Topic by Swarna Ramesh
1. My first day of my first job - How did you feel? Was it a sense of achievement, relief, pride, anxiety or disappointment, disillusion...? who did you meet - your future spouse- by any chance? or some friends for life?
2. If you had to tell your kid one thing he or she should not do in his/her first job, what would that be?
Responses
Krishnan
My first job was at Tata Steel, Jamshedpur. On the train to Jamshedpur, I met with my classmate from IIT Bombay Masters, who was also joining Tata Steel on the same day, and we both went to Madarasi Sammelani in Jamshedpur, the first stop for any person from Tamilnadu.
As I was getting ready, I saw my classmate sitting on the floor. He was watching a glass of water getting filtered by his portable Zero-B filter, as someone told him to be careful of water borne diseases in eastern India. I found it strange, as in those days the mineral water habit had not started, and I thought that the only way to drink water was straight from the tap. While he was careful all along with the purity and safety of drinking water, I chose to imbibe other pure stuff straight from bottles. Ironically, months later he got jaundice, poor chap.
The first day was meeting with the head of the department, who is a great person from Kaiser Steel, USA, and he challenged us with the most difficult tasks, and I am still in contact with him. The most memorable are the friends I made that day that still remain connected with me.
That evening we shifted to the company allotted rooms. The next morning we found that we could not open the main door, because someone had bolted it from outside, in order to rob from the next door. This was our grand welcome to Bihar.
The 1st 3 months was training visits to the different shops of the Steel plant to understand the process from iron making, steel making to final rolling. De-ja-vu of 3rd semester Metallurgy classes, but it was awe-inspiring and humbling to watch 80 tonnes of white hot steel pouring out of the furnace into the ladle, and being carried by a crane over your head. We went to the iron ore mines at Noamundi, Joda ( Orissa ), the open cast coal mines at West Bokaro, and the underground mines ( -800 meters ) at Dhanbad. Amazing experience.
The then 1 Million Tonnes per annum plant was definitely “3D”, Dark, Dirty, Dangerous. In contrast, today’s steel plants are immensely safe. I was there a month back and I saw it clean and safe, but today at 10 Million Tonnes per annum, thanks to the great work being done by some of my friends and ex-colleagues.
My first operational boss was a jerk.
He was from the Hindi heartland, UP, and chose to speak to me in Hindi. My Hindi, picked up in IIT Bombay hostels, was only a shade better than the Tapori language of Bombay. In my first meeting I addressed him with the singular “Tum”, instead of the plural “Aap”. He was shocked and gave me laser looks. One of my colleagues explained to him that my Hindi was picked up in Bombay, and this did not reduce the coldness in that meeting.
Either that incident or otherwise, I could not fathom, he singled me out for “special” treatment from then on. The common comment in the company was that he was “As straight as a Jilebi”. I learnt one thing from him, “What a human being should not be”. Later I got transferred to a different department for my good.
The greatest quality in Tata Steel was Integrity and that was and still is held in highest regard. When one of the employees asked the then President Dr.Irani, what Integrity was, he said, “If you know the meaning of stealing, telling lies, cheating, then the meaning of Integrity is the exact opposite of all the previous put together”. Cannot get a better explanation of the word Integrity.
The other greatest asset in Tata Steel work culture was “the freedom to experiment”. Broad guidelines used to be given, and there were very few restrictive guidelines. This gave rise to innovation in thinking and execution and has benefitted Tata Steel. I carry that compulsive habit with me even today in both my professional and personal life.
Life in Tata Steel, and Jamshedpur was fun. We played cricket in the stadium where in the later days one-day-cricket was played by the national team. We played cricket with players like Sabah Karim. Played ball badminton with national level players. Played football at the then started Tata Football academy.
Bachelor days were in “3D” Dum( cigarretee), Dharoo(liquor) and Dhamaal(fun) all the way.
A few years later, when many of the friends started leaving Tata Steel, the bug caught with me, and I also left Tata Steel. I set a 90 day deadline with a goal and worked towards changing the job, and got it.
This habbit of setting a 90 day deadline with a goal has been with me ever since, and has helped me immensely.
If I were to tell my kid one thing that should be done, then this is it: Set a 90 day deadline with a goal, and work towards it, whether you are prepared for it on day 1 or not, and you will achieve it.
