How My First Job Experience Shaped My Professional Career

Valuable lessons learned in the times of India’s biggest corporate fraud and a recession.

This month, I am going to complete fifteen years of work experience in the IT industry. In this one and a half decades of my professional career, I have worked for three different multinational companies.

Looking back — each of these companies has provided me with plenty of opportunities and a great deal of experience to grow personally and professionally.

Throughout one’s career, the first job always holds a special place in memory and has the biggest impact on shaping the professional future.

I started my career at Satyam Technologies. Campus placement during my final semester of engineering helped me secure the job. It provided a great start to my career as, at that time, Satyam used to be one of the top four Indian IT service providers.

Through Satyam, I got to work for Merrill Lynch as my first client. I worked as a developer for ML. After nearly two years of working for ML, I moved to New York to work for Citigroup as a client.

Working with both the financial behemoths provided me with an excellent learning experience.

I used to get 5 out of 5 ratings in all the annual performance appraisals. When my friends were all switching jobs (with a much better package than what I was making) due to either not getting an expected hike/rating or not getting promoted — I continued with Satyam. I worked hard and maintained my 5-star rating year over year.

It was all going great for me, and then the 2008 recession happened. I returned to India and continued working for Citigroup from Bangalore office. Every day there was news about job losses and firing, but I kept my focus on doing my job sincerely. In the same year performance assessment, I maintained my 5-star performance rating and got the second promotion during my tenure in Satyam.

Lesson Learnt: Do not let the job market condition and the economic environment impact your performance. Continue delivering to the best of your ability and stand out from the rest — you can survive through any crisis and even outperform others.

Within a year of the 2008 crisis, Satyam’s founder got caught up in financial fraud, and with an open letter to Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), he disclosed the fraud in the company. The company was immediately taken over by a committee formed by the government and eventually acquired by Tech Mahindra within a few months.

Satyam’s financial scandal was the biggest corporate fraud in India.

When Tech Mahindra took over, it was a management mess as, at that time, they were a much smaller IT company in comparison to Satyam’s employee strength and processes. They lacked the know-how of how to manage such a large employee base with the clients pulling out their projects in the flock.

Tech Mahindra started reallocating erstwhile Satyam employees to projects they already had in alliance with British Telecom. They will randomly pick employees and allocate them to any project anywhere in India without consideration of the employee’s job profile or current work location.

During this mess, I got a call from the company’s HR about an open position in Kolkata. When I asked about the technical experience required for the job, HR had no idea about it other than it is something related to the telecommunication domain. He directed me to go and report in the Kolkata office, and then I will come to know the details once I start working on the project.

I felt that this was the technique company was using to fire the employees and still not look like laying off employees en masse after the acquisition. The company was providing random assignments outside of the employee’s current work location. There was no prior interview or job profile match for the project. If the employee declines the offer to relocate and join the project, then they use that as a reason for termination.

Lessons Learnt: You never know when the company policies will stop working for you. Always be prepared for eventuality by keeping yourself abreast with current market trend in your profession.

At that time, I had moved from Hyderbad office to Bangalore office around 20 days back. I was not ready to move 1800KM again, from southern India to the Eastern part of India for a project I had no clue either about the job responsibilities or the technology used.

But I did not directly say ‘NO’ to the HR as that would have given an excuse for them to put me in the layoff list. I was not ready to let go of the job when I did not have any other offer in my hand. I asked HR to give me a week to think through the relocation proposal and get back to him.

I already had my resume ready in job portals, but the recession was still making it very difficult to get any fruitful calls for an interview. I was not serious in my job search before this event, but now I was not ready to move to a new location with an uncertain project to work with either.

I immediately started seriously looking for a job in my current city.

Lessons Learnt: Do not accept an offer that you are not comfortable with. Put in your best effort to find a better solution within the given circumstances.

The same weekend, I got a call for an interview from a company called Ness Technologies. I gave a couple of technical rounds on a Saturday and cleared the Manager and HR round on Monday. The HR offered me a thirteen percent increase to my current package, and I accepted it without negotiation.

When the HR asked when I can join the company, I told her that I could join in three days if they can release the offer letter the same day. HR was more than happy to oblige as they don’t have to wait longer for me to join.

The offer was way less than what goes for 3+ years experienced candidates in the IT industry, but I was not in a position to negotiate. I needed the job offer desperately. This experience taught me my lesson to not wait till the last moment for searching for a job — and it helped me later in my career when I decided to switch the job for the second time.

Lessons Learnt: Do not wait till you are desperate to find a new job. Desperation will not help you have the upper hand during the offer negotiation.

This was the first time in my career I was switching jobs, and getting the offer in a couple of days of seriously looking out brought massive confidence in me.

The next day I went to the office and discussed with my reporting manager that I want to put the paper. He was happy to learn about it — he told me that managers had got targets from the company to reduce headcount by a certain percentage in a given timeframe. Any employee putting the paper on their own was making it easier for him to achieve the target without him having to fire people randomly.

Mine resigning on my own was a win-win situation for the manager and me.

I remember trying hard to hold back my tears but unable to do so — sitting at the back seat of a public transport bus, on my way back home

The last day when I left Satyam’s office after completing my exit formalities, it was quite emotional for me. I remember trying hard to hold back my tears but unable to do so — sitting at the back seat of a public transport bus, on my way back home.

I was happy that I did not have to relocate to Kolkota for a blind project, but on the other hand, I was sad leaving my first company. I never imagined in the previous three and a half years that I will be exiting the company in such circumstances.

My first job has provided me with a great foundation to build my career — both personally and professionally. The experience I gathered during those first three years of my career is still invaluable to me. The confidence it instilled in me due to the continuous outstanding performance I delivered helps me even to this date.

Lessons Learnt: The conviction that comes from having a great start to your career and solid work experience is going to help you sail through tough times in your professional career.

Whether you are fresh out of college and starting your job or you already have a couple of years of experience under your belt, always make the best out of your initial years of career. Work passionately and give your sincere effort to the job as it is going to shape your future.

The knowledge you acquire and the confidence you gather in these initial years is going to help you excel throughout your career for the rest of your professional life.