A Tribute of Infosys in its Golden Age of Help

In a gesture of deep reverence and salutation, I pay my homage and recognition to the company where I have been working for the past many years. I also pay my appreciation to the client company, without which the journey of the past few years wouldn’t have been possible. This blog post comes in two parts which is part of my gratitude towards these two organizations which have scripted my story in the way it has panned out so far. In today's post or first part, I pay my deep gratitude to my parent organization. This has to come sometime or other which is overdue for the past many months or years. I will share something which is obvious and for everyone to see in this space that has emerged over the years. 

On my parent Company:  

I have been working with Infosys since December 2018. It has been a long and tiring journey to reach the present, personal landscape. When I was trying to find my feet in the IT space back then after facing many hurdles and returning from U.S. thrice empty handed, the wounded person was provided employment by this company. The location was close to my home and I was put in a good project back then. The fearful person that I am tried to find my space by struggling day-in and day-out. In a bid to give more than 100% and in an attempt to overcome some of my shortcomings, I worked like a soldier on mission back then. The work ethic stuck with me all along till now. The struggles of an imperfect person in a perfect complete world are never ending and I toiled on a daily basis to make up for the loss. 

The company provided me with a great project, team and the best pay scale in my entire career. I was made a lead in my role which I had never imagined in my wildest dreams. But a person with seven or eight years' experience will be made a lead nevertheless. That I can more than 60k INR per month by virtue of this has become a living reality. I have been earning around the same in my previous companies as well but this is bit more. This is just right to wipe off the debt on the account which has accumulated till then and start living with a positive balance. I owned the flat I am living in the next year or two, clearing all the outstanding debt. Ten months have passed in the work location closest to my house, working in an Australian project and making good friends with the team and other colleagues. The never-ending learning continued in the beautiful campus in many ways through host of different activities. Then I was relieved from my project and client one day. After giving a series of interviews and searching for a project, I landed in a job with the American client where I would be destined to work for next many years. This is a crucial turning point and a step towards upward rising graph of my career. 

My work continued day-in and day-out and pandemic started in 3 to 4 months. Remote work has begun which has been continuing till date. That I would be working in a great project with American client is all thanks to my organization. The onsite counterparts and the team mates are on a different plane altogether. This has worked for my cause as the poor me has got married after few months into the pandemic and a new client. Good things happen to those who are in good company – be it teammates, friends, family or organization. While I was living through my newly married life, I never gave up on the soldierly work ethic, operating every morning, afternoon and evening. 

Good things happen to tough people. One year after the pandemic and few months after my marriage, I was advised by a manager to make use of H1B visa which I previously had. I was not at all thinking about it and this is my last aspiration after giving up on U.S. jobs at the end of three failed attempts. I am trying to make a mark in the pandemic, fighting as a covid warrior and doing a host of other unofficial tasks for lesser privileged. I was least thinking about the U.S. opportunity or realize the dream of any IT professional. To give it a try, I began the process of H1B transfer in the name of my parent organization. I was travelling on a pilgrimage post marriage to different places and went to Sabarimala in Kerala as well. I returned back on a flight and this is one of my most beautiful travels I made till then. The company has sustained me for long and I traveled in a domestic flight for the first time.  

The HIB application has been filed by my company even though I feared it would not, due to my joblessness on earlier occasions in U.S. In few months, it went through the internal process, got through the check posts, filed with USCIS and the USCIS under Biden administration has approved my H1B petition in October 2021. What a series of events and I was seeing hope or joy after days of emptiness or darkness. I still remember the happy feeling when I checked the status of my application online and it displayed as approved. But the pandemic is far from over which means I need to wait for a bit longer. Eventually, I had the visa stamped in February of 2022. I searched for opportunities with my managers in next two months and by virtue of good support, I landed in U.S. with same client on April 9th, 2022. In this entire process of changing my work location, city, state and country - from filing application, getting it stamped and travel in flight, every expense has been compensated by my company. I simply don’t have the ability to bear H1 transfer fee either. 

