Missing My Mentors

Throughout my career, I've been extremely lucky to have great mentors ...


During my Wipro days
I had Sujatha (aka Suj) to give me timely inputs, thoughts and suggestions. She was someone who I could approach with my concerns and not only would she help me find a resolution to it - she also assisted me molding my thought process to arrive at those results on my own.

Another important person during my stay there is Farzana (aka Farzi). Although her presence and role in my life wasn't as extensive as Sujatha's - she too had a turnkey role in it.


During my Oracle days
I had Sameer - who, in my honest opinion, was my best mentor so far. It is from him I learnt a lot of things about how to make a mark in the corporate world. I observed and learnt all the things - right from "What To Say And Do" all the way to "Whom To Influence" - from him. In short - from whatever I've learnt from him - I hope to someday make it big as a manager.

And I can never thank Pradhan (aka pvaramba) enough for all the technical mentoring he has provided. It is from him I learnt the art of how to approach and solve any technical problem - even if you have no clue on what it is. In my honest opinion, he is the most humble techno savvy person I have met. Although this guy really knows his shit - I'd say - his primary strength is not his technical superiority, but rather, his willingness to help people around him scale up to his level of knowledge.
(Seriously - never once have I seen him ridicule anyone about their lack of knowledge in anything, and he's always ready to spend as much time as needed to get things into your head!)




But, today, I was wondering - "Why haven't I been able to learn anything in the last couple of months". And that's when it struck me ... Since the day I joined TCS, I've not had a good mentor!!!

I kid you not!!! In the last 6 months that I've been here - I haven't even met one fellow from whom I can or for that matter want to learn anything from.
(And on top of that, at least what I've observed so far is, no one seems to be open to taking someone under their wing and molding and shaping them into something better and brighter!)

I can't hope to learn anything from my peers and colleagues here as they're all freshers and have nothing much to offer me per se, and, the management here is so bad - that the only time they will even talk to you is when something goes terribly wrong in the project (and the only thing they do during this talk session is shout their head off!!!). During all other times - they're a very closely knit group and they don't want to let anyone else inside!
(You think I haven't tried to wriggle myself in!!!)



Well ... What else can I say other than - "God Help Me!"