My Personal VIX just Spiked

For those that are unaware, the VIX is a stock market index that tracks volatility in the stock market. It spikes higher when the market is uncertain about something or is concerned about an economic issue. That pretty much happens to me from time to time when it comes to Infosys. There are patches of stability surrounded by uncertainty. It's happened again. About two months ago, Starbacks tried to recruit a fellow Oracle Infoscion. Now they're after me. Starbucks is in Seattle. The nearest Ballys is on average 20 minutes away no matter where I live. I would have to start paying rent, maybe buy a new car... and I'll probably have to say goodbye to ice skating before I even started. For now, I must avoid this assignment at ALL cost. I am growing concerned.

Red Herring

Quick as a swift bear market rally, Cisco is out. The uncertainty lasted for a couple hours, but apparently the issue was quickly resolved. However, my timesheet manager informed my manager at HDS to put me on billable status as quickly as possible. Why the urgency? Who knows. As long as it doesn't lead to a layoff. That would be a disaster.

So Much For Stability

Haha... it figures. A day after I reviewed my year in India... touting the fact that the next year should have a newfound stability... I get a call today from my timesheet manager about a new development. So after that conversation, I have to be prepared for a call from Cisco about a billable position open to several candidates. Depending on the call, I could be imminently released from HDS and working for Cisco next week. Talk about the return of uncertainty. Since there are several candidates, all of whom probably have more experience, I still suspect that my chances of moving are less than 50%. But I've made predictions before and been totally wrong. Just look at last year. Hopefully this transfre will not affect my vacation plans... probably the only event that could ruin potentially ruin them.

Infosys, Life 1 Year After Joining

August 6, 2009 marked the 1 year anniversary of me flying to Atlanta and beginning a whole new life. August 11, 2009 marked the 1 year anniversary of me formally becoming an Infosys employee. I read through my old blog posts today to reminisce a little on my time in India. After a year, what have I learned of the company and the twist and turns during my trip in India up to now? Many things come to mind. Here are just a few thoughts:

1.) Since I trade in the stock market, I know a few things about volatility and uncertainty. Looking back on my posts, I have definitely say the uncertainty and volatility of my emotions was like the ride that the Dow and S&P took from Sept 2008 to Nov 2008. Straight drops in morale followed by periods of trying to look at hte bright side of things. I think I finally hit my emotional bottom on a post that was just 2 and a half weeks after I first arrived in India. It was the famous day that I will never forget, the day HR supposedly told us everything. Base location... work location, work unit, duration of stay, etc. Many of the emotions I felt on that day are not reflected in the post, actually I was surprised by how tame it sounded compared to how I actually felt (In reality, I felt like punching something and throwing up at the same time).
Many of these feelings came about from the rumors that we created before the announcement. At the time, we had no idea what we were talking about, so anything that sounded true (like no jobs in California) pretty much felt true. In restrospect, given my current situation, I can safely say that the emotions of that day and the rumors that were sparked up during the entire trip were a mixutre of miscommunication, a misunderstanding of our actual job, and due to the uncertainty of the situation, the need to create some idea of what our lives were going to look like in the future.
I can now conclude that 90% of the rumors I heard in when I was in India were false. I will consider that fact when accessing future rumors.

2.) It looks like my 2nd year at the company will be much less tumultuous than all of last year. Here's a chronicle of uncertainty that I felt last year:
- How am I getting paid?
- Where is my base location? And What is a base location?
- What is my job going to be like?
- Will I pass training?
- When am I going home?
- How much longer can I survive on the food in India?
- How long am I going to be on bench?
I pretty much projected (and therefore envisioned) myself to be in 10-15 different cities in the U.S. during the year. And in the end, I ended up where I wanted. Santa Clara, CA for the next 5-6 months. As Alex put it: "Your one of the lucky ones." Alex is currently in Dayton, OH after speding the previous 7 months on bench.

