Tuesday, May 31, 2005
Banging in Bangalore
Guinea Pig speaking
I am glad to call myself a guinea pig. Especially after having read the Hitchhiker's guide.I have a few reasons to do that. I was selected to be a fresher at the first and only Bootcamp organizedby ThoughtWorks.It all started when I was recruited back in Oct. The recruitment itself took a while but nevertheless ithas been exciting to be with this company.
I was being considered for a fresher developer position. It all worked out well in the end (after a set ofa rather long interviewing process - though the interviews were crisp and short). After doing better than I expectedI joined TW in November 04. I was then informed that I was visiting my home(India) for a bootcamp in Bangalore.The bootcamp was to last for 12-16 weeks where I was to be trained on the technologies like Agile and xp for the first fewweeks. Later I was to work on a project based in India.
It was nice to see some thoughtworkers on flight (Melissa, Jake and Warren)I was very much excited about this trip to India and the people I was to meet.We landed on Feb 12 2005 and were greeted by Neena and Kerri our facilitators and babysitters for the bootcamp.It was nice to meet Shane Ian and Peter. Nice of them to recieve us even though they had arrived the previous nite.
We had an introductory lunch at TGIF's(yes we have them in India now and one of them is just across from the office).Met a few more bootcampers.Was a little confused with who was what. That same day we had a visit planned to the airshowbeing held in Bangalore. The 2.5 hour bus ride more than tiring. We reached just in time before the end of the airshow. Couldsee a few acrobatics in the air. Not really exciting but got to meet and chat with few interesting bootcampers(Chris, Shane,Michelle and Tom(who was my flatmate)).
Rest of the bootcampers from abroad arrived Saturday and we had a chorum breakfast planned for them Sunday morning. We also met afew of the India office recruits(Srushti, Sharath and Vipul). Met KP(Kraig) for the first time. Found out what the hand sign meant(o///).We had TWI office dinner and a gift exchange in the evening. Gift exchange was really innovatively done.All of were asked to bring one gift peculiar to our home country and all of those gifts were collected on a table.Everyone of us were given a token number which was to be our turn on the gift selection. The rule was that anyone with a higher number couldsnatch a gift from anyone with a smaller token number. The one who loses his/her gift could choose another one from the table(which couldagain be snatched). Neill managed to get a set of elephants the first time. But they were so cute and typical of an Indian giftthat everyone after him wanted the same and were snatching them. But everytime Neill lost a set of elephants and he selected another giftfrom the table.. it turned out to be another set of elephants. And this happened so many times that in the end people stopped snatching them fromhim. He was just destined to get one of those.It was nice to see so many people after being the Chicago office and working from home for a couple of months.Now I knew ThoughtWorks really was made of people. And everyone of those was as exciting as the other one.
Bootcamp was to start on Monday at the Leela Palace. This was to be my first time to go into a Leela hotel. It was such a nice place - well decorated..and very prestigious. I could have only dreamt of going there.Bootcamp started with a lot of excitement. I remember even now the look on Ninna's face. She was a little scared but more excited about the fact thebootcamp was starting. I could see that the facilitators were jittery at the start and may be worried but things started on a realgood note and the kick off session went really well
Please pardon my laziness. This post has seen the light of the day with a lot of effort (and beating my procastination is a 'lot' of effort). Also be patientwith this blog if u are following this closely(why are u doing that? obviously you have nothing better to do.. so I think u can be patient...U could try to bug me about it... which if I realize early enough will be ignored.. so will be a waste anyway)
signed on 15th June 2005
Just Read and recommended
Blink and The Tipping Point - Malcolm Galdwell
The purple cow - Seth Godin
Good to Great - Jim Collins
same words different language - Barbara Annis
Reading
Advanced .NET Remoting
Jini -
Guns, Germs and Steel - Jared Diamond
I am glad to call myself a guinea pig. Especially after having read the Hitchhiker's guide.I have a few reasons to do that. I was selected to be a fresher at the first and only Bootcamp organizedby ThoughtWorks.It all started when I was recruited back in Oct. The recruitment itself took a while but nevertheless ithas been exciting to be with this company.
I was being considered for a fresher developer position. It all worked out well in the end (after a set ofa rather long interviewing process - though the interviews were crisp and short). After doing better than I expectedI joined TW in November 04. I was then informed that I was visiting my home(India) for a bootcamp in Bangalore.The bootcamp was to last for 12-16 weeks where I was to be trained on the technologies like Agile and xp for the first fewweeks. Later I was to work on a project based in India.
It was nice to see some thoughtworkers on flight (Melissa, Jake and Warren)I was very much excited about this trip to India and the people I was to meet.We landed on Feb 12 2005 and were greeted by Neena and Kerri our facilitators and babysitters for the bootcamp.It was nice to meet Shane Ian and Peter. Nice of them to recieve us even though they had arrived the previous nite.
We had an introductory lunch at TGIF's(yes we have them in India now and one of them is just across from the office).Met a few more bootcampers.Was a little confused with who was what. That same day we had a visit planned to the airshowbeing held in Bangalore. The 2.5 hour bus ride more than tiring. We reached just in time before the end of the airshow. Couldsee a few acrobatics in the air. Not really exciting but got to meet and chat with few interesting bootcampers(Chris, Shane,Michelle and Tom(who was my flatmate)).
Rest of the bootcampers from abroad arrived Saturday and we had a chorum breakfast planned for them Sunday morning. We also met afew of the India office recruits(Srushti, Sharath and Vipul). Met KP(Kraig) for the first time. Found out what the hand sign meant(o///).We had TWI office dinner and a gift exchange in the evening. Gift exchange was really innovatively done.All of were asked to bring one gift peculiar to our home country and all of those gifts were collected on a table.Everyone of us were given a token number which was to be our turn on the gift selection. The rule was that anyone with a higher number couldsnatch a gift from anyone with a smaller token number. The one who loses his/her gift could choose another one from the table(which couldagain be snatched). Neill managed to get a set of elephants the first time. But they were so cute and typical of an Indian giftthat everyone after him wanted the same and were snatching them. But everytime Neill lost a set of elephants and he selected another giftfrom the table.. it turned out to be another set of elephants. And this happened so many times that in the end people stopped snatching them fromhim. He was just destined to get one of those.It was nice to see so many people after being the Chicago office and working from home for a couple of months.Now I knew ThoughtWorks really was made of people. And everyone of those was as exciting as the other one.
Bootcamp was to start on Monday at the Leela Palace. This was to be my first time to go into a Leela hotel. It was such a nice place - well decorated..and very prestigious. I could have only dreamt of going there.Bootcamp started with a lot of excitement. I remember even now the look on Ninna's face. She was a little scared but more excited about the fact thebootcamp was starting. I could see that the facilitators were jittery at the start and may be worried but things started on a realgood note and the kick off session went really well
Please pardon my laziness. This post has seen the light of the day with a lot of effort (and beating my procastination is a 'lot' of effort). Also be patientwith this blog if u are following this closely(why are u doing that? obviously you have nothing better to do.. so I think u can be patient...U could try to bug me about it... which if I realize early enough will be ignored.. so will be a waste anyway)
signed on 15th June 2005
Just Read and recommended
Blink and The Tipping Point - Malcolm Galdwell
The purple cow - Seth Godin
Good to Great - Jim Collins
same words different language - Barbara Annis
Reading
Advanced .NET Remoting
Jini -
Guns, Germs and Steel - Jared Diamond
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