I have progressed

Two Thursdays back, a few days short of completing the first month of my fifth year with my current employer, I received, for the first time, a letter that indicated that I have been moved to the next role. And to make things clearer, the movement is to the next higher role and not in the other direction.

While the reader may think that this is something great and worthy of some kind of celebration, truth be told, this is the first time in my career that upon receiving such a communication, I had a level of composure that even a Zen practitioner would have envied, if a Zen practitioner could indeed envy.

In theory, I could have gotten this change in 2007, but at the time of consideration of role change, it was just my first year in the organization. When the time came in 2008, I felt that I wasn’t given the change as a penalty for everything that transpired in the middle of 2007 – I have chronicled the sufferings in these posts between June and October of 2007. And in 2009, I was deemed to have improved drastically, but since I hadn’t passed a set of internal certifications, I wasn’t eligible to get this change.

But this time around, I was eligible on all parameters and more importantly, was still deemed to be good enough to get the change. And with the support of my current bosses, I did get it this time.

In my opinion, I work the same way that I worked 3 years back. The real big difference from then on has been the internal customers for my project, who have been a thoroughly professional lot and have been extremely co-operative. There have been instances where I have slipped up, but instead of focusing their energy in just blaming me, they have gone around and helped me get back on track. That was not the case 3 years ago, when a similar group was only intent on associating the project’s risk squarely on me.

And I have also been very fortunate to get a pretty cooperative team and more importantly, I had a couple of outstanding folks working at my client’s office. Were it not for these guys, I don't think I would have progressed this time either.

So what have I become now? To quote a comment I made in Facebook, I have now become a Senior Vetti Officer from being a regular Vetti Officer. And Vetti Officer = Project Manager.

Based on the current organizational structure in my company, I won’t be eligible to be promoted for another 3 years at the minimum. This structure was revamped late last year and hence, quite a few people who were in higher levels are now at the same level that I am in. So, I will have a pretty tough competition 3 years later, when the already senior crowd would obviously be more favored to move on. Let’s wait and see what happens in the future!

A brief history of the events in my life in the last 3-4 weeks

* Picked up a neck sprain in the first week of October. Self-medication with pain relieving gels and ointments didn't work. An Ortho' prescribed tablets, but to no avail. Registered 5 days of leave in October alone. Second opinion took me to a scan centre for an MRI. After the wallet became thinner by Rs.5,500 an obvious fact was documented - I am fat! Doing some basic stretch exercise which have definitely alleviated the pain. I am better.
Root cause - posture while operating the computer and while traveling.

* MRI scan is a 15 minute torture on the ears. The noise that the machine makes is very loud and quite irritating. And while I was inside the chute, I somehow felt nervous.

* Have been going more often to the office closer home to avoid the long distance commute.

* Had a rather quiet birthday. Some friends and team-members did organise a cake-cutting event in the evening and I had a tough time convincing them to stick to my principles of not wasting cake by smearing it on the face.

* Celebrated a very quiet Deepavali, though the officials seemed to hold a different opinion. Either I became deaf or my town has been moved out of Chennai!

* Seeing many resignations in the company at all levels. 2 in my team have quite in Sep-Oct. I have a feeling that a couple of more are due.

* I cleared all the exams mandated at work for a promotion and have been given strong indications that there are no slots for my band of employees! If it is available, I am not eligible. If I am eligible, it is not available!

* Learnt that murungaikkai is used in an oorugaai.

* Attended an awesome spectacle called Annaabhishekham at the Ratnagirishwarar temple near home. Refer pictures here.





* The rainy season finally started in Chennai last week. Pretty heavy rain. Saturday was non-stop. Memories of last year, when we witnessed a similar incessant downpour, came up.

* Nothing else of any significance. Hope to resume blogging with earlier frequency at the earliest. Have been staying away just to avoid spending long hours in front of the computer.

ஆத்தா நான் pass ஆயிட்டேன்

That was the name of a movie that was released many years ago. It was one of those village themed ones that were quite popular and almost mandated by every movie producer in the late 80s.

