Campus to Corporate – A smooth transition

Update: 600 Mindtree Minds in one snap!

I had been waiting quite eagerly for this transition to happen. The defining moment finally arrived on the 15th of October, when MindTree successfully assimilated 600 of the 1000+ MindTree minds (around 400+ had been assimilated during July); they had recruited this academic year. It was quite a memorable day, as were stepping out of the campus arena in to in to the so-called corporate arena. I was curious, anxious and above all thrilled to the core. The specialty of our batch is that; we are the largest batch ever to be assimilated by MindTree in one take!

Day 1: The Induction Day - 15th October 2007

The induction day was scheduled on 15th of October at Good Shepherd auditorium on the residency road at Bangalore. I reached the venue along with many other fellow MindTree minds at around 8:20 a.m. The special thing about this whole induction program was that even the parents were invited to attend this event. It was their way of building a rapport with the parents of their employee’s, right from day 1. After a quick tea/coffee session, all of us were guided in to the auditorium. I must confess that Good Shepherd auditorium is a pretty spacious and a neatly built auditorium in terms of acoustics.

I managed to find a place to sit in the last row of the auditorium with my friends from B.I.E.T., more for the reason that I moved in late, rather than by choice. The day kick started with the usual rituals like lighting the lamp, invocation etc. We were presented with a video that showed the activities that take place every year at MindTree. It also had some memorable snaps of the Technical Fest called ‘Osmosis’, where people showcase their technological brilliance. It was conceived and developed by the July 2007 batch. I think they had done quite a commendable job, as it succeeded radiating true colors of MindTree to a great extent. It was followed by a back to back addressing by the big shots of MindTree. They also played an enlightening video on ‘safety in Bangalore’. There was also this 20 odd minute video footage of ‘Making of MindTree’, which showed some of those defining moments in the history of its making. I really loved the way they had conceived the notion of telling their story (narrated by Subroto Bagchi and S. Janakiraman alternatively) to the rest of the world. At this point in time I would like to share a fact. Some of those people, who built this ‘institution’, hail from the most ordinary family back grounds. But they had extraordinary dreams to fulfill in life. After the video was played, we had 2 of the MindTree minds who joined in July 2007 sharing their experiences at MindTree. It was followed by a Q&A session with the parents. All the questions raised by parents were answered satisfactorily, irrespective of their triviality. After the Q&A session was completed, there was an arrangement made for the parents to visit the MindTree’s new West Campus. In the mean while the rest of us broke for lunch.

The post lunch session was the most eagerly anticipated one, simply for the reason that Mr. Subroto Bagchi was to address the campus minds on the topic, ‘Mission, Vision and Values’. I had read a lot about Subroto, but hadn’t had the opportunity to hear him before. The anchor introduced him saying that, “The next person we would have on stage prefers himself to be called as a thinker rather than an excellent orator”. Trust me, after listening to him; I was convinced of one thing, Subroto was a perfect combination of both these virtues. Subroto began the session with a crisp definition of Mission, Vision and Values and clearly differentiated what they meant in MindTree’s context. He crystallized beautifully, the real meaning of MindTree’s DNA, Imagination, Action and Joy. He also shared with us the interesting story of how MindTree got its ‘living’ logo. He also spoke on the CLASS values of MindTree and explained them in great detail. He managed to be extraordinarily charismatic in spite of the fact that the content he presented was extremely candid. They call this whole process assimilation because they ensure that each and every campus mind that joins MindTree assimilates all those values of MindTree and respects them.

After he was done with the presentation, I was convinced why I had some real good reason to take pride in calling myself a MindTree mind. In his close to a 30 minute presentation, Subroto had made it loud and clear that at any point in time at MindTree, a ‘breach of integrity’ is always gonna land you out of their family and nowhere else. In today’s corporate world where producing doctored resumes, medical bills, furnishing manipulated work experience details or even collaborating during the internal assessments at a work place during training period, have become a norm, MindTree has taken a bold step of never to entertain any such acts. If you are ever found to be involved in any such acts at MindTree, trust me; you would have your termination letters in your hand, latest by that evening. It’s as black and white as that, no matter who you are and what is at stake, we simply don’t care! There are no shades of grey at MindTree. We at MindTree believe that integrity comes first and then comes the rest. That’s exactly the reason why we prefer to call ourselves an institution, rather than an XYZ company.

