My journey

Today, as I sit here, I am amazed at the twists and turns my life has taken. My journey has been really interesting so far. I used to be a lazy, happy-go-lucky girl but now things have suddenly changed. Of late, I have been really busy - you wouldn’t believe, I don’t even have time to surf the T.V. channels back home.

In my growing up years, I didn’t take my existence seriously. In fact, my life was devoid of any particular objective. I still remember an incident when someone asked me what I wanted to become when I grew up. And I sat there with my mouth wide open, totally confused and embarrassed. After pondering for a while, I stumbled on an answer - I want to become a 'Doctor'. This was partly because of my interest in Biology. So, that’s the way things were. So, in the course of the next few years, I did a whole lot of things to achieve my long-cherished dream; took all kinds of medical entrance exams and even went to the extent of changing my signature. But, did this happy dream ever materialise? No.

I failed miserably. But, I wasn’t disappointed. I didn’t cry my heart out. I didn’t go around blaming the world for the nasty situation. I just enrolled for the BSc Zoology course in a college nearby, in the hope that I can attempt the medical entrance exam a second time.

However, once again, I found myself in troubled waters. My family insisted that I take up Maths or physics for BSc, or Computer Science and as it often happens, I had to give in to the pressure.

Thus I joined for BSc Computer Science in the College of Applied Sciences, Mavelikkara.

We had a mini and a main project for BSC. While doing mini project in the second last semester, we were in a group of 4 and we had no idea about the project. After a long search we gone to a software firm and discussed about our requirements, topics etc with them. But they didn't allow us to do that project our way and they refused to give the full documentation of the project.

So then, I decided to do it all by myself. So for my main project, all of us decided to do it ourselves. It was a good experience and that’s when I realized that even I could guide someone for their project!

After BSC, I did MSc in Computer Science in the same college.

After a series of interviews, I finally made it to Amaariz Technologies as a 'Software Trainee'. Amaariz opened up a world of experiences for me. There I got the wonderful opportunity to guide an MSc student from Uganda, who was studying in Pathanamthitta. I was assigned the task of imparting training and documentation in core Java to him. Although it was a bit on the tougher side, It was a fascinating experience for me. After completing one year in Amaariz, I accompanied my brother-in-law on a two month visa to 'Dubai'.

The golden days...

The trip to Dubai is one that I would cherish throughout my life. Those were golden days.

My visits to Jumeirah Park, beach, Creek, Dubai Mall, Burj Khalifa, Dubai Aquarium, Global Village, Dubai Museum, near streets and buildings of Burjuman station left me completely awestruck. Our apartment was adjacent to Burjuman station and opposite to British Embassy. The wall around the Embassy is fitted with a 24-hour surveillance camera. Needless to say, wherever you go, you can find street cameras in Dubai.

The nightlife in Dubai, with the glittering streetlights, is just awesome. Travelling by metro in Dubai is yet another wonderful experience. Cleanliness, hygiene, and discipline is something that we need to learn from Dubai’s people as well as its infrastructure.

Meanwhile, my job search took a new turn. I had to a conference in 'Gulf Jobseekers', an employment consultancy near our apartment. You can search for a job in Dubai in three ways; through walkin interviews which we can find in newspapers and job portals, directly attend the interviews if we get call letters or drop your resumes directly in organizations where there are vacancies for your job profile. I feel that the first option is the best for visitors as others may take time. But, I opted for all the three ways.

I dropped my resume wherever I could including the Internet City, Knowledge Village, Emaar Square and Dubai Marina. All these buildings were really massive and my guides were the security personnel (while some were Keralites, others were Indians or Filipinos) in these buildings. And what’s more, I got the wonderful opportunity to visit the offices of some of the largest companies in the world such as Oracle, Microsoft, IBM, Blackberry, Prestige, Gulf Co, Cisco and MC2.

I was mesmerized by the 2020 Expo celebrations in Burj Khalifa, the tallest man-made structure in the world. Moreover, It was the first time I found myself in a multicultural environment - a confluence of people from different countries and cultures on a common platform. And I really loved it.

Back to Kerala…

After a month or so, I joined Akey Designs as a web Developer. After 3 months of intense training, I was assigned the responsibility of the domains and servers of Akey Designs. And thus I handled both the responsibilities simultaneously, as System Administrator as well as Web Developer. During my stint in Akey Designs, I learnt a lot, from site updations and live chat with server supporters to live client meetings and attending client calls.

After completing 9 months in Akey Designs. I joined Zyxware Technologies as a software Developer.

During my training period in Ernakulam (along with Antony and Vinod), I found it very difficult to learn drupal. But now I am happy that my confidence has increased manifold. My colleagues were friendly and supportive and our mentor, Vimal Joseph, used to give certain important and useful tips to perform our tasks. He was very helpful throughout our training.

The sessions conducted by George Abraham, Thomas P. Thomas, Yaser Ali, Lijo Abraham were also extremely valuable. Each of these sessions dwelt on different aspects of the organization - structure, behaviour, team, document preparation etc. In one of these sessions, we were assigned a pretty interesting task to assess how efficiently we could work as a team to manage client requirements.

We had to create a case to hold an egg. The case should be strong enough that the egg should not break when it falls down from a height. In fact, the three of us had no idea that how to make the case. Finally we came up with an idea. We took a spare mouse box and thermocol from the kitchen. Then we cut the thermocol into pieces with a knife and packed the egg with it. We plugged all the holes in the box with thermocol pieces. With a gift wrapping tag, we wrapped the case beautifully and presented it. Interestingly, Chitra, one of our colleagues tested its endurance by dropping it from the upper floor of the building. Fortunately, the egg didn’t break; it lay safe and sound in its protective cover.

Now, when I look back, I feel a little proud. I have travelled a bit and I never thought I could live alone, away from my parents or travel alone. Sarika K, one of my colleagues helped me get an accomodation in her hostel itself. Working with my new colleagues in Trivandrum is pretty interesting! I first worked with Deepa, Binny, Chinnu and Manoj, they guide me well and gives me necessary instructions that a fresher needs about work. Then I worked with Jibin and Aby which was also good. Now I am working with Prem, Abhai and Jimmy. Everyone is very unique, supportive, funny and friendly in their own way. Prem leads our team well, balancing work and fun as well! We had a team get-together(LAKSHYA 2015) which was a great team building exercise held at Technopark and the Poovar Island Resort. I enjoyed it a lot and hope there will be more events like that.