So many emotions. Many things which cannot be put into words, all those things came to a kind and happy conclusion this day when I said my final goodbye to my first employer, Cognizant Technology Solutions.
I was and will be forever grateful to CTS because of all the wonderful things it helped me learn and grow. Because of CTS, I am the kind of Data Professional that I am today and I cannot thank CTS enough for this.
So, before getting started with this day. I would like to quickly discuss my CTS interview.
For those who know my undergraduate institute, it is one of the autonomous institutes in the state of Maharashtra, India. The name of the institute is SGGSIET, you can check their website here. So, I think, Cognizant and SGGS had a corporate-academic relationship so strong that Cognizant let the top 10 students (based on their CGPA) of every branch give interviews without appearing for the aptitude test. This worked in my favor because I was not that good at aptitude and thought preparing for an interview was an easier task in comparison.
Anyway, at the risk of sounding a brag, I was one of the top 10 students from my branch Computer Science and Engineering. I was fortunate enough to appear for the interview directly and was super happy about it.
The day of the interview came and the candidates going before me had a “different” experience than the previous year’s students, our seniors. I think, 2013 was the year, all the service companies were refocusing their data efforts and therefore, all the questions that were being asked were data related questions. I was happy with that because Databases have been one of my favorite subjects and strong areas during my engineering.
The interview started well. I introduced myself and the question came about my favorite subject, to which I replied “Database”. I think the moment the interviewer heard it, he was happy too, so he started asking all the questions about databases. But, the one question because of which I landed the job, I think, was the difference between a view and the table. As soon as I answered that question, the interviewer told me that the interview is over and asked me if I had any questions. I knew at that moment that I got the job and was overjoyed, but never showed my emotions as the interview was still going on.
Anyway, I think I just relieved that moment, getting distracted here.
Getting back to the subject of this blog post, this day started pretty well. I was just happy to get paid more for the “same amount of work” that I was going to do. Many of my friends reached out stating don’t leave the big company and go to the startup. I would be kidding if I said I was not worried, off course I was worried, but it was a much needed step for bigger things in my life.
Many of my friends didn’t know back then that I have already secured my admission in one the US universities and I wanted to earn some more money before I head off to the US. If it meant working more, I was ready for that to earn and save more money so that I can see myself through the US education without any hurdle and as less as possible my parents’ money.
As you can see below, I was being myself, clicking as many selfies as I can to capture this day. The title picture that you see at the start of this post was the cube where I was sitting when I was part of the EIM group working on Big Data projects.
The most amazing person that I still miss today is my then boss Mr. Amit Singh. I have never seen such an amazing person in my life, who knows how to make an impression with his witty remarks. Thank you for everything, Amit (as it is Cognizant’s culture not to address anyone with salutations).
I have had made so many friends and memories while doing this job. Gosh, I am missing everyone right now.
I made so many close friends here. My training batch, my then girlfriend who was a real special person to me, and my project team. I miss you guys all and pray that you are safe and healthy wherever you are.
In the below picture you can see a few of them. To name then, we’ll start from the left to right. Satheesha, Leema, Chaithra, Neha, Prabhakar, and finally Amrita. I couldn’t click picture with many others, but surely I missed everyone that I interacted with. You can see me smiling, which is my usual nature.
As Michael Scott would say – I LIKE TO SMILE, SUE ME. YOU KNOW WHAT, DON’T SUE ME, THAT’S THE OPPOSITE OF THE POINT THAT I WANT TO MAKE!
Gosh, I should watch THE OFFICE sometimes!
Getting distracted again. Here is the people that I spent most of time with during my last few days at Cognizant. We were part of the project supporting our then client. We used to have so much fun during the project time and we were/are still in touch after many years. I learnt a lot, I helped a lot, and most importantly I made a lot of human connections, which is very important in your life.
So, here we are! Setting the clock one more time and busy with our own lives.
Hope everyone is taking care of themselves and doing the best that they can to keep yourselves and others safe during these tumultuous times. If you are reading this from the future, then I am talking about COVID19.
stochasticity 