It’s an Ocean out there

By abhishek at 29 August, 2008, 2:30 pm

I am quite new to the IT industry. I qualify as a fresher. It has been just 28 days from the day I have joined a small start up company in Kandivali. We are IBM Business Partners and help IBM distribute their software and afterwards look after the implementation and servicing part. In these 28 days my 8 ounce brain with innumerable cells has been bombarded with alien information. I do not have a formal training in software, so the nerves in there do not react to a query quickly; they take time to understand the requirement.

When I joined the organization I was quite happy to know that I will be working with IBM implementation team quite closely if we get to close a deal for the project. So In order to get some initial training I had to go to one of our Value added distributors. IBM is pioneer in SOA (for freshers like me SOA means Service Oriented Architecture; for the time being I can throw only this much light on the subject that is to expand the acronym). The trainer just sat and told me that SOA tool is known as Websphere and just after that he added �It is an Ocean�. Being new I got excited that I am going to explore a new ocean with the trainer. But after a few minor details he tells me �You have to play with the software to understand it fully�. I thought he was not too happy to see a na�ve student in front of him. Any way a little disappointed I left the training room.

The next day was again full of expectations. The IBM Websphere team had come from USA to Mumbai and had a presentation on the tool at Taj Lands End. I saw the speakers and realized that each one of them is master in their own field. The audience was a mixture from highly technical background to just lesser mortals like me.

They started explaining how IBM works better than any other player in this field and while explaining they told that �You have to play with the software to explore how it better than the competition because it is an ocean� Oh! I said another ocean. I was wondering how many more oceans I am going to confront when I do not even know how to float in the water, leave alone playing with the ocean.

After I went to the office I decided to mail to another company that worked in the field of Compliance and Risk Management. They are nowhere as massive in terms business dealings as IBM but are respected in the industry for their handy tool.

TCS had come with a query for their compliance tool. As I was just on the verge of asking people from that company to explain a little about the product, the answer was not unfamiliar. �It is an Ocean he said and he added that I had to play with the tool to understand it fully for a client presentation�. I realized that this was like flu and IBM were not the only victims. All companies, clients and vendors spoke in the language of playing in the Ocean. In my previous job nobody talked about oceans and suddenly I was in a midst of deluge of oceans.

So being a novice in swimming and playing with the waters of the ocean I have decided to stay on the beach for some time and understand the pattern of the waves before I take a plunge. For the time being instead of playing with various IT tools I am playing the wait and watch game.

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