The phrase has been used exceedingly by students over the years, when they return home after seeing their exam results in school or college. And I have used it many times myself, the last occasion being this evening.

As I may have ranted in these earlier posts of mine, my employer warrants that all employees must take up a few certification exams every year, failing which their promotions and increments are impacted. I cleared only 1 out of the 2 mandated for last year and I had to clear 2 this year.

I had already given a few attempts at one of these certifications, but the result was always the same - Failed. It didn't help that the pass percentage was set as 70% whereas in my student life, I managed to cross that number only in my practical exams.

Anyways, this morning, I took up one of the certifications for this year. This was relatively an easy one considering that it involved a lot of banking knowledge. Any person who has been following the recent economic crisis would be able to quickly relate to mortgages, second liens etc. And that was basically the syllabus for the exam I took up today.

And the best thing was that I actually studied the material for this exam on Sunday evening. I resisted the urge to watch movies and surf the net and instead, studied for this exam. Even this morning while driving to work, I asked my friend to question me on some of the topics from the material!

I said many a prayer before I left home and my mother also did her exam ritual of applying viboothi on my forehead. At the exam centre at work, I logged into the system and before clicking the confirm button to take the test, I said another round of prayers.

I started answering the questions and found that the paper was relatively easy. There were 60 questions in all and I could say that I was unsure of at least 8 questions. And since I am bound to make mistakes due to my tendency to read fast, I must have screwed up another 4-5 more.

I submitted the paper and once again prayed for a good result and Voila!!! The screen said that I had score 72%. The sick sadist who designed this online exam system has tried to play a neutral tone and the result never announces whether one has passed or not. It only shows the score you obtained.

I came out and checked with my friends who all unanimously said that 70% was the pass-mark. One person even said that it was 65%. In any case, it was clear that I had passed this exam.

When I came home and announced to my mother "ஆத்தா நான் pass ஆயிட்டேன்", she was quite ecstatic. I don't think she was this happy even when I cleared a career altering certification in my previous employment. She was quite eager that I pass this one and has been saying her share of prayers. Guess all that worked in my favor today.

In terms of illogical reasons of why I passed, I can also include the fact that the material that I studied from was originally printed by a friend of mine and it was then passed on to me by another friend. Both these people clear their exams quite effortlessly and I guess their luck rubbed on to me a little.

Any which way, I am one happy man considering that one of my 3 exams are done. The next lot is on the 16th and I am actually going to be writing 2 in a single day. God bless me!

I have an exam tomorrow

In my company, there is a policy that if one does indeed desire to see hikes in pay, changes in roles etc., then one must take up certain certification examinations in a year. These are typically in the area of technology and domain. These certifications are either external or internal depending on individual choice. But since I belong to a horizontal unit in the organization, we also have to do a certification in the process area. My exam tomorrow is on the process or practice area.

Of course, unlike any Olympian spirit of participation, one actually has to pass these exams to be eligible for hike and promotion.

I have my first tomorrow. And up until this point in time, I completely forgot about it. Some spike in the neural circuit upstairs has now made me remember it. Damn....

So, if I do any mall hopping today, it will have to be with a li'l guilt conscience.

The material I have to go through is a 50 page PPT. It should be enough to keep me occupied during my odyssey to office tomorrow morning. I will probably skim thru it sometime today before I go to sleep.

What will be the outcome if I fail the exam tomorrow? Nothing really. Probably, I will reduce the passing percentage of people who take up that exam. But thats anyway my target for the exam on technology.

We are given time to take up re-exams. So, even I fail (which I am almost sure I will), there is some more time to finish it off. The only problem with not clearing is that I will be stuck in this same role with the same pay for another year.

But, if I look at the bright side, maybe this studying habit will help me kick-start the long-distance MBA course that I signed up for a couple of years ago. The one where I have received some 4 packages of books and have opened the first one and taken out only one book from that!!!