If you had to tell your kid one thing he or she should not do in his/her first job, what would that be?
Never disagree with your boss. There are better ways of saying no. If you want to satisfy your ego, be prepared to quit.
Venkat Raghavan
My first job was aborted in less than six months!
I had campus placement in BPL. However, I dilly-dallied and was waiting for results of some public sector companies I had applied to as per the wishes of my father. Also, I was expecting responses from other companies who did campus interviews like WIPRO. The BPL offer had expired. But when nothing much happened for a couple of months, I got worried (initially I was happy writing those 150 letters to classmates, but as the replies were drying up, my attention shifted to job!!).
Good friend Ganesh was in BPL already. I owe this to him. He may not remember this now, but I asked him if they would be still open for me. He checked and told me to come immediately. That is how I joined in BPL Palghat.
The atmosphere in my section was very tight. I was in communication systems department which had excellent products and great market share. However, it was like a military. The managers never smiled.
The first exercise to me was to do frequency planning of power line carrier communication systems for a client (UP Electricity board). It involved mundane estimate of frequency band for over 200 stations involving repetitive calculations. I saw people spending a week on this. I went to my manager and said I could write a program for this and we could cut this down to half a day. I needed a few days to write the program and test. He said, go ahead. But you will need to do it manually either way. We may use your program only to cross check. I knew he didn’t want me to change anything. This was just one example. I got on. I was learning.
The following incident changed everything.
I got late one morning and as I watched the bus ready to leave on the other side of the road I mindlessly leapt across the street. An Ambassador car hit me even as the driver braked in time.
I got flung a bit, but landed safely! My trouser was torn at the knees and my shirt at the elbow as I skidded before coming to a halt! Since I was new to the place, I didn’t know where I could get medical help. I was actually okay except for bloody bruises and torn attire. I rode an autorickshaw to the factory and thought once I got there I could ask for help. (Ganesh worked in a different unit which was a few miles away from my unit). When I reached factory it was 20 minutes later than regular start time, so I had to report to the personnel manager anyway.
I went to his office and from behind the desk in a cold voice he asked me why I was late. He didn’t really care to take a proper look at me. I then explained what happened at the town bus stand. In a voice that turned hush, this is what he asked me. “Was there any police around?” This is what he wanted to know. Whether it was a police case needing him to do additional work which he is not interested in. I was aghast. If he asked me first whether I was ok and then later asked this question I wouldn’t have felt that bad.
That night I packed my bags and came back to Chennai.
In the next job at Sanmar which I got in to within a couple of weeks (Sivagami was here and she gave me the lead), my divisional head Anil Nayyar (40 years old at that time and later when he joined Bharti created Airtel!) asked me to call him Anil, and when I was deputed to C-Dot and got recognized for a particular work, Sam Pitroda came to my seat and congratulated! And to think in my first job, I couldn’t even enter my department manager’s cabin! (When Sam Pitroda visited Dubai a decade ago, I met him during a dinner event and I had a great recall with him!)
Don’t get me wrong! BPL was a great company; there were many who made excellent careers out of BPL; even I had great training in the few months I spent there. It is just that managers make it or break it. That was the lesson.
What would I tell someone entering a new job:
Others had some great points. Don’t compete showing others in poor light. This is a common folly.
Appreciate diversity. Make the first move towards making friends at workplace. Trust!
Bharani
My first day of my first job at PPL, CBE was on June 13, 1986. It was Friday the 13th. Maybe that date made it even more memorable!
Shanthi, one of our seniors from PSG was my mentor. That put me at ease. Actually, quite a few from PSG Tech landed there - Gopalakrishnan (our Sr), our Parvathi, Sukanya (our Jr), et al.
The first couple of weeks was spent in reading big manuals from PPL's European collaborator companies. The company manufactured sensors and monitoring installations for the various sections of textile mills - spinning, weaving, combing, etc. I was a Production Engineer, in-charge of a couple of new products from start to finish. This enabled me to learn the whole cycle, as I interacted with the various teams - R&D, Purchase, Stores, Shop-floor assembly, Quality control, Packaging/ dispatch, and Service depts. creating the process flow and managing the production of the new products. It was a fulfilling moment when the first batch of products were shipped to Arihant Mills.
