Interview with a 'Citi United' team member

Kevin Kim and I belonged to the same team during Bootcamp. This gave us an opportunity to get to know each other better. He is very hardworking, has a great aptitude to learn and a good friend.

We were in the same team during Bootcamp and learnt a lot. What were your personal experiences during training? Things that you liked a lot and things that you felt could be improved from a training perspective?

Firstly, it was great experience for me to spend 5 weeks together with very talented TLP members. We all worked hard during weekdays and spent fun time on weekends visiting city downtown, sharing personal stories and talking our dreams, etc. After five weeks of training, we knew each other better than college friends.

From team project, we understood each team member’s strong point and weak point and we encouraged each other to try new things and stretch our skills and knowledge. We exchanged a lot of feedback with respectful and friendly approach and based on the feedback, we were able to realize what we didn’t know before. It inspired us.

First month of my rotation after training was not easy because of several reasons. We had little knowledge of organizational structure and function of each team. In addition to that in production, we use 2^nd language which is Citi Acronyms – a number of abbreviations. If training incorporated these areas, it could have been easier to transition into “Real” world. However, I must say that Bootcamp’s case study and presentation were great methods to learn consumer financial business and its challenges in a relatively short time.

Overall, I regret many things that I could do better but after Bootcamp, I was able to find myself with improved knowledge and self confidence.

Tell us a little bit about your experiences working for the PMO group. What skills do you think comes in handy if one is considering a rotation in PMO?

My current role is an IT project manager in Cards Project Management (CPM) organization. As an ITPM, I own and manage several Citi Cards projects from the creation of TPR (Technology Project Request) to post implementation phase.

Just like every other rotation, ITPM is not an easy job as they assume huge roles and responsibilities. However, if you have a passion and effective leadership, you will be able to have a lot of fun while leading project teams with your color of leadership. Be highly available and responsive and respect your colleagues. Your project success depends on each team member and it’s your role to encourage them to do a better job.

Just one example how important you are – In a conference call, if your voice is gloomy, I bet that conference becomes gloomy.

Do you have any suggestion(s) in terms of pre-training preparation for the TLP Class of 2008?

First of all, congratulations! You will have several months before training starts. If I were you, I would spend more quality time with my friends, travel new cities and countries, read more books which are not related with my major, do more work-out, and keep in touch with TLP 2007 and 2006 members. :)

Welcome to TLP. You are all future leaders of the world’s best financial services company.

Sanketi's TLP experience

The two of us went to the University of Florida for MS in Computer Science. Even though we have known each other for over one and half years, it is during TLP Bootcamp that I got to know her personally and she is indeed a great friend to have. Here is what Sanketi has to say about her TLP experience:

How has your experience been so far working on your first rotation project and what are your day-to-day responsibilities?

It is one of those first few projects within Citi to adopt new methodology and everyone within and out of my project is committed for its success. I have chosen the PMO track where I assist in keeping track of Business process and use case schedule. Also, I play the role of a Business Analyst within one of the teams and work with our Business partners to capture Generation specific requirements.

You have a pretty heavy technical background and I noticed that you have chosen the CTO track. What kinds of position are you looking for your second rotation?

I wanted to target improving my non-technical skills and hence, chose my first rotation to be PMO. Next rotation onwards I plan to focus on strong technical projects in different areas- Design and Development, Architecture, Testing - that will provide me significant exposure and expand my technical know-how.

What is your advice/tips for the potential TLPs?

I would ask potential TLPs to feel free to demonstrate their creativity, understand the reason and need for a great program like TLP and understand how its success can benefit both – the candidates and the organization.

Sanketi, thanks a lot for your time :)

Second Round Interviews - Class of 2008

Picture source: cartoonstock.com

Second round interviews for the TLP candidates for the incoming class of 2008, was held on Nov 9^th at the Omni Hotel, downtown of Jacksonville Florida. A dinner was arranged the night before, giving the candidates a chance to meet current TLPs and some senior level management within Citi. Among the senior management in attendance was Andrew Cawood, CIO of the Consumer Lending Group, who was also the guest speaker.

Dinner guests arrived around 6:30pm and had some time to socialize before dinner commenced. Dinner was kicked off around 7pm with the introduction of current Citi employees including TLPs. Andrew Cawood was then called on to speak during which he emphasized the importance of technology and Citi’s invested interest in the TLP program. He reaffirmed Citi’s goal to stay on course in its investment in technology despite the recent change in leadership.

