Farewell

It's 2 in the night, and there are some things that need to be said, nay written down. (Funny how everything I write, starts around 2 in the night). So today's my last day at Oracle. And I feel the obligation to cast my mind back to what the past 5 and half years have been.

17th June 2013 was the date I first started. Pooja, her dad, Vipin and I fresh from M.Tech (Or as fresh as one can be after PG) heading down to OTP for our orientation. I still remember chuckling inwardly at Uncle's well meaning but unintentionally racist(?) remarks ("You'll enjoy the food in south India for sure"). I remember the shirt I wore. I remember drawing up to the OTP building and getting out of the car. I remember entering the orientation room. I remember creating my first bank account. I remember blanking out when the HR (who turned out to be Alex incidentally) started to talk about finance and tax related stuff. I remember tall 6'3 Ashish introducing himself to us during tea break. I remember meeting Priyamvada and Niyati(?) for the first time. I remember being suitably impressed by the IIT tag (we're all conditioned to). I remember somebody asking whether the two were also staying in PSN, and I remember being surprised that one was still living at home with her parents. And that's because my world had drastically changed in a matter of few days, and though independence felt like the keen cold fresh mountain air on your face, it was also warm and comforting to know that people still went back to their parents, it felt like home.

I remember waiting for Pramod on the first floor of the NR Enclave building. I remember him taking me down to the ground floor and introducing me to Acharya (It was always a dilemma how to address him. Sasabindu Acharya. Doing so by his last name felt rude at that time. Calling him by his first was too inconvenient. It took me almost a year and a half to get used to this.) I remember I wasn't really nervous, even though half of what Acharya was explaining to me was going over my head. I remember getting introduced to Hemanth,Anusha and Bala. I remember wondering why Acharya was wearing a cap indoors. Was there some horrendous boil he was hiding. I remember logging into my first machine (slc03sxb.us.oracle.com). I remember being asked to install Enterprise Manager on the box. I remember terribly failing to do so. I remember Acharya getting mildly ticked off at my ineptitude. I remember being asked to open a VNC session. I remember asking politely over pidgin what a VNC session was. Apparently things were not off to a great start. I remember drafting a letter to Acharya saying that things weren't really working out and could he have somebody help me through the setup process. That kind of broke the ice between us and he was quite cordial after that, and has since been till now. I don't remember fixing my first bug. What I remember though is making a status update about while on the bus (Damn, I was stupid then). It's kind of bittersweet now you think about it. About how the passage of time trivializes your sense of achievement. I guess that what's growing old is all about.

I remember copying over a lot of music from Ramya's (Pooja's first roommate's HDD). I remember specifically copying Rolling Stone's 500 greatest songs track. And that playlist helped me a lot in setting me on my musical journey.

I remember Priyamvada and the rest of the PGBU folk chatting about Basketball and stuff in the pantry and desperately wanting to join in, but never being able to muster the courage to do so (Story of my life). But life, life works in mysterious ways man. I finally got in. Granted I had to go to Hogenakkal falls, contract a staph infection, almost die from MRSA, get a 6 inch incision on my leg to drain out the puss and be bedridden for three weeks to get in. But it was worth it. Thanks to my uncle in Hebaal and consequently sharing a cab with Archana because of that, connections were established and I was finally invited to join. And that's where I met Priyamvada properly for the first time and then by extension Aditi. And that's how Beatles and Basketball started. At least for me. Yep. Totally worth it.

But things now start to get fuzzy. I remember Bala leaving. I remember he sitting me down and telling me one of the reasons he was leaving was Acharya (Which was surprising to me, He was quite lenient towards me) that and the pay in Oracle sucked and how I'd never get a hike. I remember him leaving on April Fools Day. And despite what everyone thought of him (He was originally from QA, And developers seemed to always treat him with scorn, at least that's how I envision it) I was always held him in high regard. He had worked here for 6 years in total. And I was sad to see him go. I remember walking him to the gate, and then returning back with little bit of a heavy heart. But in the end it worked out in my favor after all. 4 had become 3 now and thus I was given more responsibility and more opportunity to learn.

I remember getting my first hike. 6th Oct 2014. 15%. I remember blathering to Pooja all about it. I remember basking in her adulation :"D. I remember thinking Oracle's not that bad a place to work after all. I remember talking to Amma and Appupa and everyone about it. Everyone was so happy.

Since everything here is workplace related, this does not necessarily fit in. But I bought my first guitar. 11th Oct 2014. AND I bought it because I'd got a hike. And I fervently thank the powers that be for how things progressed from there.

I remember Sriraam. I remember getting introduced to him via Vipin. I remember getting introduced to the rest of the gang. Jithin, Rohan, Sasi, Greena and Lakshmi. I remember getting floored by Lakshmi's then hazel eyes. They turned out to be colored contact lenses.

Vipin left. It was sad to see him go. But understandable in some sense.

