Memoirs of ex-employee

I am on vacation in Scotland and here is what I’ve been able to write so far in hangover. Thanks for the opportunity 🙂

I cannot speak about the GBD in the present state, I see GBD as my alumni rather than a work place. Being called an ex employee is the norm of the Industry, but there are always certain things we like to talk about our ex.

They teach us valuable lessons in life, and I feel blessed to be able to start my career as a developer from GBD.

For a lot of people, it is just another data company or IT company, for me it was a place I learned about the IT industry with other experts. I can see my job as a boring worker tired of sitting in front of computer all day or I can see it as a different challenge I have to face everyday. Challenges intimidates us but it also helps us to know our strength, after working in professional services department for a few years I realised that I have more knowledge about the industry and I could speak to others regarding my work and what we do for our clients. Extra knowledge is the bonus we never received and it creates opportunities but we have to keep on exploring.

What is relevant today, might not be applicable tomorrow so it’s up to us to be updated along with the system we use. Don’t just do your work, find ways to do it. I am not a rockstar developer, but I get my job done well. In the end nobody cares about the code, as long as it works and you can explain it, it’s fine. Customer wants their problems to be solved their way and sometimes we have to let go of better way to comply with their expectations. Which is fine, you don’t wanna be remembered for being employee of the year 3 years in a row.

If you are stuck, ask questions and listen to their answers. If you don’t like the answers move on and ask different answers to different people. I feel like I’ve been working for so long and I am still reluctant to call myself an expert at anything, and I’ve made a peace with it cause there are people who work much harder but I can’t say if they’re happier.

We built the company and shaped it, although we want to admit it or not, we are an organism, we need our toe nails as much as we need hair over our head. So don’t feel like my job is not so important for anyone to notice, try making mistakes, and it won’t be forgotten. Being a data driven company is useful, you can backup your views with statistics which keeps us upright and validated. I’ve met wonderful people while working in GBD and most of them are a good friend of mine. Even if we automate the whole world, we still need friends in our lives to help us and guide us.

For me, it worked out and I cannot speak for others, but try interacting with others and learn from someone else’s mistakes rather than creating your own. Try to seek every experience as they come, don’t wait for someone to give you directions in life, everyone is lost and looking for answers anyway. Don’t expect others to be nice, show them how it’s done.

(I’m going off tangent here, BTW, I am Ashutosh Gautam, one of many employees gbd had. I left GBD to pursue my dreams and so far I’m living it, it’s not so glamorous as you find it in photos but who shares bad photos anyway. Most of the things I’ve written above are my reflection on life after I left GBD).

Author, is currently pursuing his master’s degree in information technology, major in user experience at Tampere university of technology, Finland and manages “the sustainability lab” in Bansbari, Kathmandu, Nepal and works as a “satellite” developer for LivingSkills Oy, Finland.

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