Thank you Cognizant!

Feeling so much emotional as I step into the last day of my Cognizant life. Yes, I have decided to step out of the safe zone that I have really enjoyed for the last 11 years. 

Before joining Cognizant:

I joined Cognizant on December 30th, 2010. I was just a kid passed out of College and starving for a job. Attending every interviews that come across. Purchasing news papers to note down the job openings (Yes, I have did that). Those 8 months after finishing College without a job still has been one of the most difficult times in my lifetime so far. I have never had tough days in my life before that and after that period. It was frustrating, depressing, and very un motivating. Life was steering away from the dreams and I was hopeless on the future. Back then I did not have much exposure on anything other than IT. It was the only hope I had. So it was not an easy peasy way I got to join Cognizant. When I had the job offer in my hand I had tears in eyes. It meant a lot to me at that time and even now. 

Tough times never last and they did not!

Academy days:

Cognizant Academy in ASV Suntech Park OMR has been just another college life. Made some great friends and had a rocking time. 30 of the batch mates were together only for 4 months but we all became so close in that short period of time. It was absolute cracking fun and we also learned (Mainframe or something I can't recall). And, I was the batch representive for my batch. I still can't recall why I raised my hand to become a rep. I have never once been a class leader in my school (mostly Arva kulaaru I think). Which didn't help much as I was the last one to get into a project after 4 months out of 30 peeps. Fun bench times!

Album: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1740217313403&type=3

Wings 2011: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1592110210818&type=3

Thank you Cognizant, for College Life 2.0!

Coimbatore life:

This is where I become a Tester. Being a tester has made me better on how I approach things personally in life. More on that later. But I never wanted to be a tester before joining Cognizant but I do not regret being tester even one bit now. I am proud to be a Tester and will be part of something relating to that until I retire (Retire? Lol!!) 

After enjoying 4 months of bench life at home after Academy got over, I had to dig deep (not to find my inner thoughts) to find my ID card and move to Coimbatore to join a project. Where I met bunch of amazing friends and a beautiful city. Wherever I went I was just blessed with great friends and brilliant workers from whom I learned a lot. I learned every bit of testing in this project which is useful to me even now.

Every day in Coimbatore has been great and the quick 4 hour bus ride to home on every weekend was so cool. I felt so close with my parents than living in Chennai. 

Alubm: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2373593667416&type=3

Wayanad Trip: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3276015347394&type=3

Local Trip: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3024931510455&type=3

I regret leaving Coimbatore, have a feeling that my work career would have been lot better if I stayed. 

Or maybe not! 

Back to Chennai:

So apart from work life, though I was having lot of fun in Coimbatore I envied my peeps (Brother & Cousins) in Chennai and I really had to move back to Chennai to join the party. This part is where I truly become a Velacherien and loved being Chennai guy. See, I studied in Chennai but barely crossed Tambaram in college days. Believe it or not I have only watched 3 movies in theater in my entire college life! 

I worked in 3 projects during my 7 years Cognizant Chennai life and this is where I was told Manual Testing is not a thing anymore and the work I loved doing is soon going to obsolete. I loved manual testing, the total control and knowledge I had over the application and the domain knowledge I possessed I felt my career was indestructible with my ability to study and test an application inside out. But, to keep getting salary and not to be thrown out of the company - I learned Automation Testing, Selenium, and Java (which would eventually feed me food in the coming days) 

After being promoted to a Test Lead role, had a great experience in managing work for the team and interacting closely with client to solve project complex situations. Really loved this work and ended up taking Scrum Master certifications going out of way as a Tester. Managed some of the best team members and I was able to get the best out of them which had a good experience for them as well (I hope).

As days passed I learned that, just having a great knowledge on one application, one Automation tool and staying put is not enough. You should keep learning new things as everything in the head was becoming obsolete so quick. Promotions were harder to get, competitions was getting high, And well, the onsite dream was just a dream. 

Keep learning to move on to the next level or stay in that same place forever! 

