Archive for July 24th, 2009
Me@the company
I was bummed the whole week, 4 days..and had to report to my office, and then they ask me to accompany my mentor to real requirement analysis meeting at gurgaon.
Now..I was eager (yet tired) and had to go.
At gurgaon..this company was supposedly transcribing the pilot to some NBC documentary and wanted some plug in to make it quicker. It took us 20 minutes to get security clearance…and I was so embarassed:
1. I had a pen drive in my pocket..which is a faux pas when you are visiting any information sensitive area(as I was told by the guard)
2. I kept touching this plastic card to the sensor…thinking the gates would swing open, only to be told by a company representative(who watched me do it thrice before she said anything) that they are just the plastic guest cards…and they dont have the magnetic strips ( to my dismay..a tube traveller’s nightmare)
“Actually this is my first time in a real industrial enviornment” I had to escape the embarassment..
“Arent you working with Aditya already?”
“Ya I am.. But ” before I could finish it off..I saw a semaphore from my boss to cut it out.
Oops..I was about to call us a startup…in front of clients..
The meeting went on real nice..not text bookish as I had imagined it to be.
The book says
“Developers and customers meet at neutral ground” : we were in their den
” make a list of requirements” : I didnt had a pen
” blah blah blah” : None of it..
We saw the videos, I asked some questions…sir asked some questions… the CEO (I was so glad to shake hands with him) was really nice (and had a pony tail..)
Media people are really cool..have to say.
Once meeting was over… we talked and talked for hours. While having lunch..or on a rickshaw…walking…or mall hopping…subject varied from my phone to his phone, rock bands to Orhan Pamuk, Google to Moment of truth, his friend at amazon who resigned yesterday to Ellen Page.
Boy…this man is an IITian, owns a company, reads, watches movies… and I felt that I had pretty much no reason to exist. Name the author..he has read him. He talked of cars…and milages (now that is one of 100 things I am impaired at) and in an instant could share a view at magical realism and anarcho syndicalism. Brilliant. He and I had a common hero. Noam Chomsky!
..he had booked tickets to ice age as well…
the movie was good….so was the gesture.
Now this is one of the great advantage when working with cool people who have not yet got dissolved in hierarchy and not have yet personified the bossy airs. His second name could be cafe coffee day. Meetings..CCD, discussion..CCD, interview…CCD. and then the movie was an exhilarating experience in etirety.
And just when it comes about to a close next week…I dont want it to end.
I am inspired..
