Onsite!

The word holds tremendous depth. It's not just a word but a way of life. Its importance cannot be exaggerated for the plebs otherwise known as Software Engineers. You may wonder why I, time and again, revert to this unfortunate breed. I'm their lead bencher and I've lived my entire earning life being one of them! :)

When I joined Infy, I had no idea of the word's preponderance. I mean who would have imagined that it would be possible for a middle class person to go to "phoren" unless he got an excellent GRE & TOEFL scores (which I did) and a full scholarship (which I again did) and got his F-1 visa (which I did'nt; doubly comfirmed). Some of the folks I know did'nt get the first two but happily flew to the "phorenland" coz they had the third! The two visa rejections instilled this trepidation of "goras" in me; to the extent that I even started wondering whether I would ever clear ANY interview!

Gradually as I hopped jobs, the ANY interview fear was eradicated but the "gora" interview fear still clinged on. The intensity diminished though not because I grew in confidence but because slowly the realization dawned on me that a "phoren" trip may remain a dream after all. And it was not because of my performance. Far from it. I stood the 5th amongst 180 students despite having a Chemical Engineering background in the Infy evaluation exam which was administered after 4 months of intensive training. A nicely screwed up randomized system decides who goes into which project and its the project which decides an onsite opportunity. Well, it stayed this way for 3.5 years.

I then joined Capgemini and grew quickly into an indispensable resource. Honestly, I'd attribute my rise to the paucity of resources in the technology I work in. But then again, it never harms to grab a bit of credit :). I got this chance to work for a client in the UK. The place, London. The difference from earlier projects? This had an onsite opportunity! Yours truly unhesitatingly volunteered for the trip, submitted his passport and even got the visa! Where's the "gora" interview fear gone, you may ask. Sir, the time I applied for the UK visa, the Queen's embassy thought it quite unnecessary to conduct interviews. I should admit that I was shit scared till I got back my passport that my passport would contain a beautiful UK rejection. You have to ask my wife about the hell she underwent during the "uncertain" period. Fortunately, the stars and the company name worked in my favor and I undertook a lovely 3 month trip to London (more on the trip in another post).

I finally got the Onsite after 3.5 years in the Software Industry. A long period by any standards but I'd gotten it and that's what mattered. It is extremely important to have that first break. Everything automatically falls in place after that.

You know what? I no longer needed to crib about folks with lesser IQ being in foreign lands while I "languished" in India. Why, I even found out that the onsite thing is not as great as the never-been-abroad folks make it out to be. But then no one understands it based on hearsay. Experience is the ONLY teacher.