If getting to work in good company is a great opportunity, an opportunity to travel to U.S. is icing on the cake. Turning point on top of a turning point in my work career. Two and a half years in India in this company has changed my personal landscape and for the next two and a half years I was working in U.S. on top of the world. What a stuff of dreams. I relocated to Chicago, U.S. at the flag end of pandemic in a rich neighborhood. People in this world are a bit laid back and slowly opening it out to the covid-free world. Students are slowly pouring into U.S. for higher studies and filling up the empty positions in part time jobs. I stayed put with one student group and living with them ever since. I was a lone IT job holder on H1B among a bunch of students under an extremely supportive owner of our home. To tell about this supportiveness, on the very first day I came to my accommodation, I was taken in a car to a downtown eating spot. Is there anyone in this world who would take me in a car 30 miles far for some good time. The next month I was taken 1000 miles away to Atlanta and beyond. I was taken aback by this companionship to me which I thought would be eternally absent to a person like me. The cornerstone of this support ever since and till date is he needs me and I needed his backing. The position fits in the groove perfectly. 

I found everyone in my foreign tenure including the suburb I was living by virtue of the colleagues, manager of my company. Who knows what is Naperville, Chicago and where it is. I can’t talk much about my exploits in U.S. by virtue of the platform provided by the company at macro level but will limit to two or three personal experiences. Else this would be altogether out of the world story. I regularly work outside during evenings ever since I came to U.S. I travel out of station once every month or two months. All this work requires money and a debit or credit card. I got this important monetary support in foreign land wherein I can use my card freely from my company. This is icing on top of icing on the cake. I was able to meet all my favorite work expenses by virtue of the salary given to me. I have been working for years in this manner and reason for this longevity is meeting dual requirements. I require my company for working along and my company needs me in this space. This is once again meeting the dual requirements – the position fits in the groove perfectly. By virtue of this one factor to use my card freely which gives me respect, dignity and little financial stability, I can overlook every other pain or struggle I may have gone through. 

Secondly, I went to two tech conferences this year, posing as employee of my company. There is nothing wrong except it is life changing for me personally. I never visited places like San Francisco, San Jose, Las Vegas except through the opportunity that came my way by working in tech space. Of course, it should be all-expense paid trip but I paid for expenses myself. But a simple, small person is given a gateway to a greater world through this great platform. Apart from the tech conferences, I made more than 18 trips to different places in these 27 months. Is it possible for poor ordinary humans on H1B to travel in U.S. so extensively. The heights of this living is my recent trip to Las Vegas for attending a tech conference. This is the pace of urgency and emergency with which I have worked and not a single person gave me one dollar in physical form either. Every single penny, I account to my company. For all this work which I very much like, I bow down to my team, my managers and everyone at work, without whose platform this would be never possible and I am directly at stake with them. I bend down to them alone in reverence. 

As we can see through this write up, I am in gilded, golden age by virtue of my company. The same can be said of my company which is in its own golden age. Whatever I achieved is because of my work and my company and this organization should last more than 100 years further operating in same manner, providing great platform to seekers like me. My company deserves all the credit for never saying no to a poor person like me in my quest to reaching newer heights. My company deserves every bit of its worth and much more for playing a great role in developing nations like India by fighting its poverty. This fight begins with dedication, discipline and pulling a single person like me one at a time. This one great opportunity will have a catalytic reaction in the society, transforming places and nations. By staying extremely relevant to the needs of the society, Infosys continues to be a powerful tool in alleviating poverty and improving India through its contributions to education, economic growth, entrepreneurship, social responsibility, and technological innovation. The company’s efforts have a lasting impact on the lives of many people and contribute to the overall development of the nation. I cannot talk about the two-nation theory at a macro level but at least India should grab the opportunity with both hands and reach unimaginable heights in these times.