I remember meeting Prerna, and consequently Harika and Abhilash and Sanchit.  Once again getting introduced through Basketball (Note to self. There might just be something here). I remember sitting in front of Aditi's car one evening, while everyone else tried to squeeze in the back as we made one of our sojourns to PSN to play BB. And I remember Prerna's roommate, Dimpy fitting into that car too. And that's how THAT phase of my life began. We'll leave it that, lest I lose my train of thought entirely.

We moved to PTP, and though it was far, we were hopeful that that place would have a basketball court that we could make full use. Unfortunately by the time it got ready there was no one left to play. And also the court dimensions sucked so not much grief over this.

I remember getting my second hike. Though I don't remember the date. 10 %. Though not exhilarated like the last time, I was satisfied. At least my work was being appreciated. I was doing something right.

I remember Anusha leaving for her maternity leave. The plugin team was just me and Hemanth now. Mallik was asked to join. And once again my responsibilities increased and I made use of that. Learned a lot during that time.

I remember Priyamvada leaving for higher studies and I remember feeling quite alone.

And then Hemanth left. And out of the original 4 (viz. Hemanth, Anusha, Bala and myself), it was just me that now remained. Mallik and I were the only ones left and I was given even greater responsibility. Even though I was far less experienced than him, I was naturally tasked with the more critical stuff having worked on the plugin for a longer time. Sometimes I think that's the reason why I'm leaving Oracle as late as now. Whenever I'd feel comfortable or complacent someone would leave, and I'd be asked to step in and learn more. I'd started kind of relishing that by now. Gitmaya Panda joined. And Gitmaya Panda got fired for not performing. I remember being asked by Acharya to put it quietly bluntly in his performance appraisal that he wasn't working out. I did feel little bad doing that, but it was the truth, and personally it was not a hill I was prepared to die upon, so I did so.

And life kind of continued for a while. I got promoted to IC3 and got my third hike. My highest yet (By yet, I mean yet then). 24%. 11 Nov 2016.  I remember I'd taken wfh that day and was watching Gangs of Wasseypur on my laptop, when I received the call from Acharya. That was one of the better conversations I've had on the phone. Remember going to Opus with the boys to celebrate.

Pooja and Ashish left in quick succession. So out of the four(viz. Pooja, Vipin, Ashish and me) I was the final one left still standing.

Work went one, there were good days and bad days. But overall things were pretty normal, until the later end of the year. It was hike season again and I was expecting a good amount this time around. After all that was the trend. And with me handling the lion's share of work in the team, I felt justified in my sense of entitlement. Unfortunately management didn't share my sentiment and I was overlooked for the first time in 4 years. It was quite disappointing. And it was around this time that I first seriously started considering leaving Oracle. But in the end I decided to give Oracle the benefit of doubt. I'd stick around for another year and if I'd not receive one the next year, I WOULD leave. (Honestly inertia and complacency could have been driving forces behind this decision too)

2018 came and half of it pretty much went in a whiz. Mallik left in April, and then there was one. I owned the entire plugin. And I quite enjoyed said ownership.

Dimpy left on the 7th of September 2018 and that was the end of an era of three gloriously cherished years.

Then came the final burst of work that I did for automation. Interesting work that really drove my stock up in the eyes of management. I was pretty certain that this year there was no way I would be overlooked for a raise. But the days went on and no news came. By November Anupam had got in touch with me about an opportunity at AT&T and right after that Sandip also got in touch with an opportunity at a startup called Unravel. So for the first time in 6 years I made a resume and sent it to Sandip. I went for my first interview in 6 years and through no merit of mine got through and got the job. And so it was time to finally move on. Everything happened in such a blink of an eye that I hardly had time to process it all. But hey that's life for you.

You know, In the almost 6 years I've worked here I've never seen Acharya without a cap on. I've always thought I'd ask him about this the day I left. But now that that day has come, I'd rather not. There's some charm in leaving a few mysteries unsolved innit.  

That's pretty much it. Honestly I started writing out this with the purpose of putting a few thoughts down about what to pen down in my farewell letter, but things kind of got away from me.

All in all I have always tried living my life with the objective of consciously minimizing the amount of regret I carry through life. I have been quite successful in this. And to date there's only one that actually stands out. And it's not even exactly regret. More like the intense curiosity about how life would have turned out had I chosen to do Masters in Data Science in IIIT Delhi, rather than opt for DTU (Silly). The only good thing that came out of DTU apart from making good friends like Pooja was getting a job. A job at Oracle.

The only reason why I don't quantify my decision as regretful is because what came of it. Had I not joined Oracle, I would not be here writing this. That's a pretty obvious statement. But what it hides is the personal development I've gone through in the past 6 years. While my academic pedigree sucks ass, all around I'm quite proud of how I've turned out (If I say so myself). The life experiences I've had would never been available to me had I chose to stay at home, and I feel I've evolved for the better because of them.

Another thing that I'd like to thank Oracle from the bottom of my heart would be the time it gave me to widen my horizons. I was afforded enough time to devote to pursuits such as health, fitness and most importantly music. So yeah comparatively, I might never earn as much as my peers, but I'm completely ok with that, given how much I've gained otherwise.

Yep. That's pretty much it.

So long and thanks for all the fish.

: )