This year is poised to be much more stable. I now have a routine and it seems like the economy's improving (that's not what I really think) so barring a layoff, the next 6 months will be the polar opposite to much time in India. That might feel weird.

3.) The last year was split between a very exciting time (India) and a very boring time in my life (Bench in Fremont). When joining the company, I could not have forseen a 6-month period on bench. It was great, but very bad at the same time. Pros: No need to move, save money, plenty of time, continue with my gym membership.
Cons: I learned very little skills. No job experience. No one was in Fremont.

4.) I can only chuckle when I read the post about my lack of funds in India. Actually, the whole thing's pretty hilarious. Like a rags to riches storyline in some movie. What's actually funny is me tryng to live off 1000 Rs in a week and then 150 Rs in 3 days. Man... times were tough back then. No money, no food, and plenty of debt.... as in trying to pay back others who lent me money. This despite the fact that I had plenty of money stored in my U.S. accounts. I guess this was the only way I was gonna learn how being poor felt like. Those were the days...

5.) September 11, 2008 was the day that I last left a bunch of the friends I made in Mysore. As mentioned in previous posts, about 15 of them come to Hyderabad. What about the others? Except for Vishal, I haven't seen or talked to the rest of the guys. Whatever happened to Peter, Ryan, Steve, Paul, and Kwun? I know about Nick's fate. He quit 2-3 months into the whole experience.

6.) The Casualties: Nick, Sean, Sam, and Soham.
The 4 that have quit the company so far. There could be more, but unlike last year, the gossip has been slow. Either I have been shut out of the rumor mill, or there really isn't anything to talk about. But it got pretty good closing out year 1. In July, there was a huge dispute in the SAP unit on a billable project in Delaware. No one wanted to go there, which led to threats from the company for some sort of consequential action. Needless to say, Sarah is now gone and it seems like the issue was never resolved, but then again, I haven't been hunting for rumors lately.

7.) Highlights of the last year in no particular order except the first, which is my favorite:

- Meeting up with Alan and Jason in Hyderabad on the night I was leaving for India. Two great events. Too bad Alan got sick from the stuff that me and Joyce ordered. I don't know what his problem is, but we didn't have any problems ;)
- Singapore and Phucket with Jackson and Albert during Christmas. Great scenery, beaches and especially good food.
- Playing Starcraft in Mysore. Starcraft + Skype = Fun
- The entire Goa trip: Riding on the Scooters, visiting the Beaches, and looking for the beach party but ending up in a Casino (and seeing Izumi lose all his rupees), the route from the mainland to the casino (on that pointless boat), going to the nightclub/bar and meeting up with the other group (Mike, Sam, etc.) and very buzzed (slightly drunk) off two whisky shots and a Kingfisher beer. The scene with Me, Albert, and Izumi in some Indian food place (eating some kind of Naan Roll) after the bar was funny.
- Getting tailored clothing. I wish I got more!
- Playing frisbee almost everyday. Frisbee in Mysore was fun, but I definitely played the best in Hyderabad. Teams degenerated to the point were we usually played 3 vs 5. Jackson, Alex, and Me = Dream Team! It didn't help that Amjad suffered a season ending ankle injury.
- The last week of January and the first week of February in the Fremont office. It was cool seeing all the friends that I made in India, all in my hometown. Playing pool in the office and having lunch at the Mayflower stood out in particular. The party ended when Joyce left for Seattle and Venkat left for Concord. As of now, I haven't seen those two again.

It was a crazy year, one that may never be duplicated in terms of the highs and lows. I'm glad I was a part of it.

Looking forward... it appears most people are on shadowing projects, which involves gaining experience on the client site while in a non-billable status. Out of the people that came back with me to the Bay Area, only Izumi remains on bench. Me, Venkat and Liz were lucky enough to get projects in the Bay Area, but Mike was not so lucky. He relocated to Houston. Other relocations in ES: Alex to Dayton, Joyce to Seattle, Lan to Concord, David to Colorado, Nithya to Irvine, Cece to Plano. For eveyone of those situations, I realized I almost went to Chicago and then Charlotte: That could've been me.

