Sushiksha

Experience backward is the key to move forward.

A stage was set; a stage decorated with wonderful props sparkling from every nook and corner. A stage providing opportunities for people that have never experienced certain aspects while helping those experienced to equip themselves with a greater amount of experience. There isn’t room for development; there’s an entire space for development. A package full of learnings with fun being a friend throughout.

What is this stage that I’m talking about? It’s the workspace Sushiksha has setup. It’s special because it’s burning with a wild flame of knowledge right from the core. The closer one gets to it, the more they receive. For me, it’s been the only good thing that happened during the pandemic and now will remain as the best thing to move ahead.

At the outset of this wonderful quarter of Sushiksha, I was given the charge of leading a team. A team of 11 people. While a few knew me personally, there were a few that knew me only by name. There were a few that understood how things work; while there were a few who knew nothing about the workspace.

The first task was to make everyone accustomed to the workspace. It took some time for them to come out of their bubble and at the same time, I got to learn more about them, as well as how to make people come out of their comfort. I took them all on a slack tour and made sure that they understood how things worked here and told them what’s expected from them. The only 2 things the workspace expected(expects) back from them were(are) tremendous interest and the ability to incorporate any given feedback.

Weeks passed and the activities got kick-started. We had to name our teams in an Indic fashion and we finally came up with a beautiful name called Ayusheer(ayuh+seer). We then had to design a logo for the same, and one of my energetic teammates helped me with it.

A few days later, something best happened. We had a full-fledged website running solely for us built by one of our dearests. This opened a gateway to many things that we consciously focus on now. One pivotal thing was a leaderboard built for a healthy competition. This became a driving force for almost everyone. While all these were going on, we got our Cherry on the cake in the form of Sushiksha Coding League.

Sushiksha Coding League wasn’t a piece of cake from the beginning. No, I don’t mean to say Coding was difficult. I don’t mean to say projects are difficult. It was about decisions right from the beginning. The hardest being picking 6 people out of the 10 you have. Critical thinking started to boost up and in the end, after a lot of aftermath thoughts and keeping in mind the motto of the SCL, I formed a team along with the lead assigned.

Talking about the leads reminds me that assigning leads was a great push to everyone. It not only kept people active, but it made them have a worklike experience. It made a really good atmosphere to work. My leads started reporting me about every other task they handled and I could see that they were doing their part well. Nowhere did it feel like I had to command them as a leader. The bond between team members grew as we met often in the name of SCL standups and Team Party.

While we had just started to pitch in ideas for the SCL-Maxo, we got a piece of great news. We all were now part of DataCamp’s partnership. This gave us all a great stage to practice on all those things that we needed for our projects. We got a jump start with three assigned courses. Days passed and rewards started to rain for all the work we were undergoing. It became a great motivation for the majority of the people. 

With all these going, somewhere we were close to our teammates but the workspace isn’t just about the 10 faces we see every day. We were introduced to a donut bot that was linking people to acquaint them. We took it a step ahead. We started to assign ourselves a person, and this personally helped me a lot with regards to opening up or starting a conversation with everyone I came across. It taught me how important it is to begin a conversation that sometimes yields a lot.

We also got an opportunity to talk to our mentors as part of 1:1. These sessions had a lot of takeaways. I spoke to my mentors regarding all the questions I had in my mind for a long time and they all answered them. No stones were left unturned and I realized where I stood. Their experiences and words added more flavors to it. 

That was all technical till now but there are a lot many other things that the workspace has blessed me with. I learned umpteen things from people here. Every person has a unique talent, and I made some time to learn something from everyone. The best thing is that everyone was always ready to teach anything. From simplest to hardest, I learned them all.

The best non-technical thing that happens here is the fireside chats and Oratoria where people get a chance to speak their heart out and compete with each other. I have a lot many memories with Oratoria in specific. I failed myself by not reaching the peak I could yet I never stopped. The amount of support and motivation I got from my peers to take part over and over is unimaginable.

This isn’t all. Every member in the workspace is special, and I could see it right through my eyes. The birthdays of every member in the workspace is celebrated virtually giving a homely feeling. I sometimes feel happy to see the amount of happiness that spreads through these small celebrations and eagerly wait for mine to come. 

These were like the main course. Daily standups of Joy of Programming, Joy of Electronics, Fun with Medicine, etc. were equally educative and Bollywood nights, game night was our water cooler activity. The workspace had a balance for everything. That is how the integrity was maintained throughout.

Irrespective of the fact that we were in 4th position at the end of the quarter, it taught me a lot many things. I have been applying all those learnings in my recent activities and going ahead with this quarter. Every new badge introduced taught me the working behind it; every decision I took taught me it could have been better; every thought opened up a new dimension. The first quarter was just a warmup session and there’s a lot more to come. I’m ready to be the best version of myself. Ready to hustle through everything that is coming on my way.

I’d like to conclude by quoting myself;

“Sushiksha, for me, has been a wonderful workspace as I get to learn from mentors all around the world. It is one of a highly luminous group that always moves forward with each other’s care and support.”