His presentation was followed by a Q&A session with campus minds, where we shot a lot of questions at Subroto. (I also learnt the first lesson of my corporate life in that session. You don’t address anyone as ‘sir’ in the corporate world. Subroto made it pretty clear that he or in fact anyone in the company should be addressed by his/her first name. Trust me; it’s pretty difficult for someone coming out of that typical college mindset to get used to this. I’m gradually getting used to calling people at my work place, by their first names.) I consider it my privilege to get this golden opportunity to interact with Subroto, because it happens pretty rarely that you get to interact with these biggies, in person. Unfortunately we couldn’t get to hear from our Ashok Soota, as he wasn’t available for some reason. But what was really good about the whole session was that Subroto, in spite of his busy engagements, as usual, had managed to take his time off and arrived there in person to convey the whole idea on which MindTree stands, in the clearest possible words. I feel that this kind of one-to-one mapping of the employees at MindTree is what brings in them, a sense of belonging to a single family! I know that it’s all possible because of that fact we are still a growing company as compared to other oldies in the arena. But I’m sure that our management is really working out in building models to maintain this directivity, as we continue to grow every year.

The later part of the day was dedicated to some wonderful dance numbers, light humor (a.k.a pjs) and some vocal treat. It was real fun! We left the auditorium at about 6 p.m. with the kits that MindTree had provided.

Day2: Paper work! (Actually day 1 at MTW*) - 16th October 2007

The second day was probably the most tiring one as we spent it completely in furnishing all the necessary information on their database, creating employee IDs, opening bank accounts and so on and so forth. So I’m not gonna bore you more on this. Ha Ha… (Isn’t that really kind of me?)

Day 3 & 4 (At V’s place and at my room in the accommodation at BTM) – 17th & 18th October 2007

Two days were reserved exclusively for campus minds who hadn’t managed to find an accommodation for themselves in Bengaluru yet. MindTree had arranged for a meeting with brokers, who were to help the campus minds to find an accommodation for themselves in Bengaluru. I was quite fortunate, because I had already done with this house hunting stuff. So I had been to V’s place and we watched that nail biting match between India and Australia on Wednesday and shopped a bit at Marathalli on Thursday.

Day 5: (Actually day 2 at MTW*) - 19th October 2007

There were a lot of things pending and left unfulfilled. Some of the campus minds hadn’t received the kits on the day of induction that contained MindTree’s T-shirts and other necessary stuff. Since there was a photo session scheduled that evening, getting a T-shirt, along with the other stuffs like ID cards topped the chart. The other activities involved registering for the cab facility provided by them, getting house loan deposit cheque etc. Another important activity of the day was 'allocation of house' to each MindTree mind. They group MindTree minds in to 3 houses during the learning period. There are basically 3 houses at MindTree, Imagination, Action and Joy. I’m in to Joy. I think it suits my character very well! He He… (I will write more about this house allocation and all the fun stuff associated with it, regularly on my blog. Keep tracking this space closely.) We also had those 'inevitable evils', the people from Vodafone, who had come over with their ever confusing tariff plans, to woo some fresh corporate babus, while at the same time to ensure that they retained their existing customer base. Many of my friends applied for a corporate connection. I opted for a conversion from pre-paid tariff plan to a post paid plan, because I didn’t want to mess up with my current contact number. Bhool gaya, AirTel waale bhi aarahe hain Monday ko!

The real thing to watch out for was the photo session which was scheduled to be carried out, anytime between 5p.m. to 6p.m. at the Café Coffee day in the West Campus. Everyone was pretty curious to see how the photographer would be able to capture all the 600 MindTree minds in one snap!! The defining moment finally arrived at around 5:45 p.m., when we everyone gave one of those million-dollar happy dent smile!! It was surely a memorable moment and will go down in to the history books of MindTree as the largest batch of MindTree ever to be captured in one frame! After posing patiently for approximately half a dozen of retakes, we were asked to disperse. Adi had brought her camera with which we managed to click a few memorable pics. (I also managed to get a solo snap of mine. I shall post it shortly.)

If I was to put my experience till date at MindTree, I would prefer to say this; if you are looking for a career and not merely a job, then MindTree should really top your charts!

*MTW – MindTree West Campus.

PS: I’m planning to share with you, the life stories of a few exceptional people at MindTree, who inspire everyone around here, as we continue to grow as one large family. I will finalize the blue print of the format of the same and shall publish them in my subsequent posts. Hope they manage to inspire you as well. Till then it’s me wishing you all, a happy and a colorful dusshera. Enjoy madi!!

~IT's My Life