We also handled classes for the new recruits. The shop-floor was all women. It was a young, dynamic environment. Our lunch-group was fun, always teasing each other. I am still in touch with all of them. I was instrumental in getting a couple of them married, and I am also an investment partner in their company now.
Now to the villain in the story - my boss. He was very shrewd, and would not trust anyone. He had spies set up in the shop-floor to supply him with all kinds of news. He tended to micro-manage everyone.
In early 1992, after my 3-month maternity leave, my husband felt that my son was still weak, and suggested I request another month's extension. So we went to my boss' house and requested him. He replied in an authoritative tone 'Your kid may be important to you. But I can't do this just for you, and risk setting such a precedent for the other women employees'. This infuriated my husband. Although my boss' wife and I tried to control them, it soon became an ugly war of words. I had no choice but to call it quits.
A month later, my husband and my ex-boss ran into each other in a saloon. When I told this to my friends, they joked 'So they did not need a barber to do the job is it?
After I moved to the US, one of the other managers in PPL told me 'You should actually thank your ex-boss. If it had not been for his lousy attitude, maybe you would not have moved to the US'!!
Advice to the kids: Do not make demarcations of your responsibilities in your first job. Gather as much info about all the depts./ groups to get a holistic perspective of the company.
Surya Kolluri
Q1. Prof. Nair taught me (us) very well. Although I was in a strange land with big highways, big people and a completely different English and spoken accent than I was used to, the skills he taught us, made me completely relevant in this new world.
My boss Jim Hudgings made me feel valued, welcome and actually a real help to him on the very first day. He encouraged me for 2 years every day!!
I became very close friends with him and his family. We attended 3 weddings in his family of his children and his mother's funeral. He attended my engagement party and my mother's funeral.
We have taken vacations and hikes together.
Work wise we wrote a $5 mm grant to NJ state to set up the first CIM center. He is the best grant writer I know!!
The one thing he taught me that I use to this day is to speak slowly!
I have attached a photo of Jim, Margaret and Mini when we visited their vacation home in Florida. Also a picture of the CNC project my team worked from our final year at PSG.
2. What would I tell my kid not to do
Don't be a threat to people at your work - rather be an asset.
A next generation talent will know more about new technologies and new approaches than their older generation.
They will view the new talent as a threat (correctly!)
So I will ask my kid to win everyone over first by sincerity, hard work and small successes. When one is hired as a CEO one can take drastic action (if warranted)
But when starts as a junior at the bottom rung of the ladder, being a winning asset is the best thing you can do.
But showing off, showing people up is the quickest route to being marginalized.
The winning rule is 'make your boss look good!'
2. If you had to tell your kid one thing he or she should not do in his/her first job, what would that be?
Responses
Krishnan
As I was getting ready, I saw my classmate sitting on the floor. He was watching a glass of water getting filtered by his portable Zero-B filter, as someone told him to be careful of water borne diseases in eastern India. I found it strange, as in those days the mineral water habit had not started, and I thought that the only way to drink water was straight from the tap. While he was careful all along with the purity and safety of drinking water, I chose to imbibe other pure stuff straight from bottles. Ironically, months later he got jaundice, poor chap.
The first day was meeting with the head of the department, who is a great person from Kaiser Steel, USA, and he challenged us with the most difficult tasks, and I am still in contact with him. The most memorable are the friends I made that day that still remain connected with me.
That evening we shifted to the company allotted rooms. The next morning we found that we could not open the main door, because someone had bolted it from outside, in order to rob from the next door. This was our grand welcome to Bihar.
The 1st 3 months was training visits to the different shops of the Steel plant to understand the process from iron making, steel making to final rolling. De-ja-vu of 3rd semester Metallurgy classes, but it was awe-inspiring and humbling to watch 80 tonnes of white hot steel pouring out of the furnace into the ladle, and being carried by a crane over your head. We went to the iron ore mines at Noamundi, Joda ( Orissa ), the open cast coal mines at West Bokaro, and the underground mines ( -800 meters ) at Dhanbad. Amazing experience.
The then 1 Million Tonnes per annum plant was definitely “3D”, Dark, Dirty, Dangerous. In contrast, today’s steel plants are immensely safe. I was there a month back and I saw it clean and safe, but today at 10 Million Tonnes per annum, thanks to the great work being done by some of my friends and ex-colleagues.
My first operational boss was a jerk.
