On 1st July 2004, I joined Virtusa as an associate software engineer. On my first day, while I was sitting in the library to receive an on boarding kit from HR, I was joined by another guy who joined on that very same day. He was quite a character - agile, shy and quite friendly too. He was Prabath.I joined in to a project on my third day and Prabath joined the same project a couple of weeks later. I got to know him as an innovative go getter who couldn’t be stopped by any thing. What frustrated others motivated him. He took on what others gave up. He was an achiever in all possible ways.
We both got promoted to software engineer and then to senior software engineer and got assigned to lead roles on the same dates.
Prabath was given the hard job of leading a scattered and mismanaged team and was held responsible for their technical deliveries. I was given comparatively the easy task of coordinating onsite and offshore work. And for Prabath it was this role that brought out the marvel within Prabath. Not only did he coop with the immense pressure that he was pushed to, but he had the band with to help me out as well.
I have witnessed leads that were commended as the best of the breed, but in my perception Prabath stands out of them clearly. Most leads were either techies or friendly “managers”. But Prabath was more than the both. He knew what he was doing and he knew how to lead others. He is a true role model for all the new engineers. He stood by the team all the time and never let the team spirit drift apart, no matter how much pressure he was put on with.
I personally know had I been through what he was put through; I would have quite long before. But he held up and finished the project in true style of a great lead.
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ReplyDeleteThanks Mahasen...! This is too much for me :)
ReplyDeleteIf not your help, as a team we won't come this far. We had an agreement before you left to US - that is to help each other at our best. I think both of us did stick to the plan. Your phone was never switched off for me and there were times that I woke up you to get some clarifications, by your time 1.00 AM - 2.00 AM, but your never shouted.
Just want to say I higly appreciate all your work there and it was really great that you could build a strong relationship with the client.
Wow.. Its amazing to see this sort of Project Management collaboration and coordination between the leaders and the team members.. Congratulation.. Its quite a rare thing in IT. Most technical project leaders whom I have seen so far are the people who just put all the weaknesses of their individual team members in front of the management in order to divert their pressure.. I really liked the part which meant “he took all the pressure and stood behalf of the team all the time..” That itself tells us that this project is going to be a great success. Its really Great and really happy that I read this…
ReplyDeletei agree totally..........
ReplyDeletewell... i got know prabath just 6 months ago... but really didn't get to interact with him much up untill he became the tech lead of CRM... before that, i just new him as another engineer under the giant shadow of Rasika, who'm i heard from a high ranker as "one of the best techies i've worked with"... anyways.. as time passed by, we got to know that rasika was leaving... i was of the idea that it would leave a huge void which cannot be filled... but i thought too soon... prabath took over and lead the project in style... he filled the gap left by Rasika so smoothly... it is then that i got to know the real guy behind the spectacles... everyday i thought to myself "one day, this guy is gonna make such a great PM"... i was so amazed by his mature attitude... maybe it was because he was a good follower before he bacame a leader...
Best thing about Prabath is that he's not a geek with no common sense at all no a dim-witted PM with an agenda of his own.
ReplyDeleteHe's a well balanced leader. His arsenal has every thing it takes, great technical skills, great people skills, patients and most of all ground to earth genuineness.
I believe he's the best tech lead the project ever had over the past 2+ years. He brought the team spirit in to the team and guided to achieve goals as a team. Not as individuals trying to highlight their own names.
This is so great to hear,,,,, I too remember the humble beginings we all had at CRS. Both Mahasen and Prabath showed colours of achieving this greatness from the very begining. CRS is one of the most preassured project I have worked to date and both these guys showed that they are capable of handling the preassure well, the main feature I noticed in them apart from their techincal expertise is the ability to keep a cool head during troubled times which is key to be successful in the business of IT. Most CRS guys including Mahasen and Prabath have achieved remarkable success in their respective careers which makes me really happy. I wish both of you more success in the future.
ReplyDelete-Yasas Vishuddhi Abeywickrama
Oh look who's here!!
ReplyDeleteThe greatest achiever of all time from our initial team...
Compare that with me and Prabath and you'll understand