Call from Syntel

After a detailed description of what my days during Engineering were like, it’s time to move ahead. First of all, I’m wrapping up my engineering college days by giving an official record of how I fared in the final year – getting a distinction for the first time in those four grueling years. Feels good to put it on my CV, to mention it to people, just like getting honoured for the efforts that you have put in all throughout the year.

After completing my Engineering degree in July 2005, now there were two options in front of me – either to prepare for CAT 05 or to join Syntel whenever they call. My parents did speak to me and suggested about going for the former, but I stuck to my decision of waiting for Syntel. I was looking forward to getting some work experience, to earn money on my own and was not particularly interested in studying right now for CAT as I had just come out of the war-like engineering days.

Time passed by and with each week, I was having plenty of fun, doing timepass, enjoying life to the fullest. Of course, I was waiting for the call from Syntel too, in the background. The first training batch started in SEEPZ (for those not familiar with Mumbai, SEEPZ is a SEZ in Andheri East, Mumbai where IT companies, diamond merchants, etc are located). At the same time, all campus recruits of Syntel came together on a YAHOO group having a common group page, email id, etc. We received regular updates on whatever was happening in the Induction Training Programme (ITP) in Syntel. It was a new kind of experience for me to learn about such things from this YAHOO Group technique, I thought in those days about it as just some new technique. I became aware of a lot of things like how the experiences of the first training batch were like, about the facilities given to them by Syntel, about the mysterious world of Mainframes, etc. It was getting exciting for me when I read more and more about it and I was waiting eagerly for my call. Of course, I preferred getting a call in Mumbai so that I would not have to go to another town for a period as short as 2 months of training.

Months passed by and now it was October 2005 already but still no call from Syntel. My Dad was reminding me of my decision of not going for CAT and he remarked that instead of doing the timepass that I was doing, I could have prepared for CAT. I knew he was right in his own way but I didn’t care much now as there was no going back from here – I stood firm by my decision of waiting for Syntel. The only concern was when would the elusive call for training come; I desperately hoped to get into Mumbai for the training.

Finally, I got a call a few days before October 18, 2005 as on that day there was a training batch to be starting in Pune, in the new Global Development Centre (GDC) of Syntel. Initially, I was happy to hear about the call. But then, I was slightly disappointed to know the batch was going to start in Pune. I asked them if they had any batch starting soon in Mumbai and this was out of sheer hope as well as some desperation to stay in Mumbai. They told me that they would let me know soon.

Luckily, I got a call again from Syntel after a few days on October 24, 2005 and this time, I was fortunate as the new training batch was going to start in Mumbai on October 27, 2005. I agreed to join them as soon as I heard about the training batch in Mumbai. Afterwards, I came to know that this was the last training batch to have training in Mumbai. Damn, I was so lucky!

Finally, it was on October 27, 2005 that I joined Syntel. I was to report on the Main Gate of SEEPZ at 8:30 in the morning. I prepared early as I had never been to that area before and I made sure I reached in time there. As soon as I reached the main gate, I contacted a friend of mine who also got a call from Syntel for the same training batch. She met me near the main gate; she was studying in the same class as mine during Engineering (that is, Computer Engineering). At the main gate, I met another 2 friends from my college – both of them were each other’s classmates (doing Electronics & Telecommunication Engineering). So, from our college, we 4 joined Syntel in the same training batch. We proceeded inside SEEPZ once a SYNTEL clerk came to visit us and he had brought our visitor gate passes in order to allow our entry into SEEPZ, which was a semi-government SEZ and so to get into the huge premises of SEEPZ, one needs a gate pass. We walked together through the vicinity and after around 20 minutes or so, we reached a building named SDF 3 (SDF means Standard Design Factory – simply put, it’s just a building where companies can lease office space in terms of a ‘UNIT’). Syntel was located in Units 89 and 96 in this SDF 3 building.

I’ll cut short the post now, as I enter inside this building and through the elevator, I reach Unit 96 on the third floor where the trainees are brought on the first day. The training classrooms are also located in this Unit 96. Each moment of my Syntel training batch experience will come in front of you but in my next post. Of course, there are plenty of things that I’ve not mentioned here. But what’s the fun in telling each thing right away? I term this time of my life as a part of my “Golden Period” as I’ve looked back and seen that it has been an enjoyable and rewarding experience.

If you feel that I’ve missed out on anything in this post, kindly provide your feedback and I’ll make sure I’ll write it in my next post.

Signing off now. See ya, friends!