He was from the Hindi heartland, UP, and chose to speak to me in Hindi. My Hindi, picked up in IIT Bombay hostels, was only a shade better than the Tapori language of Bombay. In my first meeting I addressed him with the singular “Tum”, instead of the plural “Aap”. He was shocked and gave me laser looks. One of my colleagues explained to him that my Hindi was picked up in Bombay, and this did not reduce the coldness in that meeting.
Either that incident or otherwise, I could not fathom, he singled me out for “special” treatment from then on. The common comment in the company was that he was “As straight as a Jilebi”. I learnt one thing from him, “What a human being should not be”. Later I got transferred to a different department for my good.
The greatest quality in Tata Steel was Integrity and that was and still is held in highest regard. When one of the employees asked the then President Dr.Irani, what Integrity was, he said, “If you know the meaning of stealing, telling lies, cheating, then the meaning of Integrity is the exact opposite of all the previous put together”. Cannot get a better explanation of the word Integrity.
The other greatest asset in Tata Steel work culture was “the freedom to experiment”. Broad guidelines used to be given, and there were very few restrictive guidelines. This gave rise to innovation in thinking and execution and has benefitted Tata Steel. I carry that compulsive habit with me even today in both my professional and personal life.
Life in Tata Steel, and Jamshedpur was fun. We played cricket in the stadium where in the later days one-day-cricket was played by the national team. We played cricket with players like Sabah Karim. Played ball badminton with national level players. Played football at the then started Tata Football academy.
Bachelor days were in “3D” Dum( cigarretee), Dharoo(liquor) and Dhamaal(fun) all the way.
A few years later, when many of the friends started leaving Tata Steel, the bug caught with me, and I also left Tata Steel. I set a 90 day deadline with a goal and worked towards changing the job, and got it.
This habbit of setting a 90 day deadline with a goal has been with me ever since, and has helped me immensely.
If I were to tell my kid one thing that should be done, then this is it: Set a 90 day deadline with a goal, and work towards it, whether you are prepared for it on day 1 or not, and you will achieve it.
If you had to tell your kid one thing he or she should not do in his/her first job, what would that be?
Never disagree with your boss. There are better ways of saying no. If you want to satisfy your ego, be prepared to quit.
Venkat Raghavan
My first job was aborted in less than six months!
I had campus placement in BPL. However, I dilly-dallied and was waiting for results of some public sector companies I had applied to as per the wishes of my father. Also, I was expecting responses from other companies who did campus interviews like WIPRO. The BPL offer had expired. But when nothing much happened for a couple of months, I got worried (initially I was happy writing those 150 letters to classmates, but as the replies were drying up, my attention shifted to job!!).
Good friend Ganesh was in BPL already. I owe this to him. He may not remember this now, but I asked him if they would be still open for me. He checked and told me to come immediately. That is how I joined in BPL Palghat.
The atmosphere in my section was very tight. I was in communication systems department which had excellent products and great market share. However, it was like a military. The managers never smiled.
The first exercise to me was to do frequency planning of power line carrier communication systems for a client (UP Electricity board). It involved mundane estimate of frequency band for over 200 stations involving repetitive calculations. I saw people spending a week on this. I went to my manager and said I could write a program for this and we could cut this down to half a day. I needed a few days to write the program and test. He said, go ahead. But you will need to do it manually either way. We may use your program only to cross check. I knew he didn’t want me to change anything. This was just one example. I got on. I was learning.
The following incident changed everything.
I got late one morning and as I watched the bus ready to leave on the other side of the road I mindlessly leapt across the street. An Ambassador car hit me even as the driver braked in time.
I got flung a bit, but landed safely! My trouser was torn at the knees and my shirt at the elbow as I skidded before coming to a halt! Since I was new to the place, I didn’t know where I could get medical help. I was actually okay except for bloody bruises and torn attire. I rode an autorickshaw to the factory and thought once I got there I could ask for help. (Ganesh worked in a different unit which was a few miles away from my unit). When I reached factory it was 20 minutes later than regular start time, so I had to report to the personnel manager anyway.
I went to his office and from behind the desk in a cold voice he asked me why I was late. He didn’t really care to take a proper look at me. I then explained what happened at the town bus stand. In a voice that turned hush, this is what he asked me. “Was there any police around?” This is what he wanted to know. Whether it was a police case needing him to do additional work which he is not interested in. I was aghast. If he asked me first whether I was ok and then later asked this question I wouldn’t have felt that bad.