Similar to last year’s 2^nd round dinner, the TLP candidates got the opportunity to show off their creativity and presentation skills. A competition was put up for each table to come up with some creative product, using different shaped plastics, and then attempt to pitch the product. All kinds of products where pitched from a Citi space station to an automated beer toy vehicle. Current TLPs were elected as judges and the winning pitch was a mobile ATM on wheels. That segment of the night gave for a good laugh and night was rounded off with instructions to the candidates on details of next day’s interview process.

Different schools were represented including University of Florida, University of Texas, Notre Dame and South Dakota State to name a few. In all about 42 candidates were scheduled to be in attendance and the dinner provided a great opportunity for the candidates to get a first taste of Citi and for us (TLPs) a first hand view of the incoming class.

Author: Fola (TLP Class of 2007)

Mentoring Program for TLPs

We had a mentor kick-off meeting this week. Although most of us already had one or two meetings with our respective mentors prior to this kick-off session, we learnt some valuable information on what to expect from the mentor-mentee relationship. It takes the two of them to keep the relationship alive. The mentee definitely has the responsibility to make sure that he/she asks for advice and suggestions. One can learn a lot about how the organization functions and what steps to take to quickly move up the ladder from the mentor. Having career goals is very important and having a guide to help you take the path towards attaining your goal is a gift! It is only wise to make the best use of this relationship :)

Picture source: pwcs.edu

I had a meeting with my mentor today and it went pretty well. We spoke about my current rotation responsibilities, manager change and my transition and about my next rotation possibilities. It was great talking about possible project management positions to my mentor who has been in a managerial position for 15 or so years.

Tim's experiences as a TLP

Tim in his cubicle

It is great to have a fellow TLP sit right next to you. Tim O'Neil and I have conversations over the cubicle walls and have some good laughs. Here is what Tim has to say:

Tim, tell me a little about your background - educational and professional

Education: Bachelor and Master of Music – Violin Performance and Music Composition; Master of Science – Information Systems. All degrees were completed at the University of Cincinnati

Professional: 1 year as a hardware technician/desktop support/web developer, 2 years as a “1-man IT Department” in a small company (functioning primarily as a System/LAN Administrator and Web Developer), 5 years teaching/mentoring music students of all ages

Like a few other TLPs, you worked for Citigroup as an intern for 6 months. Do you find any difference(s) between being an intern and a full-time employee in terms of roles and things you learn/have learnt?

The roles are completely different, although the scope of work within the internship was certainly of rotation-caliber. The internship helped most by allowing me to start building my network and becoming familiar with the corporate and site-specific environments at Citi (as well as the NAIT org structure). Now, in my current role, I can focus almost solely on working up my areas for opportunity and filling my skill/experience gaps.

You are working in a Governance role for Citi Infrastructure. How do you find it so far? Do you feel you have been given enough responsibilities?

I enjoy having a higher-level view of the entire NAIT Infrastructure organization from a service-oriented perspective. The biggest challenge is being able to work primarily at the tactical level and knowing when to dive into the operational level to address issues. It is also an interesting dynamic to solicit Manager- and Director-level folks on deliverables for strategic initiatives rather than interfacing with individual contributors on a project. I feel my level of responsibility/ownership/accountability is extremely high – for example, there have been occasions where I have received a call directly from our EVP/CIO.

Tell us about your recruiting experience for the TLP program at the University of Cincinnati?

I – along with several other Blue Ash-based TLPs – was involved with nearly every phase of the process (except actual interviewing). Being that we are “subject matter experts currently living the TLP experience,” our feedback was constantly solicited and we were considered valuable members to the team. Our Blue Ash site leaders (who served as the University Captains) are extremely knowledgeable, personable, and engaging. I believe that our great site culture serves as a testament to their outstanding qualities, and that they function as excellent representatives towards the TLP recruiting efforts.

Your thoughts on the TLP program and any advice or suggestions for the incoming/potential TLPs?

The TLP program is young and there is a lot of genuine enthusiasm both from within the group and from the surrounding NAIT organization. Our class is in a unique position as to be able to heavily influence the program’s direction and success through our suggestions and actions. My advice to incoming TLPs is this: first, be open to change and growth; second, remember to keep your head up and understand where your role and projects fit into the bigger picture; and third, realize that personal development and achievement is a two-way street – success benefits both yourself and the program as a whole.

