Volume17|Issue7

Employment Milestones 2
Bonalu Celebration 4
Baby Eade is Born 5

Editor-in-Chief: Matthew Boryczka

ACE Editor: Rajender DoGra
ACI Editor: chitra gopal
ASP Editor: Ashok Allam
KALEIDOSCOPE |August 2017

E mployment Milestones
Two long-standing employees based out of Apexs U.S. headquarters in Herndon, VA, are celebrating major
milestones with the company. During a lunch reception, Ram Prasad and Melissa Sharan were honored for 20
years and 10 years of service, respectively. During the reception, stories about Ram and Melissas accomplish-
ments were shared. We asked them to share their own experiences here in this article:

WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST DAY ON THE JOB LIKE ?

I came from a company that had seven employees and where I had been working for 16 years. Stepping into Apex
was a bit overwhelming. My first impression after being walked through the entire office and introduced to ev-
ery person was, these people need name tags! Ill never remember everyone can I have a chart or something,
please! We had quite a few more people here in the office in 2007 than now.

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR FAVORITE PART ABOUT WORKING AT APEX?

Working with a team of excellent people that have remained our core. There is not a huge turnover at Apex, re-
sulting in solid work effort but not stagnancy. I would also say learning. I have been given the opportunity to take
on many different roles as time progressed, much more expansive than my core responsibilities, requiring that I
learn and grow from each one. Every situation can and should be looked at as an opportunity to better ourselves
Apex gives all of us that.

WHAT HAS BEEN THE BIGGEST CHANGE WITHIN THE COMPANY SINCE YOU STARTED?

Well, just that. Change; it never stops, Apex never sits still. We downsize, we upsize, we decrease our office space,
we add office space, we create divisions, companies. If I had to pick one single big change, it would probably be
the sale of Smart Grid Solutions and a large portion of our staff moving on. This had a big impact on most per-
sonnel.
WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR BIGGEST ACCOMPLISHMENT
DURING YOUR TENURE?

Communication. Gradually processing through my shyness

and inability to talk to people (inside our organization and
outside) a lifetime struggle for me. Working at Apex, I
must deal with almost every person on staff and an enor-
mous number of external vendors and personnel. Commu-
nication has been kind of a trial by fire had to do it, so I
did.

WHAT IS YOUR BEST PIECE OF ADVICE FOR NEW EM-

PLOYEES?
Melissa Sharan
Same as for life Almost anything is fixable, ask for help if Director of Administration
you cant figure it out. May 2007 - Present
 Volume17|Issue7

WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST DAY ON THE JOB LIKE ?

It was the night shift. I was a data entry operator in India and I
was asked to key 50+ pages in three hours. When I finished in
one hour, nobody could believe it and they had to verify that I
keyed the pages correctly without mistakes. When they found I
had done it correctly, they gave me another hundred pages! In
honesty, it was very exciting. I was right out of college when
I started at Apex and I felt very good about starting my career
and beginning to earn money at a young age.

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR FAVORITE PART ABOUT WORKING

AT APEX?

The challenges. Whenever someone comes to me with a prob- Ramnaryan Prasad

lem it perks me up to be able to solve the problem, or find a way Senior Systems & Network Admin
to solve it without making it an issue. 1997 - Present

WHAT HAS BEEN THE BIGGEST CHANGE WITHIN THE COMPANY SINCE YOU STARTED?

When Smart Grid Solutions was getting started. It involved a lot of IT management changes in the beginning. It
was a big change. We had to learn about handheld devices, understand how they work, and how to fix them. We
also did a big data center move. It was a big shift and challenge that we had to figure out.

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR BIGGEST ACCOMPLISHMENT DURING YOUR TENURE?

Opening the ACI office in India. I was involved in working and designing the network and IT infrastructure of
that office. It was a lot of work and to see it come to fruition was a huge accomplishment. It was also a big chal-
lenge and accomplishment moving into my role managing IT for the entire company versus software develop-
ment. Ive had a lot of roles here.

WHAT IS YOUR BEST PIECE OF ADVICE FOR NEW EMPLOYEES?

Be innovative in finding solutions to problems you come across, and do not shy away from asking for help.
KALEIDOSCOPE |August 2017

B onalu Celebration
The history of the Bonalu festival traces back to the 19th century, and is linked with the Reg-
imental Bazaar and the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad. In the year 1813, plague
disease broke out in the twin cities, taking away the lives of thousands of people. Just before
this, a military battalion from Hyderabad was set out to Ujjain. When this Hyderabadian
battalion found out about the plague in the cities, they prayed to the Mother Goddess in Mah-
ankaal Temple Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh.

History tells us that this battalion made a promise to Goddess Mahankaali that they would
install her a large and beautiful idol if She could drive the plague from the city. It is believed
that Mahankaali destroyed the disease and kept the plague at a furlong distance. As promised
by the military battalion, they returned to the city and installed an idol of the Goddess, which
was followed by the offering of Bonalu to her. From then on, this became a tradition still
followed by all the people belonging to Telangana. People offer prayers and food (Bhojanalu
Bonalu) to please the Goddess so she will rid them from diseases and ailments.

From Left to Right : Vivek, Shiva, Shiva, Prasanna Kumar, Gowtham,

Naga Bhavani, Rohini, Mounika, Susmitha, Saileela, Akhila
 Volume17|Issue7

B aby Eade is born!

Please join the Apex Herndon office in welcoming Marketing Director
Stephanie Eades new baby daughter, Piper Brigitte, to the world! Pip-
er was born on the evening of August 25. Congratulations to the entire
Eade family.