Nearly two years ago, Orange turned pink. Now, pink is preparing to make way for red and this time, it's not just the colour. The vibrant pink tristars of Hutchsion Essar logo are set to change to a speech bubble of dominant red colour, the rademark brand of Vodafone.
Reliance Communications became the fifth largest firm by market capitalisation on Wednesday as its market cap went over Rs 1,10,000 crore. The telecommunication company is now placed ahead of IT majors TCS and Infosys (The shining stars a year ago on the stock markets took a beating as the rupee strengthened against the dollar and IT Stocks made way for their Telecom counterparts).
We faced 50 % attrition in my team. My Manager recruited 3 of us including myself. Choosing Hutchison Essar over Cognizant was no Herculean task really - little unaware of what was in store for me. My manager resigned and my fellow teammate whose referral I was, soon followed suit. Even tough the management confided in the Fact that this project has the highest visibility and a large capex, it was imperative that it go live and we stay put, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't insecure. Thanks to the acquisition by Vodafone, the project came to a standstill. Rumors are still doing the rounds that IT will soon be a part of IBM. So truly while IBM still continues to be my Dream Company, I doubt if it really has to offer me that Dream Job.
I have assimilated oceans of information in these 2 months than what I did in the past 4 years and most surprisingly I don't demonstrate even a 3rd of the amount of knowledge that my peers possess. That just goes on to show how much more there is to learn when you are associated exclusively with an IT arm of the world's largest Telecom Player courtesy – "DOMAIN KNOWLEDGE". Telecom boasts of a long term growth story from the Stock Market Perspective & is one of the biggest Verticals for a few IT/ITES/BPO Services firms. What surprises you as an Integration Specialist is the humongous amounts of data volumes that need to be exchanged and transacted in real time across close to 15 heterogeneous IT systems to include the variants of Billing, Fraud Management, Revenue Assurance, Mediation and Interconnect - just to name a few.
While the timelines for the phased implementation still remain undecided, I am caught doing the balancing act of scaling up on gaining thorough knowledge of the Telecom Domain and getting hands on WebSphere Business Integration Product Suite – Business Modeler, Integration Developer, Process Server & Business Monitor to be very specific. When I decided to separate from one of India's famously growing IT Services Company, I laid my focus on getting back to my 1st passion [read EAI] coupled with the domain of Financial Services, Telecom being second on my wish list and IT Services Companies strictly excluded. That left me with very little options to even apply, let alone qualify for my favored profile. Fortunately, Hutch thought I was made for the Job Profile they had a requirement for. This was indeed the role, the technology, the domain, the brand, [not to mention the pay package too] that fitted perfectly into my framework of requirements - why then do I still express concern – probably because I joined with an additional perk of being automatically migrated to being a Vodafone employee soon– but now uncertainty prevails – thanks to rumors of IT being outsourced to IBM.
I delivered a presentation along with my teammate yesterday, on the SOA based integration approach for integrating the Operational and Business Support systems of Hutch. The inquisitiveness and the response was truly overwhelming. For the 1st time in these two months I felt as tough we were the centre of attention for all the right reasons. It's an IT arm of 150 people – small by any standards compared to an IT Services Giant – who has dedicated development/support centers that boast of almost the same numbers. But this is also precisely what makes working here a phenomenal experience.
So while the lower / middle management convinces us about the pros of being a part of the world's largest Consulting & IT Services organization, I pull up my socks yet again and put my best foot forward to prove my worth to a new management/team yet again.
Reliance Communications became the fifth largest firm by market capitalisation on Wednesday as its market cap went over Rs 1,10,000 crore. The telecommunication company is now placed ahead of IT majors TCS and Infosys (The shining stars a year ago on the stock markets took a beating as the rupee strengthened against the dollar and IT Stocks made way for their Telecom counterparts).
We faced 50 % attrition in my team. My Manager recruited 3 of us including myself. Choosing Hutchison Essar over Cognizant was no Herculean task really - little unaware of what was in store for me. My manager resigned and my fellow teammate whose referral I was, soon followed suit. Even tough the management confided in the Fact that this project has the highest visibility and a large capex, it was imperative that it go live and we stay put, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't insecure. Thanks to the acquisition by Vodafone, the project came to a standstill. Rumors are still doing the rounds that IT will soon be a part of IBM. So truly while IBM still continues to be my Dream Company, I doubt if it really has to offer me that Dream Job.
I have assimilated oceans of information in these 2 months than what I did in the past 4 years and most surprisingly I don't demonstrate even a 3rd of the amount of knowledge that my peers possess. That just goes on to show how much more there is to learn when you are associated exclusively with an IT arm of the world's largest Telecom Player courtesy – "DOMAIN KNOWLEDGE". Telecom boasts of a long term growth story from the Stock Market Perspective & is one of the biggest Verticals for a few IT/ITES/BPO Services firms. What surprises you as an Integration Specialist is the humongous amounts of data volumes that need to be exchanged and transacted in real time across close to 15 heterogeneous IT systems to include the variants of Billing, Fraud Management, Revenue Assurance, Mediation and Interconnect - just to name a few.
While the timelines for the phased implementation still remain undecided, I am caught doing the balancing act of scaling up on gaining thorough knowledge of the Telecom Domain and getting hands on WebSphere Business Integration Product Suite – Business Modeler, Integration Developer, Process Server & Business Monitor to be very specific. When I decided to separate from one of India's famously growing IT Services Company, I laid my focus on getting back to my 1st passion [read EAI] coupled with the domain of Financial Services, Telecom being second on my wish list and IT Services Companies strictly excluded. That left me with very little options to even apply, let alone qualify for my favored profile. Fortunately, Hutch thought I was made for the Job Profile they had a requirement for. This was indeed the role, the technology, the domain, the brand, [not to mention the pay package too] that fitted perfectly into my framework of requirements - why then do I still express concern – probably because I joined with an additional perk of being automatically migrated to being a Vodafone employee soon– but now uncertainty prevails – thanks to rumors of IT being outsourced to IBM.
I delivered a presentation along with my teammate yesterday, on the SOA based integration approach for integrating the Operational and Business Support systems of Hutch. The inquisitiveness and the response was truly overwhelming. For the 1st time in these two months I felt as tough we were the centre of attention for all the right reasons. It's an IT arm of 150 people – small by any standards compared to an IT Services Giant – who has dedicated development/support centers that boast of almost the same numbers. But this is also precisely what makes working here a phenomenal experience.
So while the lower / middle management convinces us about the pros of being a part of the world's largest Consulting & IT Services organization, I pull up my socks yet again and put my best foot forward to prove my worth to a new management/team yet again.
As they say Change is the only constant – so be it – the one who adapts to it fastest, emerges the winner [the same philosophy and the very purpose that SOA finds place in today's architectural landscapes]
Wishing you Luc
- Sayli
- Sayli