Thanks a lot Tim!

Employee Giving

Citigroup believes in giving back to the communities. There was a United Way Campaign where the different sites were raising money to help for the betterment of our society. The Blue Ash site had targeted to raise $30,000 but we raised $40,800.

At lunch

Entertaining Duncan :)

Yesterday we had lunch and then our site president gave away raffle prizes to 5 people. As a part of the fund raising campaign, we entertained a pig - Duncan!

My rotation so far..

A lot of things have happened in the last 4 months, that it is almost impossible to write a brief summary.. I am still giving it a shot!

At my cube

My project is a credit card discovery project which is in the requirements analysis phase. The initial 2 months was a lot of meetings and presentations. I was in charge for the system interfaces and had loads of things to learn in order to gather requirements. It was very challenging and a lot of fun.

Towards the third week of September my rotation manager quit Citigroup. I was assigned a new manager. Luckily I have had some prior interaction with him. The best part is that my new manager is based out of Chicago. One of the reasons I picked this project for my first rotation was that I wanted an on-site manager. I was left with no choice but to learn to work with a remote manager. I have had absolutely no problems working with my manager, he made things really simple for me.. He has made sure that we are in constant communication be it via phone or IM. One thing about the Citi working environment is that people are very well connected through Communicator, email and phone. There is almost never a necessity to work with someone face-to-face. I, in fact spend more time working with my current manager when compared to my previous manager. We are constantly in calls and messaging each other on IM.

For some reason I never felt that there was a major transition when my manger changed. I guess one reason could be that for that last 3 months I haven’t worked in one single team. I was more like a member of multiple teams. Overall I have learned a lot more than I thought I was going to at the beginning of this rotation. I can very evidently see the improvement in my people skills. One thing which I learnt from my current manager is that you should not be afraid to ask questions and the way you frame your sentences makes a lot of difference. Communication is definitely one of the keys to success.

A Morning With The CIOs

Picture source: pentagram.com

We had the NAIT CIO “One Citi” Roundtable with the TLPs yesterday. It was for this meeting that we had the brainstorming sessions. E-business CIO and Blue Ash site President Don Eichenseer joined Tim, Adam, Amit, Jason and I at the Bruins conference room at Blue Ash. The other CIOs who took part in the meeting were Al Evans - CIO, Citi Cards, Mark Bloom - CIO, CFNA and Mike Azarian - CIO, CBNA.

First all the CIOs briefly introduced themselves and then started talking about how their line of business approaches the One Citi strategy. It was very interesting to learn the status of the various initiatives within these lines of businesses. Then we had a pre-submitted Q&A round in which each of the CIOs spoke about their thoughts and approaches for the questions from the brainstorming sessions. Finally we had an open question round.

The whole idea of this meeting was to get the TLPs involved in such large organization strategies. The amount of encouragement this program receives is amazing. “We had a meeting with the CIOs of Citigroup to talk about an organization strategy”.. I think this speaks a lot about the amount importance this program receives from the Senior Management people at Citi.

On the other side of the table

Picture source: cartoonstock.com

Most of the TLPs had the opportunity to go for recruitment to their alma matter or to the University in their rotation site. I along with two other fellow gators flew to Gainesville for the career fair. It has been about 3 months since we started working on our rotation and the people in charge of the TLP program already have so much confidence in us! How many other companies allow their newbies to represent the organization for recruitment purposes?

We had lots of fun while recruiting. Unfortunately Citigroup has the policy of No Visa Sponsorship for this year after the H1-B processing debacle in April. There were so many people who were very interested in the program and the opportunities it has to offer. I guess the first round interviews are taking place at certain universities and also some second interview selections. It will be interesting to see how many people I screened during career fair make it!

MA Welcome Day at the Big Apple

Last week, all the TLPs had the opportunity to go to New York City for the MA (Management Associate Program) welcome day. The TLP program is the IT part of the MA program.

At the hotel (The W)

All of us reached NYC on Tuesday (07/31/07). We were allowed to stay at any of the amazing hotels in and around Lexington. I had booked a room at the W. The hotel was very nice and it was pretty close to the Citigroup office. I got together with a few of my friends and had a memorable time. It felt like a short but terrific break in the middle of a hectic rotation!