UK:

Depressing life 2.0 was kicking in as the Onsite aspirations was getting no where close. I only went to airports to drop off friends or receive them and was wondering when I would get a chance to really board a flight and work in a client location. Ever since I joined Cognizant I was obsessed to work in a Onsite location and meet new people.

Finally after lot of denials got an opportunity to move to UK and work as an Automation Test Lead for banking project. Getting out of a IME domain after 9 years to Banking was really cool. Things fell through at the right time for us (see I used 'us' and not 'me'. Yes, I got married in this time period!😇)

Moved to different project within UK - Manchester and feel in love with the city. (Not Mancity FC just the city). Manchester in UK felt like Chennai in India for me. Not sure of the exact reaction but love live here for the time being.

You are going to get it, You just have to be patience! A 5 years of patience in my case!!

Leaving Cognizant:

Everything was going alright. Everything has always been going alright at Cognizant for me. But I was getting too comfortable at times and wanted to leave the safe zone and explore on other ways of working in testing and learn new stuffs. To be frank, I have tried to leave Cognizant at various points in the past 11 years but it seems it was never meant to be, until now. 

I got an opportunity to work for a huge product based company within UK and I have always wanted to work for a product company and see how the work life is. Once, I got that offer I have decided to leave Cognizant and move on with the life. 

Being the first company and working there for a 11 years out of your 32 years of the lifetime is something.

Unfortunately, Every beginning has an end, like every end has a new beginning! On to new beginning!

THANK YOU FOR MAKING ME WHO I AM

VIJAY VIGNESH

2011 - 2022

From Unicorn to Dio

Gone are the days i ride 80+ on a open road leaving no chance for anyone to catch me once the traffic light turns Green..








But, here are the days where i zip past the hectic traffic where even the KTM stands still wondering where to go..




So its been a year since i have started riding Dio from Unicorn. So this post is about the good and the not so good things about this transition!

One:
I have always considered myself as BIKER guy. Never been a big fan or interested in an automatic scooter. That power to influence the engines RPM to respond to your needs using the gears was god mode like.

Two:
Living in a hectic part of city (Velachery - The so called Manhattan of Chennai but handles huge traffic than Manhattan) not often you get an open road(never actually). Especially on times going to office and coming back home. So its actually relief to get the bike switch gears by itself sometimes. Just the Accelerator and Brakes doing the job - Its 50% of the job done by itself!

Three:
Practicality: That storage space under the seat. Now that i am so much used to, i am like 'What was i doing back then with these things, when i had a bike with no storage space?' This actually is a deal breaker and the storage space is seriously useful.

Four:
It just frustrates to see bikes and cars zoom past you since the max speed Dio could do is 60 KMPH. Once the signal is green you will be like Zooiinngggg nu reaches the 60KMPH in rush. But once you are there - you are just there and everyone overtakes you. Though you zip past them in the next red and go on.. Its still not cool when you are stuck at 60 in an open road!

Finally:
Emotional touch: My Unicorn is (was) the first huge thing that i literally had something for myself. something that can do things in a level of something like (how do i put it)... something a bike can do. 
It was a huge deal back then and i was so attached to my bike from day one. I adored it, Took absolute care of it. Be it any small problem, i get it fixed ASAP. Wash it every often, keep it clean as much as i could. Sometimes i even wondered why don't i take care of myself like that! I have never had a break up in my life, but this sure felt like one.

However, do i hate being overtaken in open roads? Yes. Do i love when i overtake them in traffic? Yes. End of the day i am at least glad to have Dio after selling (breaking up with) my bike than not having anything else.

Quick Question: What do i do? When my bro gets back and asks his Dio Back?

Picking up a friend returning from US - How funny can that be?

You know my friend Viveck. He is the closest of my friends and the one who you would call a Childhood friend. Yes, we are friends from kindergarten. He has moved to States last year and was returning for a vacation this week.
My plan, pick him from airport, board him to pattiveeranpatti from Perungalathur. So i booked a late night bus so we could chat till the bus arrives
He arrived, we hugged and greeted. And then it started.. The way he behaved was so funny and i knew the happenings are definitely going into my blog..

