"Dont wait for an intro...."

 "Ramya, what are you waiting for?" called out a friendly voice when I was standing in a corner wondering what to do! 

I was at my first office outing in a bowling alley (another first!) and got called out by a wonderful, kind and generous mentor. In his trademark Tamil lingo he asked if I was waiting to be invited into the celebration with Betel leaf (வெற்றிலை பாக்கு). Though I always thought of myself as an extrovert, I stood shyly not able to join the boisterous crowd with beer mugs!

Subbu, our friendly guide from above walked up to me and said - "In an office environment, never wait to be formally invited to join any discussion - be in a technical brain storming or dinner party conversation". I pasted a smile on my voice and joined my team to display my severely lacking bowling skills.

However, next day there was a burning issue with the code in our project. I saw an animated discussion going on, and though it was behind closed doors - I didn't hesitate to knock and join in! Subbu's words were ringing me in my ears, while I spoke up and made valuable contribution to fixing the issue and earned praise from my manager.

This simple but profound advice has stayed with all through my career. This post talks about my various pit stops.

I am eternally grateful to Subbu and similar such mentors I found at Dell while I started my career and learnt my trade :)