That night I packed my bags and came back to Chennai.
In the next job at Sanmar which I got in to within a couple of weeks (Sivagami was here and she gave me the lead), my divisional head Anil Nayyar (40 years old at that time and later when he joined Bharti created Airtel!) asked me to call him Anil, and when I was deputed to C-Dot and got recognized for a particular work, Sam Pitroda came to my seat and congratulated! And to think in my first job, I couldn’t even enter my department manager’s cabin! (When Sam Pitroda visited Dubai a decade ago, I met him during a dinner event and I had a great recall with him!)
Don’t get me wrong! BPL was a great company; there were many who made excellent careers out of BPL; even I had great training in the few months I spent there. It is just that managers make it or break it. That was the lesson.
What would I tell someone entering a new job:
Others had some great points. Don’t compete showing others in poor light. This is a common folly.
Appreciate diversity. Make the first move towards making friends at workplace. Trust!
Bharani
Shanthi, one of our seniors from PSG was my mentor. That put me at ease. Actually, quite a few from PSG Tech landed there - Gopalakrishnan (our Sr), our Parvathi, Sukanya (our Jr), et al.
The first couple of weeks was spent in reading big manuals from PPL's European collaborator companies. The company manufactured sensors and monitoring installations for the various sections of textile mills - spinning, weaving, combing, etc. I was a Production Engineer, in-charge of a couple of new products from start to finish. This enabled me to learn the whole cycle, as I interacted with the various teams - R&D, Purchase, Stores, Shop-floor assembly, Quality control, Packaging/ dispatch, and Service depts. creating the process flow and managing the production of the new products. It was a fulfilling moment when the first batch of products were shipped to Arihant Mills.
We also handled classes for the new recruits. The shop-floor was all women. It was a young, dynamic environment. Our lunch-group was fun, always teasing each other. I am still in touch with all of them. I was instrumental in getting a couple of them married, and I am also an investment partner in their company now.
Now to the villain in the story - my boss. He was very shrewd, and would not trust anyone. He had spies set up in the shop-floor to supply him with all kinds of news. He tended to micro-manage everyone.
In early 1992, after my 3-month maternity leave, my husband felt that my son was still weak, and suggested I request another month's extension. So we went to my boss' house and requested him. He replied in an authoritative tone 'Your kid may be important to you. But I can't do this just for you, and risk setting such a precedent for the other women employees'. This infuriated my husband. Although my boss' wife and I tried to control them, it soon became an ugly war of words. I had no choice but to call it quits.
A month later, my husband and my ex-boss ran into each other in a saloon. When I told this to my friends, they joked 'So they did not need a barber to do the job is it?
After I moved to the US, one of the other managers in PPL told me 'You should actually thank your ex-boss. If it had not been for his lousy attitude, maybe you would not have moved to the US'!!
Advice to the kids: Do not make demarcations of your responsibilities in your first job. Gather as much info about all the depts./ groups to get a holistic perspective of the company.
Surya Kolluri
My boss Jim Hudgings made me feel valued, welcome and actually a real help to him on the very first day. He encouraged me for 2 years every day!!
I became very close friends with him and his family. We attended 3 weddings in his family of his children and his mother's funeral. He attended my engagement party and my mother's funeral.
We have taken vacations and hikes together.
Work wise we wrote a $5 mm grant to NJ state to set up the first CIM center. He is the best grant writer I know!!
The one thing he taught me that I use to this day is to speak slowly!
I have attached a photo of Jim, Margaret and Mini when we visited their vacation home in Florida. Also a picture of the CNC project my team worked from our final year at PSG.
2. What would I tell my kid not to do
Don't be a threat to people at your work - rather be an asset.
A next generation talent will know more about new technologies and new approaches than their older generation.
They will view the new talent as a threat (correctly!)
So I will ask my kid to win everyone over first by sincerity, hard work and small successes. When one is hired as a CEO one can take drastic action (if warranted)
But when starts as a junior at the bottom rung of the ladder, being a winning asset is the best thing you can do.
But showing off, showing people up is the quickest route to being marginalized.
The winning rule is 'make your boss look good!'