Not so long ago, I was working at my first job as an
Associate Software Engineer in a reasonably sized IT services organization,
large enough to be called one of country’s largest. I was proud, happy, surrounded
by good friends, most of them who had joined their first jobs just like me. It
felt like a college away from college – there was all the inside jokes, the late
night shenanigans, the drinking, the partying, the dancing and what not! I was happy
that I had found my crowd and that I was at a place that was mine. I felt
comfortable and settling down.
On the works side, though I struggled at first to come
to terms with who an ERP consultant was and what he does – mostly due to my
ignorance or lack of awareness, I quickly grasped the concepts and mostly
understood the way things worked for an ERP consultant and became genuinely
interested in the line of work. I was rising through the ranks, not if we are equating
ranks to the likes of designations and promotions, but if we are equating them
to the visibility among the project team, and even among the vertical’s leadership.
I was slowly becoming the go-to guy for a number of things.
Annual increment letter integration? Let’s call him.
HCM Extracts? Let us wait for his confirmation about
the change.
Dynamic report generation? Let us get him on line to
check the feasibility.
I thought I was going to spend the decade there. I was,
at that time, content with the salary I was receiving. I was young, no worry in
the world, and no wedding or family responsibilities in sight. I was real comfortable.
But then, priorities changed when I accepted a job offer from another
organization. It was not as big as my then current employer was. In fact, it
was pretty new to the city – they had just opened an office then. Not much of a
presence, so to speak. Their offer was the second of what I had managed to win
during that time. I had another offer from a BIG consultancy – a brand
comparable to the Big 4. The CTC from this BIG consultancy was also marginally
higher than the CTC offered by this relatively new player in the city.
In spite of all that, I decided to go ahead with the
smaller firm. With all the fear and nervousness that would come to a 23 year
old rookie software engineer who was aiming to make his first company switch. I
would like to call this, A Great Gamble. My only possible argument was that I
could be a big fish in a small pond and get noticed faster. I was ready to
trade the possibility of having a huge brand on my resume for some visibility. I
cannot describe how much the word ‘gamble’ suits the situation.
Now as I sit to write this, I am about 3 full years into
the company I gambled on, I must say that the gamble had paid off incredibly
well. The work that I had gotten here and the experiences that came with it are
some of the best and almost-impossible-to-acquire.
I got trusted with multiple high end enterprise
clients, was given the golden opportunity to work on their projects, was even made
to travel internationally to client sites multiple times – all within a span of
3 years! I can confidently reflect back that I would have never come close to
any of these had I not taken a leap of faith when I had a dilemma. It is true
that I had spent countless nights worrying about the decision that I took and if
it was in actuality, a bold move as I envisioned it to be, or a grand flop that
would inflict some serious negative impacts on my career. I leave it to you to
decide which one of those it was.
Sometimes, the best things in life come very plain,
without the big brand lightings and the complexities thereof. Most times, we
would not even recognize the magnanimity of good things that would flow in if
we take its side. Such is the truth of life.
So, am I going to stay here forever? It would not be
right of me to be affirmative of this. It would only mean that I had not learnt
the right lessons from 3 years ago and that am still, a rookie. I do not want
to be that, especially at a juncture in my career which is as crucial as this.
The next 2 years may, in almost all likelihood, decide the trend of my career. Hence,
I feel that it is only right to choose what is correct, optimal and best suited
for my career interests, if I were any serious about it. I may choose to stay
and continue the good work that is being offered here, or I may choose to move
on for a greener pasture, which is always there and will always be greener. I
do not even recollect my intentions with this article, but I guess it is to
tell the fact that sometimes, life would ask you to take a leap of faith. Do
your due diligence, analyse like a learned man, and if and only if it feels right
to you, take the leap with full conviction. At the end of the day, life and luck
only favour the brave and the confidents.
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