5 years already!!
It was a difficult decision for me to switch my job especially after working for my first company for 9 years; however I am happy that I did. Srijan has taught me a lot of different things, which I will always be grateful for.
It’s been an interesting journey of 5 years here. It started from not knowing about the existence of a company by this name in Goa to rethinking my decision to reaching here today.
Flashback…
It all started with a message on LinkedIn , which said, “Hi Sunil”. It was regarding the opportunity of a QA Lead in Srijan Goa. Honestly, that was the first time I had heard of Srijan and neither was I actively looking for a change. I half heartedly responded to the message to confirm if the message was actually for me since my name is not Sunil
This triggered the first leg of my experience in Srijan, where I had the privilege of having 8 rounds of interviews and all lasting a minimum of 1 hour. There was a point where I had started to doubt if the need was of a QA Lead or some other role. One of the rounds was at the Goa office and as I drove to the office, I was not sure if I would join Srijan as the current company where I was working was a multi-storied office building and had cubicles for individuals whereas Srijan’s office was actually a house converted into an office. After multiple rounds of interviews, I was finally given my offer letter and today when I sit back and reflect, I am glad I accepted it.
Srijan has grown rapidly over the years. From the time we would have separate All Hands for the different centers and in the Goa office on the first floor where Avie would provide updates to now when we are waiting for at least 250 people to join before kick off the all hands. On the path of exponential growth, one of the most important things that I feel we have maintained, is the Srijan culture and that makes us proud Srijanites.
Now as a part of this writeup, I don’t want to be talking about the work that has happened over the last five years as that is already awesome, rather wanted to give a different perspective of what the feeling is when you are working for Srijan.
Here are a few things that I experienced in Srijan, which I believe may be helpful for someone to merge into the culture and grow at the same time:
- Be open to suggestions
In Srijan, the feedback is without having a censor board removing the important part of the feedback. We have an open culture and the feedback is not just shared by the leadership or the seniors in the team, rather it’s from practically everyone. So have an open mind to listen to the feedback and have a healthy conversation on the same. It not just helps you grow in your career, but also as an individual.
“It is not who gives the feedback that matters, rather what the feedback is and how you perceive it matters”
2. If you are up for a challenge, don’t be worried about failure
In Srijan, you will get all the support to go and chase your aspirations. So whenever you think that you really want to try something different, never hesitate to ask and there are so many leaders in the organization who can guide you towards the right people for help. At the same time, you need to give your 100% or even more to make sure you succeed and in case you don’t, you have learnings to take with you.
Read this somewhere, “Even if you fail, at least you tried. There are millions who live with a regret that they should have at least tried…be the one who failed rather than the million who did not try”
3. If there is something that is bothering you, speak up.
With the open culture of the company, it is important to speak your mind. Here you are free to communicate your thoughts without adding a filter and a difficult conversation is always welcome. At the same time, it’s easy just to point out problems, so if you can propose a solution, it’s always appreciated.
“If you want it fixed, you have to talk. If you don’t talk, it means that you have accepted things and are okay with the way things are happening”
The funny moments of my journey:
- If you think your english is good, try talking to Pavan [I Hope Pavan does not kill me for this]
My first week in Srijan and I traveled to Bangalore to get a handover for a project from Pavan. I always felt that I had a decent command on english… but it was on that day I realized that something was not right. My first conversation with Pavan and all I did on that day was note down the terms he was using and the entire conversation bounced right off my head. When I got back home that day, I was a little upset as I did not add any value to the conversation (because I did not understand anything). I sat down with my laptop and the notebook where I had noted down the words… trust me I realized that my English was not that bad….just that it was on a lower level. Reminds me now of the movie 3 Idiots where a book can be explained so differently :P - Onsite does not always mean traveling to international locations.
My joining date was February 1, 2017 and on January 27, 2017 I got a call from the Goa HR asking me if I was willing to travel onsite immediately after joining. Now when anyone hears onsite, the first thought that comes to your mind is some international location, right? Yes I traveled onsite to Gurgaon in the first week after I joined.
The Srijan journey for me has been amazing and I usually end up creating full forms of the way I feel about things and here’s what I feel about Srijan:
S — Simple — Our processes are not the most complex ones, rather they are simple and easy to understand
R — Responsive — not the UI, but the leadership is responsive to feed forwards
I — Innovation — Don't worry to explore and do things differently. Be innovative.
J — Journey — Truly we are on a journey of trying to do the best in the best possible ways
A — Appreciative — If you have done something good, you will definitely get a pat on your back.
N — Namaste — An indication that we have stayed with the Indian roots, with Yoga and meditation part of our day to day lives
So, in simple words, SRIJAN for me is a company which is Simple, Responsive to feedback, allows Innovation, and is on a Journey to do the best and be Appreciative for the good things that are happening. Namaste 🙏
Nitin Kumar
Principal Quality Analyst
