2014 - Getting a job in Hyderabad

The year started with Harshil’s send-off; he was joining his dream company straight out of college, and then I went to Hyderabad in February for the college interview, which was over in a day.

Better things are coming

Harhsil shared a wallpaper with me when we went to Delhi for his medical, and we’ve had it on our phones ever since. It just says, “Better things are coming!”

Hyderabad

I had previously visited Hyderabad twice as a tourist, but this time the role was different in this big cyber city, which made me dream as I glided through it from a different lens this time.

My cousin sister is settled in Hyderabad; she not only gave me a place to stay but also covered everything I needed. I cherish my time in Hyderabad, as I was able to closely observe the two legends - my brother-in-law and one of his close friends. I was impressed by their skills and the value they had created in their jobs, and even though they were successful they were humble(which I have imbibed in my life, or at least I try). Everyone was genuinely helping me to succeed, and that is what I needed at that time of my life - Moral Support.

First attempt at a job hunt

My brother(in-law) advised me that while I was in Hyderabad, why not stay longer and look for a job? I took the advice and I started going from one tech park to another in search of a job. Hyderabad has some harsh summer months around March, and with nothing impressive to write on my resume, It was not getting any cooler!

While looking for a job, I decided to take a SQL DB course. This is when my Mamaji (Mother’s brother) called me (his introduction needs a separate blog) and asked me to learn Java and prepare for OCJP to get the job at a Hyderabad company, where he knew someone who further knew the owner of the company. The actualities are still not clear to me, but from a company standpoint, it was a U.S. paralegal outsourced office that did all the attorney-client offline filing work.

The Gift of the Lifetime

With this turn of events, I bid adieu to Hyderabad in April, only to return when I got called for the job. Yes! Mamaji made sure I would get a call. Back at home, I was quick to grasp JAVA but barely passed in OCJP.

While I awaited the call, I decided to travel to Leh-Ladakh along with my cousin Monty. I remember reading Robin Sharma’s The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari and at that time, I was convinced to the contrary that I wanted all the materialistic things that the monk renounced.

First Job

I got the job in July and moved back to Hyderabad, this time moving in with my college friend (and his colleagues) to start the quintessential modern-era struggle of Indian youth: empty stomach, empty pocket! My job was a 5-day-a-week job, for which I was paid ₹8,000 per month, though my necessities cost around ₹20,000. So, the delta was covered by my parents.

At my flat, I had a good time with my roomies, which was not defined by going to glittering places but by hanging out well (with liquor)! There is a huge liquor price difference between Hyderabad and Chandigarh, so I would just stick to beer unless I was at my cousin’s place 😁.

Curiosity

At work, even though I was willing to learn and work on the JAVA project, my manager was fixated on the fact that I am blessed with a job and I am not capable of development work, so I was asked to write only the manual test cases. I can’t complain, as I was actually gifted this job, but it was boring and his attitude was demeaning!

People who know me will agree that I can’t sit idle. I am passionately curious and it pushes me. I replicated the tech stack to create my project at home 🤓. I was reading the tech documentation word for word and stumbled upon an interesting feature that could be used to implement an in-house chat app. This was not only interesting to learn but also significant to integrate into the existing office project. I did it first in my home project, and then in the office project.

I already knew how to sell it, for instance; it could streamline the connection with the users, which as of now was scattered in emails and offline mail. I was no longer writing the test cases. 😁

Saturdays

I was introduced to a Saturday ritual at my sister’s place where we would either go out for dinner on Saturday or stay back and enjoy it at home by just having biryani for dinner. This always used to be a treat for me!

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