Appraisal Time... Please provide Feedback !!

Yippeeee.... Its appraisal time again. All the employees are supposed to submit their 4-6 list of accomplishments to their managers and quote 4 employee names whom the manager can seek feedback from. I have been choosen to write feedback about 9 people so far... and ofcourse, the count keeps on going...

   I strongly believe that an employee should be given a right amount of appraisal (atleast 10-20k in pm sal !! is it high?) ... An happy appraisal - is what i believe DOES NOT LIE in "Speaking Great about your employee to 100 people, its about rewarding the employee with right salary increment".... If you are a manager, please do it... It was really true statement made by a person whom i adore...

  So Why are the 4 people that you choose to tell your manager to seek feedback from lie behind your appraisal?? What are the chances that the 4 people that you choose, cannot communicate the amount of work you have done so extensively all throughout the last year?? If that is the case, they 4 form the reason for your good or bad appraisal.

   I am a strong believer of giving employee with a great salary increment to motivate the employee work more harder and stick to the company... I am here to write a REAL GREAT feedback about the team of people who sought my name to give feedback about. Yes, i did that too... and i am really happy about all of them. I wrote words that would bring them smile on their faces (if only they were to see it but no... they wont !)...  Good luck to all those who are in the race (incl. me)...

   Happy Appraisal !!

Adobe Bangalore Office ...

The otherday, some one called me up to know where is Adobe located in Bangalore.

Here is what i had to say:

a) If you are coming by AIR, after getting down at the air port.. You may choose to take a CAB or pick an auto-rick. CABs generally cost you Rs. 12 Per kilometer. If you want you can use this number 080-25200333 - CITI TAXI number. You can call them up and reserve a cab prior to your visit. They can come at the arrivals of airport with a Pla-card having your name on it. Note that you will be charged enough for this. Not less than 250Rs.
b) If you are coming on your own and want to reduce on your expenses (without compromising on the comfort though!)... After getting out of the arrivals terminal, walk outside until you see a road. (about 2 mins walk)..You will see a lot of empty auto-ricks going on the road. Just raise your hand and they will stop for you. Unlike in Mumbai, delhi or chennai.. My experience with auto people was good. most of the auto guys dont cheat you even if you dont know the route! (but this is only my experience for the past two years in bangalore). I am not sure but you may also want to check out if there is a pre-paid auto-rick counter at the air port (i guess it should be there.. in that case just go for it).. Just ask some one around.

How to go about:

  Tell your CAB/Auto guy to go to "Dairy Circle" (after Forum, PVR Cinemas). He should be taking this road. As you walk outside the airport, and pick an auto on the road (which is one sided, that goes on your left). He should go straight, take a left turn (at Domulur flyover.. you may not be climbing the flyover though). Keep going straight. Sit and relax. This road looks like a High-Express-way called Inner Ring Road. If you are in Auto, you will see every one going faster than you :) just relax... Keep going straight. You will cross Koramangala. Keep straight (auto-fellow should take one right turn before it actually takes you to madiwala.. Dont go to madiwala). One right turn and keep straight and another right turn... keep on your left. keep going straight and you will see PVR Cinemas (Forum mall) on your right hand side. Keep going straight. You will see a fly-over which is called "Dairy circle" fly-over. Dont climb up the fly-over, just keep left under the flyover. You will have to take a left turn at the junction. Keep going straight. This is called "Bhannerghatta Road". From diary circle after you took left, its hardly a 1 minute ride in auto. Just keep looking at your left. You will see ORACLE build (OTP), followed by Accenture build (Very big)... Immediately is Salarpuria Infinity Building where Adobe Bangalore is located in 3rd floor and 1st floor.

The Story of my "Java" Began...

         The otherday while i was sleeping like a log.... some of my conscious went back to my BITS days, where i was in my Third semester. The semester after i have immediately completed my CP-2 (Computer Programming-II). We had to look out for projects. There are several Professors, Deans, Divisions, Development Cells in bits who offer projects to students. There are a lot of students on chase. My CGPA was 8.21 at that time. I have applied for CAHU (Computer assistant house keeping unit) project in FD-3 (Facutly division - III) under prof. Balsubramaniam. CAHU does projects related to Online Registration for all the BITS Students where students have to register for various professors based on their availability. (Preparing their own time-tables). This project is a dream project for all those students who are at my level (Second year of Engineering) where we are strong in C Programming language. I remember it was in the year 2001. There was some other division called PS Division which was more hyped among the seniors. PS stands for Practise school division.. A lot of modules are written in Java / Advanced Java / J2EE by then gems of Programming Ram-sirish, Zura etc. One of my senior told me that he has some contacts in PS Division and he can get me a project for sure in PS Division. Remember, i dont know the word - "Java" at that point of time. I got short listed for the CAHU project based on the merit. Tomorrow is my PS Division interview and today is my CAHU Interview. I attended CAHU interview and the interviewer was impressed with my C Programming knowledge and he offered me the project. He wanted me to give him a confirmation whether i would be taking up the project or not? Since i spoke to my senior about CAHU vs PS division and he expressed a 200% confidence in getting me a PSD proj... I told CAHU, if you can wait for me till tomorrow until i am done with my PS Division interview, i can tell you. But CAHU doesnt care about it. He repeated - "Do you want to take up this project or not"? I had to say - "Sorry sir, i will not take this project", as i had hope on PS D project. The same day i went to my senior and told him that i have "Denied" CAHU Project... He admired me by saying - "You did the right thing... I have spoken to the panel members about you and they are happy to take you in..."... sounds so sweet for me. This was like an early break through of a dream project for any one on campus. The next day evening i went for an interview in PS Division. The champs in the panel - Ramsirish and Zura... I was clearly loosing the track as i wasnt even aware of Java at that time. They shooted me on C prog and i answered them well. But requirement was in Java and a lot of my seniors are already in the que. I was asked - "Did you apply for any other projects"... "I told, yes, i got CAHU Project but i have denied it"... Interview done. My name was not in the list of selected students. I lost PS Division project. I came back to the same senior and told him - "what is this?"... he told, its very unfortunate dude. Looks like there is a lot of competition this time ! Later i figured out that PS Division does not know this senior at all. No interview panel member knows this senior of mine who assured me a project. Later i figured out that this senior who claims to have a CGPA of 9+ actually has a 5+ CGPA and is a big "SALIM PHEKU"...

