Kushal Kumar : 1 year completion interview : The guy with a glass and strategy

Kushal said [Hindi] “Sab apna apna karo” [Translation: Everybody do your own /work/] in one of the parties we have had and in a particular moment that made everybody burst out in laughter. Ever since, whenever someone says the magical phrase (like Khul Ja Sim Sim) in Moolya, there is instant laughter and fun. This young fella is a silent killer at work. He would make his work speak loud.

During his rookie tester days, he did something fabulous. He did a mistake, an expensive one. Something that directly impacts the production environment. After he realized the impact it had on production, he thought he will be let go from Moolya for it. We did have a choice but this kid had a spark in his eyes and he was honest to admit his mistake. He was willing to understand if we were to let him go for it. Something in us told; this mistake and realization will make him very strong. He was committed to improving. If you are reading this interview then you know we didn’t let him go. We do let people go when we don’t see the passion, commitment, ethics and professionalism in a pattern and not just one event. We don’t judge people but it becomes obvious when someone does something good or bad.

Kushal is a great example for youngsters – on how to show to an organization that you are a leader irrespective of whether your designation is junior, senior or lead. Kushal is also an example of building credibility within an organization. It is people like Kushal that makes Moolya’s future look even more awesome. Check out what he says

PS: Can you describe us the production goof up you did and what you learned from that and how it has changed your life?

KK:

Goof-up : It was one of the fix (ticket) related to Pinterest in my project where it had 3 subtasks in it. Two of sub-tasks were working fine but I was not able to reproduce or identify the third sub-task and hence I assumed that it may be working fine and verified that ticket in QA environment. As it was already verified no one looked into it and pushed to production. I again checked that in production and didn’t find the third issue. I finally marked that ticket as closed thinking that it may be working fine (no one looked into it again as it was closed by now). But then business people found that the third sub-task was not working and hence they reopened the ticket. The worst part, they found the problem on production after seeing why their new feature was not translating to increased traffic.

What I have learned: There were many things that I learnt from that mistake, but most important was the “Importance of collaborative work”. I could have asked one of my team member or any developer or maybe any PM or onshore team, but I assumed it and my assumption cost. Now I don’t assume things, rather I prefer to ask people and make a note of it so that I can use it next time. Also if anyone else needs it, then those notes can also help them. Other than this there are a couple of more things which helps me to avoid such mistakes like keeping a list of things that needs to be done, never work on any P1 task when you are in hurry (ta
ught by Vipin), never depend on only one mean of conversation (if anyone is not replying to your mail then skype them or call them on there phone), prioritize things so that you can finish up in time.

PS: What does a typical day in Moolya look like for you?

KK: My days in Moolya starts with greetings to/from everyone, Tea from our Tea Uncle etc. As the day progresses, my project related work takes over the control. The fun part includes the Foosball game, chit chats during evening snacks and the friendly banters among colleagues.

PS: What is your contribution so far to Moolya and what is the contribution of Moolya to you?

KK:

My contribution:

I formed a group which together started learning and working towards Performance testing. Now I am going one step forward and trying to implement my learning in one of the project. Other than this I’m working towards making my dream come true, dream of making Moolya a common name among people in IT space.

Moolya’s Contribution:

Moolya has given me a platform to showcase my skills. In Moolya I have learned about courage and boldness.

PS: What have you learnt from people in Moolya?

KK: I’ll not say I learn, rather I am inspired by the passion that people here in Moolya has in whatever task they do. I try to bring that passion in my workings. I have experienced a high degree of sense of responsibility from the people in Moolya. I have learned here that “Freedom comes with Responsibility”.

PS: Tell us about your performance testing learning and what you plan for Moolya with it?

KK: We Moolyans are doing great work in Testing. But there are few areas where not much of us have that required expertise. I aim to bring those expertise of Performance Testing here in Moolya. I wish that this learning that my group is working toward, would be implemented in all the current and upcoming projects.

PS: Tell us the moments were you laughed a lot?

 KKIts a bit difficult to pin-point any particular moment as most of the time is fun filled (yes work blended with fun). there are many such moments where I laughed a lot, like while playing Foosball, or during introduction of a new joining (we do fun by making him dance or sing) in this way we not only enjoy but also make them feel comfortable and familiar with Moolya culture (we are fun loving people).

PS: What is your advice to people who will be joining Moolya in future?

Moolya is perfect place for you :
– If you want to become a leader.
– If you believe in challenging the existing theories and creating new
– If you want to work with awesome people.
– If you like questioning before proceeding.
– If you’re passionate any small/big things you wanna do.
– If you think you cannot be chained and love your freedom.

_end of interview_

The bad thing Kushal has done to himself is to make us raise our expectations very high and the good thing about how he is approaching it, he is going to make our expectations look sub standard.

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