Number 1 - Driving in a passenger seat. While boarding my car he went to driver seat and i assumed now that he has learned to drive maybe he wanted to drive my car. And then he realized the driver seat is on the right in India. After sitting in passenger seat he laughed saying - 'ha ha i am sitting in driver seat as a passenger. No Steering wheel'. To be honest from his side, back when he was in India we have not traveled in car a lot.. So it got to be weird for him, and fun for me :)

Number 2 - Freaking out seeing a couple of cash notes. While paying the Parking amount (around 150 bucks) he laughed at how much cash i gave them. See, Americans dont use much cash. Their highest currency note is 100$ that is equivalent to 6500 INR. So taking up a a note to pay 150 bucks seemed like a pile of money to him and laughed at it.

Number 3 - The Smell. Lets face it. We have hell lot of stinky places in Chennai. Just opposite to airport we were waiting for his office friend to arrive to collect his stuff that Viveck brought from US. Unfortunately it turned to be an another unofficial urinal that people made. Rather than doubting the place he started asking me 'Wiki your car stinks..' Well, hey Americans what do you do when you urgently need to pee and you are in public? No, seriously?

Number 4 - Honking noises. There was a car honking from my right (for no any reason of course). He got scared and shouted Wiki careful da.. I was so relaxed that the horn did not even register my mind. You see in foreign countries people honk only when there is an emergency. If you hear a honk sound there you can very assume someone messed up. Then, we had to roll up the window and move on..

Number 5 - Converting everything into dollars. He should have definitely converting everything to rupees when he first landed there so i dont really complain he is doing the same after coming back..

I was like dude its just been a year, this is not your first time to India. However, it was so fun to watch him like that. Now, can't wait to see the reactions of Saravanesh once he comes for a visit!
Here is a pic of him enjoying a mega size dosa for just 2 dollars (Sorry 120 rupees)

What car means to me!

It was 1996, and I was 8 years old. I never believed in love at first sight, I even may not have known what love is. But, the Blue Ambassador classic made me realize what it is. My grandfather bought the beauty home and since then I am mad for cars. At that time, Ambassador was the only car, or Ambassador is the car to my knowledge.

I remember the days (More than me my parents do); I used to steal the car key from the key hanger in my granpa office and start it by my own and apparently get the deserving thrashings. I had a good rapport with our driver; he is the one who used to teach me everything about cars. His name was Kannan and I used to call him Kannan Annan. I learnt driving by sitting in my granpa’s lap, though the Accelerators, Brakes, or Clutch never was in my leg accessible range. 

Days passed, I grew but the love for cars never faded. After Ambassador, we upgraded to Sumo which serves most of my childhood memory. Later due to much of a non-usability we settled for WagonR. It was when I learned to drive a car left to right. Later, after me joining college WagonR was also sold and we had no cars due to other personal and financial reasons. Still, whenever I had a chance to drive any car anywhere I never led the chance to go. This was made sure by my dad, who gets the car keys from my relatives and encouraged me to go for a drive. When any of my friends needed to make a decision on buying a car, they consult me and I take them to test drives and help them identify the right cars. I kept myself updated on cars and the latest launches but was never able to afford one.

Not until last month, with the Ireland dreams collapsing i had to bring in something special to my life to cheer me up. Using this excuse i managed to nudge in the opportunity to purchase my first ever very own car. On further analysis, wasting 20+ gb's on YouTube watching different car reviews, spending two weekends completely on visiting different car showrooms finalized on Maruti Suzuki Baleno and booked one. Two months later, i am driving a 1.3 liter multi jet Diesel Fire Red Suzuki Baleno.

I am still coming to terms with the fact that - There is a car parked right now in my office car parking and i have the keys to it. 
This means the world to me!

Goodbye Windows Phone. Its been real!

