Honey! I want to shrink my CV

Recently I had an opportunity to talk to some of the great industry heads with great experiences and few patents. It was more fun than serious talk. Talked about web 2.0 stuffs, experiences in startup company, cluster for DBs, when technology can become bottleneck, social network technologies and many more things. It was great.

While talking, one of the technical head asked me, “Aji, where do you want to see yourself after 3 or 5 years“. This is quite a common question when you talk to a career oriented guy. It was a brainy session but some answers come out of your heart irrespective of your brain size, it was just another moment where it just came out of my heart. I almost answered it this way,

“Honey! I want to shrink my CV”

I was so happy that my heart answered so wonderfully (sometimes you should just allow your heart to flow). After the answer there was no further question about my career, goal or objective. Here is a small briefing for those who don’t understand what it actually means. In some years I want to shrink my CV to one line, “Aji Issac, Team/founder/Architect/blah, XYZ product, 200* - 20**“. Thats an advantage of working with product based companies.

This also answer few common questions thrown at me at various occasions by our Team members:

1. What will be my position after X years?.
2. I want to be senior programmer after 1 year, senior-senior programmer after 3 year, super-duper programmer after 5 years and many be programming guru after 10 years”, does your company allows that?
3. Why is my position the same for last 2 years?

In product based company your position keeps changing every moment:

• After one year - 2007: Aji Issac, ABC profile, XYZ product (Used by 2 people)
• After two years - 2008: Aji Issac, ABC profile, XYZ product (Used by 2000 people)
• After three years - 2009: Aji Issac, ABC profile, XYZ product (Used by 2 million people)
• After five years - 2011: Aji Issac, ABC profile, XYZ product (Used by almost every other people who uses web)

Thats the time when you can say, “Aji Issac, ABC profile, XYZ product, 2008 - 2011“. Take pride in working for products and product based companies. For selfish reasons make it work. If you are a company head/founder then make sure everyone working with you have have enough shares/stocks of your product (in black and white) else don’t expect the same commitment (This small move can create all the difference for your company). Enjoy the day!

4 Comments »

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1. Honey! I want to shrink my CV >>>> You have given a very good and uncommon answer.

   
   
   Prasanta on December 22, 2007 - 3:23 pm @ 3:23 pm

2. You have addressed a real problem, consciously or unconsciously. When someone asks me this question, or I start guessing where I would like to see myself after 5 years, I feel confused. Actually the discipline I/we am/are in is not traditional, so no torch bearer is there. Computer/Internet penetrated in India of late, so it is really difficult to guess what will be the situation when we will grow older. How much growth the companies would allow, how competitive the market would be…such questions invariably come in mind.

   On a different note, I appreciate your way of thinking and wish you luck on your efforts to shrink your CV

   
   
   Saikat on December 22, 2007 - 9:54 pm @ 9:54 pm

3. Thanks Prasanta for the comment.

   It was a conscious attempt Saikat, here are some of my motivational capsules for you

   1. Web is just going to grow, it is not going to come down. So our industry will increase.
   2. There is so much to learn and so much to innovate. When I was a kid I had this complain to my teachers, parents and friends (very stupid one ok), “Why am I born so late, everything is already invented or discovered, I have no scope now.” I think web solved this problem for me, there is scope for innovation.

   There are many more capsules, let me know if I need to pen down more :). We are on right track, so keep working, keep enjoying and have some patience. My questions to you:

   1) Do you have a website on music, if not WHY?
   2) Can you record your own video? (Get a video wala mobile)
   3) Take interviews of all your gurus/musicians and post online.

   Aji

   
   
   AjiNIMC on December 22, 2007 - 11:05 pm @ 11:05 pm

4. You are right Aji, the scope to innovate was there, is there and will be there – all you need is the right mind! I also agree that Internet has made it much much easier. You won’t believe Aji, when I think of the potential of Internet I become restless – so many things to do in such a short time span. I wish I could live more than one lives simultaneously!

   >> Do you have a website on music, if not WHY?
   No, I do not have any website/blog on music, though some of my friends, who are established singers now, have. And I simply don’t know WHY. I could write millions of pages about music; still I never felt the urge to set up a website or blog. Putting simply, I never got into the mood to do this! Once I kick start, there will be lots of interviews and videos – don’t worry!

   >>Get a video wala mobile
   My brother already has one, I will buy soon.

   
   
   Saikat on December 27, 2007 - 11:51 am @ 11:51 am

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