Another week passed uneventfully. The following Tuesday morning, Srikanth informed me that Pakhir – a Program Manager (A very Senior Manager with the Pespi Account) – wanted me to discuss about some project – A billable opening!
My mind was racing - “Wow … God has answered my prayers … Finally – I’m going to work on a real-time client project. And more importantly, I’ll become billable, and so – I won’t get kicked out in the event of some sort of an IT recession!”
But, you know what; God is such a funny guy. He has this really weird sense of humor that makes one want to rip his head off (Oh, you’ll know what I mean when I start telling you about the project. But for now, let’s leave it at that!)
I rush over to Pakhir’s cube, and thankfully, he is sitting there staring at his screen (maybe someone had sent him a forward and he was “engrossed” in reading it!).
Let me take a min here to describe Pakhir. He is your average next door middle-aged gentleman. Sporting a 5’ 9”, about 70 Kilos frame, I had no reason to believe otherwise. He sported a beard that looked like his children used it for Graffiti practice (I see no other explanation for the color combination I was seeing – Black+White+Brown+Silver+Burgundy. Add violet and orange, and you were probably looking at a rainbow!).
In short – I had no reason to believe that this guy was going to be a jerk, or a pain in the arse.
But boy – Was I mistaken or what!!!
(More on that in a bit.)
Me: “Excuse me Pakhir…”
Pakhir: (After a full bloody minute) “Yes …”
Me: “Hi … I am Sharath … Srikanth said you were looking for me!”
Pakhir: “Oh yes … Please sit down!”
At the back of my head I was thinking, “That sounds very gentlemanly … Maybe he’s a really nice guy after all!”
Pakhir: “How’re you doing?”
Me: “I’m good … What about you”
Pakhir: “I’m great …”
Me: (smiling) “Cool …”
Pakhir: “Lets get to the point … there is a client project that we are looking at inducting you into … What do you think about that?”
Me: (Not able to believe my luck) “Wow … That sounds wonderful … Can you please tell me more details about the project?”
Pakhir: “The Project is called Porrotta Systems Baseline Support. There are currently only 2 people in the team. One person is onsite, and you will be heading the work from offshore. The person onsite is a lady called Mandhya, and she is a Pespi resource. Vrunda is the project manager for this project, and if you’re interested, I will ask her to touch base with you with more details.”
Me: “What mode is the project on – Development/Maintenance/Support?”
There was a good reason behind asking that last question:
I had been warned by my seniors, at work, that Development projects were generally challenging and very rewarding, but had steep learning curves, hectic schedules and meant lots of hard work and really loooooooong hours!
On the contrary, Maintenance mode projects meant relatively less work, relaxed deadlines and regular work hours.
Support projects on the other hand were the most dreaded of projects. It was a glorified version of a
Pakhir: “It’s a Maintenance mode project. It involves a lot of components in ASP and .NET. Do you know these technologies?”
I just couldn’t believe my luck! I was trained in Java/J2EE. Now I was going to work on a .NET project. My resume was going to be kick ass!
Me: “Well … I was trained in Java/J2EE. But, I am open to working on ASP and .NET – provided, I am given sufficient time and training!”
Pakhir: “That will not be a problem … We can arrange the trainings needed!”
Me: “Music to my ears …”
Pakhir: “Great … I’ll have Vrunda touch base with you sometime by end of day tomorrow. Okay?”
Me: “Works with me.”
Pakhir: “Fine … Ok then … See you around!”
Me: (Getting up to leave) “Thanks for the opportunity Pak!”
I was very happy about how things were shaping up. This calls for a celebration aka another coffee break!
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