That's reason enough for me to celebrate Year 2 of Infosys. Like the Facebook group I join, I Survived Infosys (so far). Cheers! (at least until the next crisis is dropped on me)

I Can Almost See the Finish Line...

Today marks the day where I have only one more month left in India... if I knew for sure that the date of departure is January 5. Unfortunately, as is the rest of my experience in India, I'm not entirely sure if I'm leaving on the 5th, 7th or 9th due to three separate emails with conflicting dates. I'm sure I'll know on the day I'm leaving. I have to know...right?

I have 4 more weeks of India, but only 3 more weeks of live project because of some plans I made for Christmas. The plan so far is to fly to Singapore, then Phuket (which is in Thailand) for 3-4 days, and then return to Singapore for another 4 days. The grand total of the trip should cost around $1000 if I include all expenses, which is fine if I pay it all in rupees. I'd still have about $800-$1000 left to spend (bring home). Originally we oscillated between Taiwan and Hong Kong, but both are extremely expensive and out of the way since the route through Thailand is out of the question due to a recent government uprising.

Now that the long cycle has graduated training, it looks like the US batch will be further split apart. Several will be in Bangalore, others will be in Pune, and last but not least, some are going to Mangalore, a place that smaller than Mysore. Some people know their U.S. locations already and it seems like this time its for sure. One person got Fremont and is working with Apple. Lucky guy... except he's from Seattle. In a twist of irony, a person in the same practice is from Fremont and ended up getting Seattle instead. Clear proof that preferences seem not to matter in the decision making.

I do have an update on my own location. The uncertainty is still there, but after having a talk with my Department Manager, it sounds like he's trying to get me in a project for Underwriter Labs (the group I'm currently working with now). That would put me in Chicago. But apparently I have somewhat of a choice, and that choice is Dallas, Texas. I suppose I should find that appealing, but not really. The last choice is working with Warner Music Group in Los Angeles, but apparently that project is completed and there's only maintenance work to be done there. He also through this nugget in there. There are usually plenty of jobs in the Bay Area, however because I was lucky enough to get hired during one of the worst economic downturns of the century, there have been no clients there. In normal times, I would probably be headed back home. However, he's where the possibilities stand:

Chicago: 66%
Dallas: 20%
Fremont: 14% (if I were to be benched upon return to the U.S.)

I guess I should mentally prepare for Chicago...

The Last Month In A Nutshell

The last 4 weeks have been defined by my training, especially the Oracle stream training.

Here's the good news: I passed the comprehensive exam, the post project, and cleared all the requirements of the training at Infosys, as has everyone else that's in fast track. There isn't any bad news, but let's just say the road the today was choppy at best.

With training complete, we finally received additional information about our future, but just for the remainder of our stay. I am staying in Hyderabad for the remainder of my stay in India. As of today, one person got sent to Bangalore and another was sent to Pune. 4 people do not know their fate yet.

I will participate in a project with "Warner" (Warner Brothers, Time Warner?) for the next two months. Let's examine the company that I am working with and how it affects my possible U.S. location. The project I work on in India may not be the same company I am working with in the U.S. but for hypothetical conjecture, let's see what possible locations I can be assigned to. Time Warner's headquarters is in New York, while Warner Brothers is in Burbank, California. But Warner has many division within its company so it's unclear which division I am working work. Looking on their website, it appears they have locations in New York, Los Angeles, Charlotte, Atlanta, and Washington D.C., all pretty big cities, so the possibility of being placed in a random place like Arkansas or Kansas is unlikely.