On the 14th floor at Citigroup

The next day all of us went to the Citigroup office for the Welcome day. The day was very eventful with talks from the upper management people. We first had a nice breakfast followed by a very interesting talk by our Chairman and CEO, Chuck Prince. His speech was very encouraging and he said that there are high expectations from us and it made me realize how much importance and focus this program gets in Citi. Following his speech, our CFO Gary Crinttendon, gave a very different and invigorating speech. He told us what not to forget while working at Citi. He said that relationships matter a lot and never to loose the fun part of life while giving our fullest at work.

Conference room

The whole day was filled with inspirational speeches and presentations about Citigroup’s functional units and our future plans to work towards the “One Citi” goal. Before I knew it was time to leave for the airport.

I wonder how many companies create opportunities like this for their employees. Meeting the senior management people is one thing, but having the chance to talk to them and ask questions is completely different. These people have seen the company survive and grow during the ups and downs. What I got out of the day was that irrespective of where you work or what you do, give it your fullest and make sure that you are heard. Always set a vision and mission for yourself. Never loose focus or belief in what you are doing.

Rope in the TLPs!

Picture source: cartoonstock.com

As our Chairman announced earlier this year, Citigroup’s main goal is becoming “One Citi”. We are trying to bring our different businesses under one roof so that all our customers have a uniform experience. This is definitely a long term project. We have been having round table conferences to brainstorm questions in order to learn more about this huge initiative. We, the TLPs have been taking part in meetings and are putting together questions to ask during the CIOs meet.

When we were told that Citigroup expects fresh ideas and inputs from the TLPs, they really meant it. The organization is doing a lot of things to make sure that they rope us into as many initiatives as possible.

Game day at work!

With the Mason office friends

Everyday at Citi has been a learning experience. It didn’t stop there; today we went to a baseball game as a whole office, actually 2 offices. I was with the Mason’s team and we had a “party suite” at the stadium reserved for us. We got to go to a ball game during working hours!! It was a lot of fun. We had amazing seats and there was food and lots of beer and drinks. No wonder why people love the working environment at Citi. They for sure know how to keep their employees happy!

With TLPs and interns

After some time, I went and sat with my fellow TLPs. Although it was towards the end of the game, I got to spend some time with them too.

The field and us!

Today I learned that Citi has something called the “team building event”. Every quarter, the teams go out and have some quality time together. I am all excited about it.. Hopefully my team decides to go to a real fun place!

All these small things can go a real long way. The most important assets to a company are its customers and its employees. One thing which amazes me about Citi is the fact that we have a fun-filled professional environment. Everyday in the past one month of my rotation has only made me realize what a wise decision it was to join Citi.

My 8-hour home

My little space

I finally got a chance to decorate my cube, rather hang up some certificates and “Gator” license plate! I really like the Blue Ash office.. The office is well designed and has a very professional feel about it. Actually what’s not to like about the office, it has amazing cubicles, excellent elevators, friendly staff and very good security. To top it all I am on the Executive floor! Although I spend about a maximum of 1-2 days per week at this office, I like it here.

Now that I have one of my office cubicles set up, I should start working on the other one next week! Hopefully I will find some more things to decorate my cube with.. after all this is my home for a minimum of 8 hours a day ;)

Realization!

I have been to many summer camps and a lot of training sessions and have never seen folks remaining in constant contact afterwards.

It has been two weeks since Bootcamp got over, but till today we are all in touch with each other.. I don’t think its just technology (email, IMs etc.) which is bringing us together but the one month of bonding and literally living together. In that one month, all of us were at work by 8.00 am sharp and we were there until 6.00 pm minimum. After that most of us went together for dinner and a lot of the days we had team meetings or project tasks to work on after dinner.

Bootcamp was an opportunity for us to find new friends and also find out a little more about ourselves. I definitely have made wonderful friends and I am so glad that I did.

Life after bootcamp!

My rotation assignment started this Monday and so did the meetings ;) I am fortunate to have got this position since this project is one of Citi’s big initiatives for 2007! My manager is awesome and I already have access to all the background reading materials. I have a lot to catch up and very less time to start contributing.

We are having group meetings in the same room where the TLPs had the Bootcamp. And the best part is that we have the same catering service for lunch which makes me feel like I am still in Bootcamp!!

