Team Advantal gathered for an adventure trip to Simcha Island to mark the occasion of the company’s 11th Anniversary.
It was a Saturday Morning. The entire team, including top-level managers, HR executives, marketing professionals, designers, developers, and IT experts, came together to commemorate another successful year of Advantal Technologies. After months of lockdown and working in isolation from home, the team was looking forward to this outing.
Team’s Excitement
We arrived at our destination on company-hired transportations. We assembled at the main entrance, all giddy with anticipation.
The 30 acre Simcha Island offers fun and adventure trips for family, friends, and coworkers. We were all given wristband-style passes so that we could partake in all of the park’s fun activities.
As we entered, we hurried ourselves to Jump headquarters (Jump HQ), the section of the park we were most excited about. Jump HQ is a 17,000 square foot state-of-the-art arena for crazy athletic activities. However, there was still time for our slot. So, we started our adventure with the mechanical bull.
The Adventures
Mechanical Bull
The cowboys and cowgirls of Advantal were ready to ride the metal cattle. But, it wasn’t an easy rodeo sport. Mr. Vishal Jain, one of the product managers of Advantal, proved himself to be “captain cool” on the mechanical bull. He resisted the jerks and shakes of the machine like a pro and stayed sturdy for longer than most.
Adrenaline Rush Pumped At Trampoline Arena
The time had come for us to enter the arena. Jump HQ features an amazing amount of trampolines and other activities. We played Wipeout, slid down a tube, jumped like a Ninja, performed parkour, played basketball & dodgeball, and many more activities. We were “jumping” from one activity to the next for an hour.
Jump HQ pumped our adrenaline levels up for the rest of the day. We moved out and rushed to heart-thumping activities like Giant Swing and Rocket Launcher. Those aren’t for the faint of hearts.
The Team Building Activities
Rope Course
We then went for some team sports and adventures, starting with the Rope Course. It is a fun military-like adventure sport. It’s a great team-building exercise for corporate workers.
Rope Course tests a leader’s quality of understanding the strengths and weaknesses of each of his/her team members. The leader has to strategize how the team will complete the rope course by helping each other. It provides an opportunity to see how people combine their strengths to overcome challenges as one team.
Paintball
We then proceeded to the fierce paintball battleground. When a warlike situation arises, team members must be flexible in their planning and execution. In today’s fast-paced corporate world, knowing when to strike and when to stay put is crucial. Working as a single entity on a project, as the commandos did in the arena, is also critical to victory.
A Nostalgic Trip
Before lunch, we played some basketball. Some of us were nostalgic to play it years after graduating from high school. It brought back memories of our teenage years.
Then, after lunch, we played cricket, rode bicycles, and posed for photographs. It was like a journey down into memory lane into the carefree childhood days. We then sat down under the shed and quenched our thirst with water.
After relaxing for a while, we all gathered around Mr. Sandesh Tallera, the CEO and co-founder of Advantal Technologies, to congratulate him on the company’s anniversary.
Advantal Technologies – a Proud Past, a Robust Present, and a Promising Future
Mr. Tallera interacted with all employees, asking how we were doing, our thoughts on the company’s work culture, and our plans for the future. Mr. Vinod Rathore, Product Manager at Advantal, spoke about his 10-year journey with the company. He shared how he joined Advantal as a developer and how he grew in his career as the company grew.
The Vice President of Operations and Sales, Mr. Shubham Raghuvanshi, spoke about the opportunities he has got at Advantal. He has held various managerial positions in Sales, HR, and Operations. He described his experience at Advantal Technologies as life-transforming.
Mr. Raghuvanshi is a people person. On one hand, he understands the requirements of the clients perfectly, on the other hand, he helps the teams to stay collaborated and resolves the operational challenges. He thanked Mr. Tallera for the constant guidance.
Mr. Tallera shared his, and Mr. Ashish Thakral’s (Director and Co-founder of Advantal Technologies), vision for the company. He said, “Ashish and I view Advantal as an institution that will flourish for decades.”
He continued, “I wish to see you guys grow and flourish. People are the most crucial aspect of any company. We are also the trustees of our work culture. Let us pass down the culture that promotes growth, learning, and endurance to each new employee.”
He asked the experienced teammates to guide the newer employees on becoming the best version of themselves.
Mr. Tallera concluded by saying, “Advantal believes in the personal development of its employees. Even if an employee leaves the company, for any reason, the learnings and experiences at the company would benefit them in their careers. I advise, if you’re a backend developer, to try to learn full-stack. And if you’re a native mobile app developer, learn cross-platform development. In other words, keep upskilling yourself so that you can never fear the dynamic job market.”
Colleagues Becoming Friends
Our hearts yearned for the day to never end, but our bodies needed to relax.
The employees from different departments, who seldom got any chance to interact in the office, were laughing and chatting together all day. For relatively new employees, the trip was an icebreaker.
The trip seeded many new office friendships, making people from different departments more comfortable around each other. We returned home with a treasure trove of memories and new insights into life.