My first job !!! :-)

Hi dear ones !!!

First job - something that I wanted to write for a long time !!! Possibly, people who aren't in touch with me for quite sometime won't know what my first job was.. No, no !! It is not the job which I am doing at Tata Elxsi !

The date - September 15th, 2008.. That was the day when my frustration reached a new height - frustration caused due to various reasons including delay in joining date, pressure from relatives, pain of loneliness, slippage of a chance to work for another MNC, etc., That day, I decided to go for a temporary job - to keep myself engaged. A job, that can help me to earn some pocket money - as well as escape from the constant irritation from my near and dear ones.. Sounds comical, eh ? Would someone go for a job just to escape irritation? I too agree.. But, like me, many of my friends were in a similar position because of the now-famous term - 'Recession'.

That day, I attended an interview at Velan Info Systems, at Coimbatore for the post of a data-entry operator. I knew that I was over-qualified for the job, because I knew that they wanted only people with a +2 or a graduation in arts or science. I hoped that they would reject me for the same reason, but still wanted to give a chance. There can't be a more comical interview than mine, I suppose.. The manager asked for my resume - saw it and asked, "Why have you come?"

Being stumped by such a googly at the start, I stared at him for a while - before he himself came to my rescue.. He rephrased his question, and asked me, "Are you ready for this job ? It is a night-shift job and doesn't require much of an expertise - salary is low - blah.. blah.. blah..." and many such questions for the next few minutes. Finally, I convinced him !! (U must be thinking, from such an interview, what a stupid position I have acquired in this company.. Infact, I don't blame you - even I thought the same after coming out of my interview.. :-P) I felt I would not be learning anything out of here !!

September 17th 2008, 9.00 PM (?) : my first day @ office !! oops.. my first night @ office !!! ;-)

Work was simple - to convert scanned documents into typed formats. The basic requirements of this job, being a decent enough typewriting speed, and a good-enough visual power to see the scanned data properly in the mid of the sleepless nights! Man - the second part was the toughest !!! How do these people working in night shifts manage to stay awake for 8-9 hours continuously and concentrate on their work !!

After a mere 5 days of work with the so-called designation as a data entry operator, I was promoted to the position of Internet Research analyst!! (;-)) This wasn't anything special - a typical data mining job where the client's request for precise data from the internet ocean had to be searched and given. This needed us to know what http://www.google.com was all about and how efficient one can use it.

Few more days, and I got used to that night-shift mode of work! I got my own set of friends there, many of them with a passion to set up a career in a similar line. During the initial few days of my work, I really wondered what career can one form in such kind of an office. But, after being with the company for a month or so, I realised that this was no fun at all. They were making real business out of the document conversion, capcha (or Optical Character Recognition) process, and many such stuff. Atleast, I was getting to know a thing or two about how such a small company can work !

I got a good set of friends there with whom I used to share my night talks - have fun teasing each other in the mid of the night! How funny those nights were - standing in front of office at 12 AM and 3 AM and having a hot cup of tea with those new-found friends !!

I stayed at that office till December 31st 2008, and learnt quite a lot of stuff, and enjoyed too. I got a feel of corporate politics and how it can happen even in such a small company, with a man power of hardly 200 people !!!

Whatever be the case, I got my first salary from this tiny enterprise!! Probably, a nice little experience which helped me in many ways to get myself into the corporate scheme of things, thereby making me ready for bigger things in life !!!

Can never forget those 100 days which I spent there @ Velan !

Thanks-a-ton to everyone who deserved this !