Why am I concerned about my U.S. location? With the deteriorating economic climate (It's a good thing I found a job before the recession was apparent), clients have been pulling back jobs which makes it harder for the company to honor our preferences. So far, two people have been placed in Arkansas, one in Topeka, Kansas and one will work in Dayton, Ohio. These were not the top choices for the respective trainees, which is why everyone has been "mentally preparing" for being banished to such boring states as Nebraska, Wyoming and Alaska. One thing I should note; none of the people above are in ES (which is my stream). The rest of the clients that people were assigned to are Cisco, Toshiba, PepsiCo and Emerson. I must note that Toshiba does have an office in Fremont.

ES Training

ES training for the Oracle stream has been a bit unorganized. Our instructors come straight off of project so they aren't always available, which means there have been many cancellations during the training. It didn't help that all 5 of the trainees in Oracle failed one of the module test 3 straight times. This led to a lot of discussion about the training material and the fairness of the test. We'll see how long cycle does because they have the same test on Monday.

Otherwise, the main problem with the stream training was the duration of the training. It felt rushed. Because of the rush, things got shuffled around and there was never a sense of structure. For example, I would frequently find myself studying 150+ slides on the night before a test. For the comprehension, we were basically given 1 day to go through about 500+ slides of material. Good Luck.

My remaining days in India

I am finally past the halfway mark of my stay in India. 3 months have passed and I have 2 more to go. I've spent more time in Hyderabad than I have in Mysore and I am glad to stay in Hyderabad because moving is such a hassle. I definitely would not have been able to fit all my clothes in my luggage this time around since I've gotten so many tailored shirts in Hyderabad. I basically don't try to think about my return to the U.S. because I know I'm gonna have to move somewhere and that's gonna be an even bigger hassle. It doesn't help that the company is going to tell me where I'm going in the first week of January. So far it's worked out so I'm hoping I will be placed in an acceptable location in the U.S. because as of now, there are so many different places I could end up. Here is the scope: I can be in any one of the 50 U.S. states or I could end up in London. That's right... London, it's already happened to one of us, so why not me?

My First Ever Basketball Tournament

It's hard to believe that my first experience playing in a real basketball game happened during my time in India. Yes, I've played pickup games at UC Davis and in junior high, but these games always lack something: Referees and Free Throws. Today, I played in the first game of a little mini-tournament setup by some of the workers at Infosys. The format is four 8-minute quarters. Our team was made up 8-9 U.S. batch members, so there are substitutions, which means I don't have to save my energy for the end of the games.

So there are 4 teams and each team plays each other once. The teams with the most wins move on to the finals, while the other 2 play in the 3rd place game. 4 of the members on our team are at least 6-feet tall, which is a bit of a mismatch for the other team. The other team had 1 player that like that.

So the game itself is scored on a a whiteboard and there's a person that keeps time and keeps track of our stats. Each game is officiated by 2 referees. Pretty good for an informal tournament. We jumped out to a 16-8 lead. I got tired near the end of the 2nd quarter and by then the other team was coming back. At halftime, I think the score was 18-12. I checked backed into the game halfway through the third quarter and by then the score was tied 18-18. While me and Barry were out, the offense got stagnant.

But we managed to pull away in the 4th quarter. I think I scored about 4 baskets, so it was a pretty good experience and it turned out to be a pretty good game. Next game is on Monday.

Long Cycle is Here

Long cycle is now here in Hyderabad and their initial review of the place is pretty positive. Many have expressed that there is a renewed sense of freedom here as I described when I first arrived here. Long cycle arrival has increased the amount of exercise I've gotten. The first thing they wanted to do was play frisbee on the cricket field which to my surprise, is allowed. No one had a problem with it. So today, I played frisbee to warm up and followed that up with the basketball game.

There is also talk about what we're going to do for the upcoming 4-day weekend, our only long weekend of the 6-month period. Some people are going to Thailand and others are going to Goa, which is in the west coast of India. Tickets are around 20,000 Rs. ($500) so it will be an expensive trip, which probably means it will be my only trip outside of Hyderabad (excluding the Taj Mahal). I have yet to make up my mind, but I'm leaning towards going to Goa. It should be fun.