Wow…Wow…Wow and just Wow :) — Does it sound familiar ? I think NOT just ‘familiar’ but ‘exceptional feeling’ right ?
Yeah, I know — Sometimes, it’s hard to find words in the dictionary which can really ‘match’ to express our feelings and I’m in that situation now for a very good reason!
Yeah…You got it right — You guessed it. I’m on Cloud9s at the moment and I might take more time to come back on to the ground. Hopefully, this long weekend [due to Queen’s birthday] might help me to calm down and settle down mentally and physically as I spend more quality time with my family ;)
I thought of taking a complete break from the digital world [I mean staying away from the computer] but the excitement NOT letting me. So, I thought it’s a good time for me to capture my experience in writing as close to the reality as possible.
Hence, here I’m with another blog where I wanted to narrate my very first week journey #Kasna #TheMantelGroup where I’ll try to put my emotions translate in to words
First and Foremost, I’m very happy to myself [there are ‘many well wishers and supporters’ who deserve more credits than me in this case but I’m happy to start with me as I triggered this thought process ;)] that I took this strange rather bold decision to break from my old-career path [very much comfort zone] to the very new [from my perspective] Cloud [Sec] Engineering Space. I know everyone says ‘Age is just a number’ but everyone knows as we grow, it’s not that easy to change the gears completely and dare to start from almost ‘0’. I’m not exceptional here and I know many have done this very well before me but everyone’s journey is different and everyone has their own story in life to narrate
As I/we age, I/we know ‘The transition is NOT that easy’ [Don’t take me wrong., the transition is NOT complete yet, as it’s just the beginning and I’m yet to prove myself in this fascinating & fast growing Cloud [Sec] Engineering space] but to me landing in to the ‘Cloud Engineering role’ is like ‘half-job’ done and rest half is ‘To focus, learn, contribute, grow and REPEAT’ and this is where the importance of ‘association’ comes in to the picture and that’s where I’m really fascinated to express my experience as a kick-starting journey. On a personal side note, I’m trying to compete with my 13-year old son in leaning…he is eyeing in to Ethical Hacking now a days :) — https://nayanballa.me/— hope he continues his learning journey
I started my adventure with Kasna / Mantel Group on 7 June and I heard & I know about them from the very social media that they are recently ranked as the Great Place to Work in Australia — https://mantelgroup.com.au/great-place-to-work/ which is one of the drive for my decision and along with this credibility, Kasna has been the Prime partner of Google Cloud in Australia is another Big & Prime motivation for me to grab that opportunity with both open-hands ignoring the other offers/benefits at this moment
I’ve been dreaming to join Kasna for a good time but I was not ready as I was learning and up-skilling myself in to the GCP space to be eligible to start applying for the roles / opportunities. Finally after a good journey of learning, I’m now here as a ‘Kasnian’ and it’s been a week! Compared to rest of the Amazing Kasnians, I’m a newbie in to this space and lot to learn from each of them every day going forward!
Somehow, from the day I received a call from Gökhan (Eli) Gündüz about the opportunity and through the days I’d discussions with Jan V, Kai C followed by Simon P and Michael B for the final outcome — all just happened like a magic flow and within a very short span of time. From the very discussions I had with them, it is/was very clear to me as I started sensing the strong culture and people focused mindset and approach. Everyone of them made me very comfortable during the discussions and somehow I already felt like part of the team from the day-1 of the chats. All of these Five Maestros, made a huge impression already to be the prime drive for my decision. But you know, NO matter how much I made comfortable by them, I always had that extra curiosity to think how it will be in reality once I land.
But, after spending my very first week— I can firmly say that the teams and the people live by the [Five] principles they defined as part of the culture. Not even for a single moment I felt that we are going away from those from the ground-up or top-down. Is in’t that Just amazing ? Isn’t that Just Wow…Wow….and…Wow :) — Yeah, I know!
Unfortunately, I’d to do virtual on-boarding due to covid situation in Victoria but Eli G & ‘P and C’ group again ensured all is settled very well ahead of my joining date in fact., I’d received all the items necessary to rock-and-roll almost a week ahead :)
As I’m in to the new radar, I was aiming to go to office at least for couple of days a week so that I can learn more from the team being in-person as it makes a bit easy for me to interact and get going smoothly. But, You know destiny always has different plans I guess [generally, nothing comes easily to me, I know everyone feels the same :)] — so, ended up being remote 100%. That’s where I was/am a bit stressed to see how I’ll be able to cope up and align to the team/s and members across the group
This is where It made a huge difference in a positive way from my views to the reality. I was thinking it’ll be really difficult for me but the team and the members made me very comfortable by checking with me on a regular basis and ensured that all-is-well and reachable to me at any point of time
During this time, I tried to interact and build my network within the team as much as possible [of course, I’m yet to interact with many more awesome and amazing colleagues → on going approach for the next couple of weeks :) and it’s a continuous movement from my end] and to my surprise, every interaction I’d and every discussion I’d gone through — it’s just mind blowing to see their helping hand and supportive nature. Everyone is very humble, respective and open-minded to help you in all possible means
From my experience, Everyone of them successfully demonstrated the culture to the fullest possible throughout their interactions. Everyone understands ‘The journey of transition’ and what it takes to land in to this fascinating engineering space from a different profile and each of them have demonstrated an amazing ‘In it together’ attitude throughout their communication and also ‘Love what you do & be awesome at it’ approach very clearly and intensively — it appeared to me that the culture is/has been flowing throughout the team/s effortlessly. Kudos to the Senior Leadership team for leading from front in demonstrating the culture from the top-down and bottom-up!
Fortunately, I’d an opportunity to meet & interact with the Senior Leadership team [Simon P, Trogo B and Lincoln E] as well within my very first week and What to say — They made me feel comfortable and confident [It’s good that I already had an opportunity to meet & discuss with one of them as part of the interviewing process]. This catchup, truly generated lot of positive vibes in me and gave me the trust and confidence to move forward in the positive direction! It was direct, friendly, simple but effective too — Personally, What I learnt from this interaction is to always keep an eye to ‘Make Good Choices’ and ‘Make Things Better’
I proudly say that the 5th principle ‘Communicate Directly’ is one of the best demonstration I’ve seen across the group all the times without any hidden facts. All the necessary information is easily accessible and available to everyone and absolutely there is NO indirect communication. Everyone takes pride in communicating directly and openly as this is ‘Central to everything we do’ atmosphere. The team is very flat in structure and the hierarchy doesn’t come in to the picture as long as we are very much clear about the purpose and the objective and working for the betterments
I can go on-and-on but the bottom line is to say that I’m feeling happy and humble at the same time. And full credit goes to my fellow-Kasnians, Eli G and the P&C team for their warm welcome
Long way to go from here and Lot to learn for me to soak from each one of you…Let me continue this amazing journey officially with Google Cloud Platform through #Kasna / #MantelGroup!
Thanks for taking time to read!