        I lost both projects for the fourth semester. I have undergone a Java course in CSD that semester. Worked on a DB interated Java project at IICT for my PS1 Proj. Later the immediate semester, i bagged PS Division project. I bagged it two times in a row. Since i was running short of slots... I was selected as Professional assistant in PSDivision for further two more semesters. I worked in PS Division projects for 2.5 years working completely on the development and maintenance of the large source code projs. This way i was also a informal member in my wing, who can get to know their PS allottment (batchmates who are waiting to hear the news)... ! All my wingies used to know their PS Stations before hand until its out officially...

Sick again !!

Huh... "Being Sick" has become very common for me since the very recent times. Last Thursday, while i was OOO for an hour, when i returned from the hot sun, i missed my lunch. The symptoms of something being "Sick" started once again. I was feeling a heavy head aching like hell, catching fever, body pains. Just slammed the laptop, throwed it into bag and came home at 2:30pm. Kaashif was waiting to get me PODG files and he called me "hey arun, you wanted some files is it..."... "I said, leave it man.. i cant even speak now..."... I didnt know how i drove to home.. i just came and fell on the bed till 7 pm in the evening when i realized the i have cold, fever, body ache, cough, bad throat... Went to sagar apollo and got the pills... Got a call from mom and yes, you cant hide from them... they can make out better. All these days i have been hiding all the "Sick" related things with parents but this time i am caught. Mom started worrying a lot.. She wants me to catch immediate flight and come back home. She even said, Get it transferred to Hyd... Even if you get a lesser sal in hyd thats ok just come and be at home... i'll take care of you... I had to smile :) I had to repeat again and again that mom, its just a minor thing... dont worry so much... it will get cured... I have an undescribable other cover story too. Past four days, i was ON BED. Cough, cold, fever have chased me like hell. Now i feel everything is gone except cold. Gosh !! its so horrible. I havent been productive with office ! I had to finish on something by EOW and looks like i am slipping off ... True, whats more important is to be being healthy. But the other side of it is, who would want to be Sick by himself ! I guess, i will have to get going with gym again to keep myself healthy.. Atleast struggle to increase the time gaps of getting sick ! and upsetting a lot of people who really care for me so much... The doctor named it "Acute Pharensites"... interesting disease names. Last time i got "Acute Follicular translities"... similar aint it? yeah cool too :) Looks like i am a bit back to normal. Let me get going untill i hit a next hurdle.

Its been Tiring!!

Its been a tiring past few weeks for me. I have been visiting hyd for several reasons and i feel so tired now. I was not writing since long and i already feel, i have a few missing pages in my life. Just to summarize, Past few weeks i was involved in budgeting, analysing, helping construction related work going in hyd... Diwali time... Brothers birthday... Scenario app in flex... Getting WT work for FBL.. WTL had lot of issues... Interviewing candidates for Contribute team... uhh.. this has been the time consuming of all. I am on the top of the list at 10am everyday and i really have to post pone every time to go next. These days its really hard to find smart people. People who can think beyond what is expected as a simple answer. Masti at Rani's sons bday.. An amazing 2 Crore rani's house... (tats what ajit says)... Its an awesome house i have ever seen, i am lost after the bday time. Bday was great. My ESPP foolishness... I have enrolled but kept 0% contribution from day 1, but it looks like i have to atleast put 1% and later bring down my contribution to 0% for a lock down price (that could be as low at 25$ for me which could be 34$ now).. Shantanu's visit to India and the Flex RIA Leader ship summit that has attracted a lot of indian entrepreneurs for spreading RIA as the next generation face... Goodies wow. I got a "Flex Team" big funky full hands tshirt and a 1GB USB cum pen that i gave to my bro with Adobe stamped on it. Oops... forgot.. We increased our maids salary to 800Rs per month and she disappeared after taking the salary and the vessels are yet to be washed !! yuk... It was a great trip to home this time. Couldnt meet friends but could meet all relatives, get housing work done faster... FBL work is on hold for the road map to come out when Ananth returns from US sooner next week, until them i am on PADG and PODG (some new terms to learn).. And November has come... Appraisal time. Write down your accomplishments !!! Its really odd - I look back and i dont see what is an accomplishment. I just do that work and finish it and thats done !! but yeah... you need to take time, flip through some of your last year emails (open that damn .pst file) and then write down in... Lets see whats on the cards this time for me.. i dont know !!! I have been a jumping duck this year :) see ya in next post... gotta sleep now.. its 12.30 in the night for me.