I got my cubicle and it is very nice. My friend and a fellow TLP sits right next to me! It has been three days since I got my cubicle and I am yet to visit it!! (Been in meetings pretty much from morning to evening) Hopefully I will have the time to set up my cube next week :)

The Grand Finale of TLP Bootcamp!

With my team : CitiUnited

The final presentation day was very demanding. We were eager to show how our system, which we built over 5 days, worked. My team did a splendid job and we were delighted to see our hard work come alive.

With Laura, Vijay, Steve, Jason and Mike

With team Forte - changes loud enough to be heard

The 40 of us graduated with flying colors!! It was an awesome feeling. Two of the teams won the best presentation award and there were individual awards too. From my team, three of us got awards.. Matt got the Technical contributor award, Nik got the Team player award and I got the outstanding Leadership award.

With our trainers: Adam, Dan and Tom

All these recognitions made us realize that we are always watched by people and we need to make sure that we do the right thing at the right time. If we are working in a team, it is not enough if we do our assigned individual tasks but we also should make sure that the team is doing well. Success of any project is measured by the group and not by the individuals.

TLP class of 2007

The best thing about Bootcamp was that each one of us moved out of our comfort zones and worked for the team. People with different backgrounds coming together, working in a completely new environment and competing with other teams.. Need I say more about what we got out of the training? An amazing opportunity for us to become a part of Citi!

And the winner is...

We had a hot dog eating competition at work. All of us were in the middle of finalizing our presentations for the next day and working on our project deployment. It was a refreshing break.. not so refreshing for the participants ;)

Brandon, Abe, JP and Rosy were the participants. They had to eat 2 hot dogs and whoever finished their hot dogs first, won! We contributed a dollar each towards the prize money.. We had background music and Janice played the commentator. Brandon won the race!!

Although Brandon didn’t like these pictures, it was too tempting for me to post them here :)

Working in an extremely competitive environment can be very stressful at times (oops, all the time). All these small fun-filled events make our day go by a lot easier.

Grand finale!

Tomorrow is the Big day, we have our final presentations. We spent the last 5 days designing and developing our project and got kind of done with the “impossible task with an immovable deadline”! We have a panel of 7 reviewers tomorrow and they are senior management people. Tiffany, our program manager has also come to Cincy for the presentations. We have an award ceremony where the 4 best teams will be chosen..

My team - Citi United: Nikhil, Brandon, Matt, Kevin and me

Today we worked on the slides and got our demo working.. My team members are amazing with lots of energy and enthusiasm. It was great working them and I hope our team work will pay off tomorrow.

Chicken Tikka for the soul

At Baba India Restaurant (only 8 of us here)

Friday nights are always eventful. The bootcamp is yet to change that!! Last Friday around 12 of us went to an Indian Restaurant in Blue Ash. This place was pretty small and very crowded.. Maybe its size made it look like it was packed. Anyways,we had to wait for about 20 mins to get a table, rather 2 tables and we were made to sit in groups of 4 and 8. After all the waiting and whining, we ordered our food.. My non-Indian friends found the food a little spicy but the overall experience was nice. I am yet to ask them to try Indian again.. Not sure what their reply will be ;)

Crunching numbers

Picture source: dilbert.com

This Wednesday each of the teams had to present their Financial Pitch to the CIOs of Citigroup. We had to get their ‘approval’ for investment and need I say that it was a tough sell! We had to prepare the Project Charter, Process maps and the Cost Benefit Analysis. So each one of us had been toiling and breaking our heads to get things done for more than a week. One good thing about the pitches was that it gave us a feeling of how the real corporate financial approvals are done. They asked us a lot of questions and gave us amazing feedback. Although it was sometimes a little blatant, it was for our better understanding of the corporate world.

Let me move on to the fun part, we had a “Presentation skills” workshop on Monday and Tuesday. We were made to speak on impromptu topics individually and the whole thing was taped for us to learn and correct our not-so-nice body language. Then we had to prepare a short presentation with the financials on a product that we think could be used differently from its usual, existing purpose. I chose ‘band-aid’ and my product was ‘band-aid umbrellas’. We then had to present it to a panel of 12 and get their approval for funding. I was so happy when mine was the first to be approved. Out of the whole bunch, only two of us got approval.A sign of how things will be in the corporate world!

