The Red Belt !

(17 July 2000 - 17th July 2005)

Yesterday marked a milestone for me. I completed 5 Yrs of service in my company and my first job!! The emotions are mixed: sense of satisfaction and achievement and also of having missed some opportunities:-)

At my company symbolically this milestone means, changing the color of my ID card belt from blue to red and hypothetically it heralds my entry into the trusted and priviliged echelons of old-timers which is an un-written (and hopefully true) rule. Getting red belt is the time to reap fruits of 5 years of toil at this software warehouse. However this red belt has also got other practical significance, we are told that US consulate recognizes significance of my companies' red belt tag, which makes getting those oh-so-hard-to-get US visas a little more simpler. Then you also stand apart amongst the zillions and ever increasing population here. I also get a Long Service Award which means 3 nights and 2 days free stay for me and my wife at one of the 4/5 star resorts in exoctic locations like Kerala, Goa, Ooty, Kodai, Manali etc. I might settle with Ooty. We also get appreciation certificate and a written feedback (which is obviously sugar laced) from peers and seniors...

These 5 years have given me an opportunity to travel across the globe: Italy, Spain, Germany, France, US and ofcourse within India. It has made a professional automotive embedded system 'expert' out of the naive and unpolished fresh-out-of college graduate. I learnt the bits and bytes of micro controllers and micro processors, the design patterns of OO programming, Seeing the subtleties of C, the threads and processes of RTOS internals, the highs and lows of analog and digital systems, and ofcourse the inside out of body electronics and the cutting edge (literally) future of vehicles- Telematics. And the financial independence brought by the job after the poverty stricken student life also deserves a passing mention...
On the flip side, the project pressures, impossible deadlines and sedentry desk job have taken its toll on the health and relations. Hair lines are receding and other lines are bulging. Some Ol' friends were lost on the way and new ones were made...But thats what life of a s/w pro is made of. No regrets.
Now that first milestone is reached, I am free to set my eyes on the next one. I am not sure if it will be in the same company! Lets see what life has in store!
Peace and Content
~Amit