25

Today marks the Silver jubilee of my professional journey. Hey-ho, my grey hair might be suggestive of a Golden jubilee.

I joined Cybermedia in Pune straight out of college on July 20, 1998. I vividly remember everything that transpired that day, the long drive, the welcome and the dozen odd programming assignments that we, bunch of college grads were given part of training. Cybermedia/Ensim helped build a solid foundation that has stood me in good stead to date.

To be honest, my move to McAfee, Network Associates, Inc. then and to Bengaluru happened by chance in Sep 2002. I wanted to experience living in another city, be by myself and work in a Public company. I have had the fortune to have worked at a startup, McAfee - public company in Cybersecurity space that went through multiple M&As and most recently at Epsilon - in the AdTech/MarTech space, a fully owned subsidiary of public company Publicis Groupe. 3 employers in 25 long years isn’t too bad. I’ll take that.

The journey so far has of course been satisfying, rewarding and most importantly full of learnings. The top 25 that come to my mind, not in any order.

1. Just do it, or ‘get it done’ as you get senior
2. Raise your hand and volunteer to new/uncomfortable tasks
3. Why change if it isn’t broken. This actually applies to the job, source code and many things in life
4. Understand the ‘Why’ in ‘What’ you are doing
5. Not all battles are worth fighting
6. You work for the Company first, then the business group and finally the Manager. Do the right thing
7. Get better in how you communicate, look for opportunities to sharpen
8. Delegate and trust
9. Hire people smarter than you
10. Stay humble, surrounding yourself with smart people will automatically help with this
11. Also network outside of your group, you’ll get rich perspectives
12. Get multi-dimensional, just work/job shouldn’t define you
13. You get what you deserve, believe in karma - it’s a bitch
14. Focus on your health, commit an average of 5 hours of exercise per week, more the better
15. Diversify your investments, let your money work for you 
16. Never refuse work travel anywhere. Go see places, experience culture and make friends. I recall putting my hand up to an opportunity to visit Riyadh, it’s another matter the trip didn’t materialize. I have been fortunate to have had a fair share of travel
17. Invest in and pay attention to employees joining straight out of college. They are underrated, they have delighted me every single time over many years
18. Have patience (समय से पहले भाग्य से ज्यादा कुछ नहीं मिलता)
19. Work to your role. If you are a Manager don’t also try and be a Developer. Learn to let go and focus on what you ought to
20. Challenge people you work with, bring out their best
21. Have fun! Whether it’s drinking single Malt or a solo cycle ride or running
22. Be committed, do what you say
23. Do charity, I do a fair bit, but I can surely do more
24. Don’t write-off reserved/quiet people, always lean in and get them talking
25. Own up, never hurts apologizing

If you reached thus far, I appreciate you reading this blog. Thank you!