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!

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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!