A Tale of Two Cities

How is it different working in Bangalore and NCR for the same company

 

I am working for the same multinational company as a Software Developer for the past 4 years. I worked in Bangalore for 3.5 years and have now moved to NCR/Delhi. Within a week of change in locations, I could see the striking differences in the work culture and the environment, not to mention the differing levels of professionalism and personal relations. So, here’s a brief about what was different, accounting both the sunshine and the rainy days.

Where Bangalore is about being efficient in work and technical skills, Delhi is more about being social and pleasing. This is one characterizing difference that you would notice without having rocket-science observation skills.

What I loved about Bangalore was that my grey cells were always stimulated without any effort. It was a requirement there to keep myself updated with niche skills and updates in the technology industry. What I love about Delhi is that your teammates will take it as their moral responsibility to keep you company. You will never be left alone. That’s why we, North Indians, feel at home here.

The one most irritating thing about the Delhi office is that the local Indian company work culture is creeping in and spoiling the multinational company’s work environment. The leadership and higher management will miss out on simple courtesies of ‘Please’ and ‘Thank you’. This I never faced in my complete tenure at Bangalore.

In Bangalore, you will have ample opportunity to take part in HR activities and in other extra-curricular events, but the people are not that enthusiastic about all that. Whereas, in Delhi, people have the anxiousness to do all such multiple tasks, including work and extra-curricular, but such events are rare and happen at huge time intervals, at months mostly.

Now comes the office politics. Of course it happens ubiquitously at every company, irrespective of location boundaries. Nevertheless, it is done very much under-the-hood in Bangalore. But in Delhi, it is displayed publicly and takes a centre-stage. People here do not even try to compete for a promotion with the Manager’s favorite.

I would repeat a very interesting story one of my friends told me happened here.

This happened at a ‘Town Hall Session’ at the Delhi office. All the leadership team, including the Senior Managers and DU Leads were present. While the query session was happening, one of the guys asked a question to the DU Lead (the second highest designated person in the India centre of the company). His question was simple. ‘There is so much biasing here for promotions. The person with good contacts can climb the ladder most easily here. You should do something about it.’

There was silence for 2 mins, as everyone was surprised at the bland nature of the question asked to the DU Lead, the most respected person present there.

The DU Lead replied. ‘My dear boy, are you saying that a person good at speaking and socializing is getting the benefits of his skills? And are you suggesting that I deny him the reward? Has anyone stopped you from making contacts and using your social reach? Everyone is good at something and it can only be used when you know what you excel at and encash it in a smarter way. So, instead of picking over someone else’s achievements, I would recommend you to make a case based on what you excel at and if you were not rewarded for it.’

This was an eye-opener for most of the people present there. Also, nobody could refrain themselves from appreciating the witty reply of the lead. This will be Delhi for you, folks, where the success mantra is “Market yourself with the skill you excel at”.