Changing trends...

Yesterday, we had a new joinee to the development team at our company. His manager came by and introduced him to me. Generally, I make it a point to go and talk to the new guys, as soon as they join the team. When I talked with him, I realized that he is already familiar with most of the other members of the team and perhaps knew about them even more than me. This led me to think about how times have changed.

When I started to work, it was a very different feel during the first few days at any new company or a new team. My own experiences with one of the companies I worked with in the past are similar and even mildly daunting. I’d spent days together there, before I realized the guy who was sitting beside me belonged to the same team as mine and was supposedly reporting to me! When I walked in during the first day into that place, my eyes were looking for the guy who talked to me during my interview, because his was the only familiar face to me. All others were strangers. Fortunately I got a cubicle to sit in and a computer to tinker with, within the first few days at work. My manager was on tour abroad and wouldn’t come back for another month or so. Till such time as he came back, I’d to stay alone in my cubicle with virtually no connection with any of my neighborhood. Once he returned, I breathed a sigh of relief, but wouldn’t still know anybody other than himself. Both parties felt a strange sensation while trying to talk to each other and get introduced. Acquaintance with my neighbour happened only because he was the developer for the feature I was assigned to verify, and there was no other way than to get familiar with each other. I guess, in the most cases introductions didn’t happen, unless you were forced to co-operate at a professional level. This was the story 5 years back and I believe, happened with most everybody.

A few years earlier, all this changed. People became bolder and started mingling much more freely even starting from the first day, but with a slight push from somebody. It became customary that the manager (when he is around) takes you around the office during your first day at work, and introduces you to all other members of the team. Consider this to be an ice-breaking session. So, till the time the manager comes by to take you around, most of us will feel uncomfortable sitting in a crowd of strangers. The funny part is these ‘strangers’ know each other well, but you being a stranger to them, they may feel a bit odd to come and talk to you, because both don’t necessarily have any common subject to talk about. So, this ensues in the strangers talking about you in low whispers to each other, and eyeing you with suspicion, because after all you may’ve come in there only to attend an interview – when no other suitable place was available, the manager would’ve asked you to just wait there till a room was available for the interview.

Nowadays, such situations rarely occur, even without the team manager around. Today, most guys in the industry are youngsters, who like to go and push themselves with strangers. Today, when a new guy walks into my team, within no time, they will acquaint themselves each other. One of the managers sitting nearby me, keeps a cricket bat and a ball near him all the time, so that any new guy in his team (and even in others) will be welcomed with a game of cricket! People started discovering ways to hold personalized ice-breaking sessions. People frequent to places outside the company, to participate in team lunches, team building exercises, and even visit to nearby cinema halls. The trend is good and I hope will sustain in the future, for good…