A different day

At the call center

Yesterday was very different from all the things we have done so far. We went to the Citi Data Center in Florence. Kentucky, which is one of the call centers that Citi has. It was very exciting to see the people who answer my and other customer’s calls. They have an amazing building, gym and a dining area for the employees. Something new which I have got to know about Citigroup is that they actually give back to the society. They try to bring awareness in schools in the Ohio/Kentucky area about the importance of education and also at work. For instance, the employees at the call centers get an 80% tuition reimbursement! Although people in most other companies only get upto $5000 in tuition reimbursement per year…We had an amazing Q&A session and the people there were so friendly. Even the President of the center joined us for lunch and took part in the Q&A.

We had a Project Management Quiz and with all the time I had I could only do 8 lessons during the 30 min ride back to the hotel. I did pretty well in the quiz and was done with work by 4.00 pm.. Erin, one of my friends, cooked some amazing dinner for the 5 of us. Her dessert was just out of the world. After that we watched the movie Ocean’s 13. I liked the movie. Although it had some of the elements from Ocean’s 11, it wasn’t bad at all when compared to O-12. We have already started working on the financials for the case study and it is getting very hectic.. Hopefully over the weekend we will be done with atleast 60% of our presentation which is due this coming Wednesday.. It is a new experience for everyone of us and we are putting in our best to get things done!

Eponential increase!

Right after our noon walks

Since the beginning of this week Erin, Sanketi and I have been taking 5-10 min walks after lunch. After 4 hours of lectures and a heavy lunch, this walk helps us stay awake for the rest of the day. We have been at the office for about 9 hours everyday and have meetings once we get back to the hotel. Basically we have been working for about 12 hours minimum each day..

The past 4 days, we have had workshops and training sessions on Project Management, Finance and various other tools to analyze and mitigate risks. Until recently I was under the impression that project management is fairly less intense when compared to code development and that one needs good communication skills to get the job done.. But after attending the training sessions, I have learnt that project management is the most difficult role in project development. You are held responsible for anything and everything since you are the owner of the project..

We have been given a case study on a real-time ongoing project at Citigroup. We are supposed to come up with a TG4 pitch by next week.. i.e. figure out the project requirements, risk analysis and financial projections for the next 5 years in order to convince the management to invest $Billions in this project. There are a total of 8 teams working on this. Its a very competitive work environment and like our instructor says we are trying to complete “An unachievable task with an immovable deadline”. We have a total of 5 weeks to finish the project along with code development, testing and deployment. We are already in Week 1 and are nowhere near completing 1/5^th of the project!

When the TLPs of 2006 batch told me that the Bootcamp is torturously hectic, I thought they were exaggerating.. Now I am beginning to realize how hectic the next 4 weeks are going to be.

Time flies !

Picture source: grantland.net

We are split into teams of five each. The teams were announced yesterday in the morning and we had team assignments the same afternoon! We had to do a 90 second commercial about our team.. It was all fun stuff.. My team was “Citi United”.. We came up with a kind of professional commercial and I really liked our slogan “Putting the puzzles together”.. Will definitely post a picture of our logo tomorrow!

Today was no different than yesterday.. A lot of learning and team exercises. Things are getting pretty tight and somehow I already feel like 24 hours a day is not enough.

A good dose of Baseball

At the Ball Park

Yesterday a few of my TLP buddies and I went to watch the Cincinnati Reds game at the American Ball Park in downtown Cincinnati. The Reds were playing the Cleveland Indians. This was my first ball game and I was so excited.

I loved everything about the game - the cheering, the excitement, the crowd and of course the beer - just kidding ;) We had a great time. Unfortunately,the Indians won the game.There was this guy sitting in front of us who was so drunk that he only was shouting and dancing throughout the game.. ..We actually enjoyed his acts more than the game since the Reds were playing so bad!

Next week is going to be grueling, lots of training and other stuff!

Friday Fun!

Friday started off on an interesting note. The Directors and Managers in the program made the rotation pitches. We got to know about the positions and the job descriptions from the Managers and Project Leaders. They explained our roles in each of the projects. I haven’t heard of an IT job where you get to choose the project you want to work on....Am so glad am in one in which one can :)

There are around 90 projects for us to choose from.One amazing thing about most of the projects is the flexibility. Most of them were ok with us working remotely. For each of the positions they provide us training us areas we may not be familiar with like investment banking, loans etc.. before we start work on the project.