I take this opportunity to thank all the people who was involved in Windows Phone project. For making the smoother simple mobile operating system that does what you simply expect it to do. So yes, i am moving on to a different platform and throwing away my Lumia (what phone? - coming up in next posts)

It was in 2012 when i saw few videos of Windows phone operating system in YouTube and got really impressed. It was simple and promising. So i took the plunge and bought the Lumia 510,when everyone else around me were buying Android phones. Well, I used to hate Android back then (I still do) so i was never going to buy an Android for myself..

Buying a Lumia 510 was a big bargain. It has the lowest spec one smartphone could ever get and the way the operating system obliged with that spec to do the requested task was astonishing. It was super fast in opening any app. It was slow - but understandably slow. Read this spec for yourself and you will understand what i am talking about..
- 256 MB of RAM
- 2.1 GB of internal storage
- 700 MHZ processor
- Most outdated Windows phone 7.8 OS

Lumia 510 is the phone i have blogged a lot about. Posts here
Apple fanboy and a Android hater
Should i have waited for the second generation
My 3rd year ownership review

After 3 years, the world has moved on but the fact that this Lumia 510 could not be upgraded to Windows 8 was super annoying and i really had to move with the world. So bought a Lumia 535 which runs on windows 8 and also is eligible for Windows 10 upgrade. And its priced at same price as Lumia 510 was.. And i took the plunge again and bought the 535. Oh boy what a huge mistake that was. See, this is the time when Nokia sold its mobile division to Microsoft and 535 is the first phone to come with Microsoft logo instead of Nokia. I was under the impression that its just a change in name but the quality is going to remain the same of what Nokia is known for. Well, it was not..

I loved the operating system (both Windows phone 8 and 10) but the 535 hardware has been pain to use from day one. But still managed with it for 2 more years for the sake of windows operating system. But i was going through few moments where i just wanted to throw the phone and break it. Not all blame should go the 535 hardware, Microsoft as promised to bring in more apps to Windows store was never fulfilled and i felt very lagged in the smartphone world. When i checked out the app store in my cousins OnePlus i was like - Okay, i am solid 3 years behind these guys

So the moment that i never wished to come has finally come. I have now officially shifted from using a Windows mobile phone to other. I love the new experience but still miss that simplistic plain black operating system

Thank you Microsoft - for screwing Nokia and for unfulfilling App Store promises!

Nope. No - I am not going to IRELAND

If you are someone I work with, or someone in touch with me i would have definitely informed (or bragged) about me going to Ireland for an Onsite assignment. If i have not informed you never mind because that is not true anymore..

I was informed in the mid of 2015 that i am going to have this opportunity to travel to Ireland and would be staying there for 2 years and possible extensions beyond that. So when should i travel - December 2015.

I was like - Okay finally its happening. See, i had two offers when i first joined this IT company. And why i choose where i am working right now is entirely based on two reasons - Number One: I wont be into a Testing project, Number Two: I could get an Onsite opportunity quicker with this company..
However, currently i am 6 years experienced associate in Testing and still Offshore. Let me make this clear, I dont complain working in Testing. I am happy (sort of) working as Tester, but not being able to travel Onsite has been haunting me for a while. So Ireland is a huge huge deal for me..

However, (Back to Reality) - Due to various reasons on visa process i couldn't travel as planned on December 2015. There has been tremendous pressure applied to Immigration team for this to happen, still it couldn't happen. The next plan was devised (with different and usual visa process) and i was about to travel around March 2016 - I was scared since February and March was supposed to be the coldest time in Ireland. But that cant stop me from watching the season closing moments of Arsenal in Emirates Stadium. See, one important thing other than getting to work on Ireland i was happy for is the fact that Arsenal is just shy 30 mins away from Dublin in flight (It is funny now to think about what i have thought through back then)..

