A graduates path to being a Pivot

Mehul Modha

 

                  

 

 

If I told you the company that I work for lets me develop new product features, engage with customers to join our movement to transform how the world builds software, support them on keeping up to date and then pitch the platform of tomorrow today, all in one year, would you believe me? 

 

Here's what my year long adventure looked like and how I rotated throughout an organisation to go from a University Graduate, to Pivot.

Day 1: A new chapter, a new challenge

November 19th, 2018, the day finally arrived to start at Pivotal! I couldn’t wait to get going, so I grabbed my work bag and began my commute in an oddly ghost-like train to Old Street in the dark. But never mind those details, I needed to focus on what the first week at work would be like. 

Is this a place I will thrive? What does it mean to be successful? 

Is this a place where I can achieve my potential? What impact do I want to have with my team in a week, month, years time? 

Will my team even like me? What does mean to fit into the company culture? 

 

All these questions seemed daunting at the time and I hoped that the sounds of commuters joining me on their way in work would drown out these thoughts rattling around, yet there were no signs of the mob in question.  But never mind all those details, how am I going to introduce myself?

I thought it would be a good use of my travel time to practice my introduction against my reflection of the empty train carriage and the hour-long journey faded away feeling like 10 minutes. A myriad of scenarios playing in my mind of how I will be perceived on my first day by my follow Pivots. As I got out of the train, I look around and wondered where my fellow Londoners were hiding, why the station looked so baron. But never mind those details, I was here now at Old Street now and it was my time to make my entrance into the working world.  

As I made my way through the building lobby and got into the elevator heading to the second floor, I took a deep breath and prepared myself to meet my peers. The elevator door opened and I stepped out to face the door of the reception and then I thought, maybe I should have considered those details, I looked at the time on my phone and realised I arrived an hour before breakfast started. But never mind those details, I was glad to be in early and ready to start my day, I was excited to be having breakfast with my peers! 

 

It's really a lovely relaxing way to start your day. Pivots providing a warm welcome to new employees, guests and clients, breaking bread together. It is a testament to the energy within the company, but I realised that there's more to it. Breakfast gives us an opportunity to cross pollinate with other team members, share some challenges we are tackling in day to day work, ask for help, and above all else just have a chat and share stories.

 

Everyday at 9:06AM we conclude breakfast with a “standup”, a ceremony in which a soft chuckable microphone is passed around the canteen for people to introduce themselves, ask for help, let Pivots know of any events which we can get together for, and also a chance to share some “interestings” both work, and non work-related. So the time came for standup and I kept thinking to myself “do it just like you practiced on the train”. But never mind those details because I was already holding the mic and introducing myself. I was so relaxed having already spoken to the Pivots around me that I was just doing what needed to be done instead of overthinking it. That’s when it became apparent to me, “don’t worry about those details”, everyone at Pivotal is here to help you figure them out as you go along. It is a culture which encourages you to collaborate, be agile and iterative on what you do, to be comfortable with yourself in order to get the best out of you.  

 

In the next blog, I will be talking about my first rotation, my learnings, and my experiences at the heart of Pivotals innovation, Research and Development.  


 

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