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Horse Saddles - A picture taken by the author during a visit to The Jasper National Park in 2015
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Sitting on the front seat of a cab when traveling to
unknown places is a good way to get the 'public' opinion. There are two
professions which seemingly project to know more about the 'ground realities'
than anybody else: The Barbers and the Cab Drivers. Be friends with them and
you'll never need another guide! But, you'd have to bear the burden of facing
their gigantic ego.
"Where are you coming from, Sir?" he asked
“Montreal” I said
"Why?" was the next question
"For a job interview" was my terse response
"Yes, no jobs in Montreal. Everyone lives on welfare
there. You'll like Calgary. Good for business"
There! He summed it up concisely.
"I have 2 houses and I own this plate. I do the
morning shift while my cousins do the other two shifts on my plate"
He continued while I couldn't stop ogling at the western
styled architecture of Kensington area. We had arrived at the address I was
given.
The main entrance was classic and clean. The signs
somehow guided me to the stairs to the 2nd floor which was even
cleaner and quieter. It was a rather small door with a little window through
which I could peek inside. As if it was a crystal ball and my whole future was
hiding behind that window, I tried to look as far and as wide as I could. Did
not see anything but a few empty desks and some nifty looking telecom hardware
laying around. That must be a VoIP switch, I thought.
When no one answered the door after I rang the bell for
the second time, I started to get worried. Did I have the correct address? Did
I write their number to call them just in case? There was a little sign on the
door saying “For Employees Only – Keep the door closed at all the times”. I was
not an employee yet so it was clear that I had ended up in front of the wrong
door of the company. But, do they follow the rules? I couldn’t help my inquisitiveness
and turned the knob. It was open!
At least two people got out of their cubicles and rushed
towards the door as if the office was under attack and the security had been
compromised. I felt as if I should forget about this job now because I had
already broken some sort of code and committed a felony against the established
statutes of my prospective employer. As if some sort of intellectual property
had been leaked and I was directly responsible for it. Why did I open the door?
Did I have any other choice? No, I didn’t – about six hours of travel had made
me sluggish.
One of them recessed the idea of confronting me but the
other, rather serious looking dude, approached me.
“Who are you looking for?” he asked.
“I am here for an interview” I replied, humbly.
“Are you the guy coming from Montreal?”
“Yes”
“How did you get in here?”
“The door was open”
“Ah – these guys! We got to do something about this door.
Follow me”
“I am Umer. Nice meeting you, Sir”.
“I am Kirk (the name has been changed). I googled you.
Nice meeting you, Umer. Would you like anything to drink?”
“No, thanks Kirk. You must have seen my resume?”
“Yes, I’m one of your interviewers. Let us go find Lu
(the name has been changed) and have a quick chat and then we’ll go out for
lunch”
We walked from the middle of the hall towards a corner
and entered a conference room. Lu was waiting for us over there. There was a
lot of telecom hardware on the center table with Ethernet connected devices
everywhere. “Get ready for some hands on tests Umer” – the thought crossed my
mind. Lu stood up and shook my hand. He looked like a seasoned telecom
professional. He was wearing a yellow jacket with the company’s logo on it. The
dim lights in the room, flickering LEDs from the quietly running telecom gear
and a couple of very successful and seasoned telecom professionals standing in
front of me made me look like a pigmy. But only for a moment! I remembered what
an old friend used to say when we were preparing for those soul draining exams
of the Electrical Engineering curriculum: “Have we failed in any exam ever? We’ll
pass this one too”. He used to say. But the real difference was made by Lu’s
confidence filled and assuring voice. “Thank you for taking such a long flight
to come see us. We’re very happy to see you” – he said.
The conversations delved into all aspects of a customer
facing technical role I was being considered for. We had a good lunch at a
western style steakhouse in the vicinity and the conversation continued for a
while after we returned to the office. After about two hours of discussing
VoIP, SIP and how it was going to change the world Lu said that he was going to
show me around the office. We accidently bumped in to the GM of the Calgary
office. He was a tall, physically fit, very smart tech savvy executive and I
had watched ALL of his webcasts before taking the flight to Calgary. I
appreciated his webcasts and to my utter surprise, he invited me to his office
for a one-on-one chat regarding the job opportunity (I am still sure it was not
part of the plan). Again, for a moment, I was terrified and then I remembered the
words of my friend from the University of Engineering & Technology, Lahore.
“Have we failed in any exam ever? We’ll pass this one too”. I prayed in my
heart for God to help me in passing this step too – and He did. We had a deeply
insightful discussion on the SIP protocol, the associated developing IETF
proposals and challenges in commercializing this new technology. I had been
living through all these experiences in my professional life in Montreal and
with the help of the Almighty, it all came up nicely in my discussions with the
most important man in the Calgary office.
He tried using an app called #TAXI to call for a cab to
take me back to the airport but it didn’t work! Incidentally, only 2 years down
the road (in 2008) I helped redesign the infrastructure behind #TAXI and
perfected it to a point where a lot of Canadians use it on a daily basis now.
But that was during my second job in Calgary. I did get the job offer from the beautiful
office in Kensington Village too.
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Serene waters of the Glenbow Reservoir - picture by the
author in Summer 2016
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We’re in the middle of a major economical trough in Calgary and Alberta at the moment. Things will not stay the same. Even the darkest nights will end and the sun will rise (Victor Hugo). Keep on believing in yourselves, keep on learning and do not be afraid to work hard to follow your dreams. As Paulo Coelho said in his world famous best seller The Alchemist: “When you really want something, the whole universe conspires in helping you achieve that”. With God’s help, nothing is impossible.
Wishing you a healthy, prosperous and blessed new year
2017!
Umer Waqar, P.Eng.
Calgary
19 December 2016
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The author is a Senior Business Solutions Architect with
AT&T Global Services. He is a Professional Engineer with APEGA, holds a
bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from University of Engineering
& Technology, Lahore and a Master’s degree in Electrical & Computer
Engineering from Concordia University, Montreal. His interests include reading,
writing, photography, painting, promoting human development using Information Technology,
applied research, innovation and optimized business solutions. He lives in
Calgary, Canada and can be reached at uwaqar@gmail.com
Great story Umer! Keep shooting for the stars!
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