However, (Back to Reality) - Due to the process of visa it took more time than anticipated and i had to wait till April for the permit to arrive. And it did arrive on April, but i was not allowed to apply for visa with it due to on going project talks with clients. There are things (reasons) that cannot be said in a personal blog, i am not sure what i have said so far is okay to be said in a personal blog but since no one reads my blog anyways so i think its alright. See, the permit that i have got is valid only for three months and i had to travel before mid of July. Because of this i made some stupid mistakes. Like moving my parents back to native and selling my bike - Oops that was a costly one (why costly? - well its due to the replacement for the bike loss (details coming up in next posts))

Back to reality? No, this is reality - Due to further reasons that cannot be undisclosed here (or you could say i myself was not sure what happened) my Ireland travel plan has been dropped and i was told to get back to the same seat i have been working for the past two years and continue to do the same thing i have doing for the past two years (and watch Arsenal in TV)

So the point of the post is - If you see me again in work or in cafeteria or anywhere in this world - Dont ever ask me 'Hey, you are still here?' or 'Hey, when did you get back from Ireland' - because its honestly annoying though its not your fault

But i am not upset. I am not giving up. If its not Ireland its somewhere else. I believe in this quote - 'Whatever happens it happens for a reason'. Maybe Ireland is not the right place for me and i may get a better opportunity than this one.

So, whatever life has for me i say - BRING IT ON!

Just to watch Rajinimurugan

Going home is fun. Especially on festive occasions. And especially when you have not booked your tickets early. Its like only the 30% of Chennai population actually belong to Chennai. The entire city vacates the place to travel to their natives.. So do i
Ever since i moved to Chennai , on every festive occasions i have had fun, horrible, adventurous experiences going home but this one has to be the most unforgettable one..

Its Pongal 2016. Pongal holiday on a Friday (a blessing long weekend). This time my ex room mate (now current) brought his recently bought Honda City from his native the weekend before to travel in car to home during Pongal. And guess what they can drop me in Trichy from where getting home is easy.. Immediately applied leave on Thrusday and seriously when was the last time i declined a long car ride?

Meanwhile Rajinimurugan was slotted to get release that day after several postpones. I had high hopes for this one. Shivakarthikeyan with Soori and Ponram can never ever go wrong. Its an assured blockbuster. So i have booked 8 tickets for Rajinimurugan on Thursday night planned to go with my School gang. Show was at 10:15 PM in Dindugal

So here is the plan
1. Finish breakfast and Start from Home at 10 A.M
2. Finish Lunch at Villupuram in my Cousins plan and drop my Cousin (Also my roomie)
3. Reach Trichy by 4 PM
4. Reach Pattiveeranpatti by 8 PM
5. Finish Dinner and start to movie with the school gang

Sounded like a fantastic plan, until the D Day arrived
Then this happened
1. Started from Velachery at 1 PM
2. Finished Lunch at GST outer at 3 PM
3. Heavy traffic in Villupuram due to a bridge collapsed
So, when we left Villupuram time was 7PM

I was very upset. I get upset when my plan does not go my way. I did book the tickets after confirming with my roomies if i could reach Dindigul by 10 PM. Still this happened. Well shit happens so I forwarded the ticket to my friends and asked them to go for the movie without me. At that point of time it did not occur to me that i have one of the craziest friends in this world

We started towards Trichy from Villupuram and i started getting calls from my friends asking my exact location every 30 mins. I was confused.. Around 9 PM i decided to test them, i said them i am going to have dinner outside Trichy and will be reaching Trichy only by 930 PM and now they confessed.
My gang reached Trichy and was waiting in the bus stand near buses that boards to Dindigul so they could surprise me. I was like WTH, how is that even possible? I informed them i am going to miss the movie only by 7 PM. In another 10 mins they managed to pick all the 7 folks, Start from PVP, Reached Trichy (Not Dindigul) Trichy in 8:30 PM. For what? Just to pick me up!!
My roomies in City got shocked seeing them in Trichy.. Then i got transferred to XUV from Trichy around 10 PM and we reached Dindigul in another 30 mins (100+ kms)

Yes we missed some 20 mins of the movie, but I was already immensely entertained for the day. Thank God i am blessed with fantastic friends :)

Looking forward to the upcoming Diwali week.Same gang same Honda City!!