Picture source: imdb.com

The presentations got over by 3.00 pm. I then went and signed my apartment lease.. Adam helped me to find this apartment. One thing about this class of TLPs is that they are all very friendly and are willing to help each other. It is difficult to find such people. The TLPs of 2006 are also very helpful. They are more than willing to answer our questions and Tiffany has done a wonderful job of helping us network effectively.

Getting back to Friday night, Erin, Sanketi, Falo and I went to dinner to this place called “Through the Garden”. It was a very nice place and had a country atmosphere. Then we went to watch Pirates of the Caribbean: At world’s end. The movie was tortuously long and got over at 1.00 am…So if you plan on watching the movie make sure that you have a light meal.. else you might find yourself snoring half way through the movie! ;)

Uniqueness of Citi

Today was a really big day for all the TLPs. The CIOs talked to us about the organizational structure of Citigroup and their expectations from the TLPs . Mark Torkos, the CIO of North America Consumer Group gave an amazing presentation. His talk was very inspirational and very informative. He told us that we should never be hesitant to ask questions and that he is expecting the TLPs to bring fresh ideas to the table. He has been with Citigroup for about 7 months and has already made a very big impact on the functioning of the company. Then we had presentations from CIOs of various other groups..

During break time

I was amazed at the amount of involvement that all the leaders at Citigroup have with this program. All of them answered our questions and kept telling us not be overwhelmed by the size of this organization. Each one of them told us that they expect us to take on the role of leaders and that we are going to be one of the key contributors to the growth of Citigroup.

Outside Parker's - Laura, me, Erin & Sanketi

After an interesting day of getting to know the CIOs, all of us went to “Parker’s Blue Ash Grill” for dinner with Mark Torkos. A coach bus was arranged for us and a private room was reserved for dinner.

Inside the bus - on our way back to the hotel

After dinner Mark talked to us and told us something which I will never forget.. When he was young, his father gave him a piece of advice. He said if you do a project which is sinking, you can definitely make it better but if you do something which is already very good you can only make it worse! Mark gave us his advice that we should be who we are and never put up a front. It is better to be honest and have integrity than be dishonest and a people pleaser. I believe that sometimes we have to please people to get things done but it should never become a habit. It is important in life to make a mark for yourself and gain respect for who you are!!

My first day at Citi

Citigroup office at Blue Ash, OH

Today was my Day 1 in Corporate America!

We had to be at the office by 7.45 am and had shuttles that picked us up at the hotel. The office building is amazing.. I was very impressed by the security system and the very look of the building. To enter the building, we had an eye scanning system (not retina).. The system just checked for the picture of your eye against its database. I am yet to understand how this works!!

We had our orientation sessions, security stuff and of course “ice breaking” sessions. One novel idea for our ice breaking sessions was that each one us had to make a “Shield” . We had to write about the things we thought we were good at, things we wanted to get better at, our aspirations, our qualities, our successes etc..

Dinner at Dave & Busters

Most of the day was orientation and a welcome from the Citigroup Management. After work all of us got back to the hotel and went to “Dave and Busters” for dinner. We played video games and had a good meal. I suddenly felt like I was 16 again!! It has been a long time since I played video games.. No wonder why I played so miserably :)

A New Chapter

One of the best decisions of my life was joining Citigroup as a TLP Associate. There are only a few decisions in life which you know is right from the very beginning. This was one such decision!

Picture source: citi.com

The Technology Leadership Program (TLP) is a two year program offered by Citigroup where they help you develop and hone the leadership skills in you by making you lead key projects. There is so much one can learn about management and leading teams by being a TLP. This is definitely the place to be if you want to make it big!

There are four 6-month rotations where you are the Project Manager/Leader of one of the on-going IT projects in Citigroup after which you "graduate" from the program and join one of the many IT Teams in Citigroups across the world! Citi wants to use this program to groom fresh and energetic youngsters to become leaders within their organization!

My kitchen at the Residence Inn

A total of 40 candidates made it to Citigroup for this program out of the 200+ people who interviewed with Citigroup. All of us have come to Cincinnati for the training sessions a.k.a “The Bootcamp” in TLP jargon.

Its going to be a fun ride from now on and I hope to share some of my experiences through this blog! :)