excited!

And now its only few more days bfore i join Infosys, Mysore for the training...... I am best utilizing my time with .net,java, gmat preparations...ect........

Cijo Thomas