First things first, a little introduction about me – 22 years old, raring to go, young at heart, tech + design organization, I’m Extentia. In this post, I would like to take you through the journey that I have taken, along with my Extentia family that has grown from almost the size of a nuclear family to a clan of 600+ Extentians since 1998.
Be it working on projects for clients in varied geographies or getting exposure to new technology and platforms, one thing each Extentian is assured of is growth – that is both professional and personal. Constantly buzzing with events and activities – workshops, hackathons, quizzes, cultural events, sports tournaments, upskilling sessions, annual company-wide events, social outreach programs, thought-leadership gatherings – we know how to work hard and party harder! My backbone, my leadership team, is a group of experienced and passionate leaders from the industry who have been at the forefront of the digital revolution for the last two decades. Their vision, work ethic, and mentorship are the drivers that keep us all going and continuing to deliver confidence to our customers while loving what we do.
"A team is not a group of people that work together. A team is a group of people that trust each other."
- Simon Sinek
These words, by one of the most revered authors on organization and team-building, perfectly define the group that I totally adore, the long-term Extentians – the flagbearers of the beautiful company culture set by my founders. They are the foundation on which new members set foot to excel in their personal and professional lives. Witnessing the digital revolution globally, they have been with me through a series of technological, economic, and internal transformations over the years and have stood strong, delivering high standards. Just to confirm that the feeling is mutual, I asked a few of them to encapsulate their experience at Extentia in one line, and I wasn’t disappointed!
By now you must have understood that it’s never all work and no play at Extentia. Let me take you through the myriad of things that keep us busy through the year, that is, apart from writing code and creating world-class designs.
We are divided into 6 houses. Yes, you read it right – houses, like we used to have at school! Each Extentian is assigned to one of the six houses and these houses then compete in the mighty Extentia Premier League or XPL – our year-long inter-house competition (FUN!). These competitions encompass sports tournaments, a showcase of creativity and art, a quiz, and a final stage performance at our annual company-wide party.
As you can tell by the name, X24 is our annual build marathon where teams create workable solutions from concept to pitch within 24 hours. Now, it might sound like just another hackathon to you, but, for me, and for my family, it’s ‘that time of the year’ – we love the maddening hustle and everything about X24 – from preparations to the final pitch.
TGIF, one of the many expressions that I live by. My favorite, Friday Reboots are my fun spin to Fridays – a series of rejuvenating activities that we indulge in at the end of each workweek. From quizzes to talent showcases to storytelling and much more – we do it all here.
My one-of-a-kind showcase of the latest innovations in the world of technology. I find new gadgets and get my enthusiastic bunch of tech-geeks to play with them and demonstrate to an internal and external audience – possible workable solutions that can be built with these gadgets, for real-world problems.
Life is incomplete without giving back to society. Started in 2001, Sakaar lets us all create social awareness in the city, help the underprivileged, and extend support to non-profit organizations in various capacities.
Now, these two events are my personal favorites – while Forum is the slightly quieter one where we all meet to look back at the year gone by and our plans for the year ahead, the Annual Party is the loudest and the liveliest of all the events we have. Culminating the year-long XPL activities with house-wise stage performances – the Annual Party is all about getting together, dancing, and reveling – oh boy, how I LOVE this one!
Having each other’s back – that’s what we do at Extentia, didn’t I tell you we are a family! From counseling sessions, steady insurance and doctor services, a concierge, and much more – we are there for each other at all times!
How I dealt with the life-altering year that 2020 was? I DISCOed!
Soon after the March 2020 lockdown started, my exceptionally capable team outlined our new 'DIstributed COllaboration' – DISCO protocol, completely transitioning our processes and workforce to a remote working model – for me, the smoothest switch in the history of switches! Not to forget how my system admin and admin teams (superheroes, sans capes), worked tirelessly for hours and hours, moving machines from the office, straight to the homes of Extentians across the city.
Since then, we all have been spread across the country and are staying connected via DISCO, ensuring business continuity and delivery of exceptional value to clients while keeping safe and healthy. Now, if you think COVID was able to break the streak of our Friday Reboots and other activities – you are wrong, so very wrong! We have continued with all the fun activities in the remote setup, thanks to our ever-s-caring HR team, and have even had several online events – because, it’s all about making work fun.
We are eager to expand our clan – if you have reached this far, reading all about me and my family, and are enticed to be one of us, join us in this roller coaster ride that life at Extentia is!
Read other Extentia Blog posts here!
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