Very soon, its going be 10 years since my first job.
I have very vivid memories of my excitement to work and conquer the world.
Somehow work =freedom was my feeling back then.
Freedom financially, freedom to think and do creative stuff unlike studying for exams on subjects i cared 2 hoots about while in college. oh boy! how naive was I. I was very open about talking to seniors, asking for a mentor. I constantly and voluntarily looked to connect with mentors - Seniors in the organization who had been there, done that. And then, after a while reality stuck. Sadly i did not find my mentor. I moved cities, countries and of course place of work. The excitement toned down, approach more mature, expectations more real. I worked with a lot of interesting people. got a very different perspective on life and work. It was a wonderful thing. I had stopped looking for mentors by then. Concluded they dont exist.
Then i moved cities again. Took on roles that I had no prior hands on experience with.
But what I had was a redefined approach to work. The reason why I worked had changed. I could quit anytime I wanted and was fearless in my approach because of it. I went to work because i enjoyed it. I believed in common sense, feared no new technology, methodology, culture. I learnt a lot by being very open to failure but surprisingly did not fail. Then I joined here and I got to work with him. The Mentor i had stopped looking for at work places :). My 1 on 1 meetings with S over the last few months have taught me more about life than about work. Its very nice that these meetings stop being about work goals and quickly shift to conversations and questions around life itself in the larger scheme of things. I dont want to forget some very interesting metaphors he brings up in our conversations.
Conversations with S:
Sometimes taking care of a team is like taking care of a baby with fever.
You can check the temperature and give medicine but cannot take the fever away and feel it urself.
If something is not going well, give feedback and step back. Go back and check again after a while. Fixing things for them will make both of u useless. They wont learn and you wont grow.
Tell me what are the memories that have pushed you to next level.(experience). Am sure you dont recollect much of the innumerable smooth releases that have happened. But the one, during weekend when no one else was around and the server dint start, program dint work and u did all you could to get help but couldn't. So you sat and then solved it urself, that is what you will remember, that is what shapes you. that is experience. So experience is what you get when you dont get what you want.
The best of the flora grows at the base of a volcano once it cools down. Dont give up when the circumstances are tough.
The taste of food is meaningless once it enters your stomach. What generates energy for your body is different. yet we focus soo much on taste and presentation . so much so that at times we forgo the nutrition. A well executed project is like a good meal. Looks good, feels good and IS actually good.
Doing everything at work is important. Just how much time you spend on what is crucial.
Its like this: for a yummy meal, one needs, rice. sambar, papad and pickle. if you add the same quantity of all of these can you eat your meal? its always nice when u have adequate amount of each of these on ur plate. (while discussing on my question around slicing time for various activities)
