Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Monday, June 8, 2009
.
When did we lose it ?
Once thought to be a bastion of forward thinking.
Places where ideas were born and the future of the world was decided. Places in which pony tailed guys showed up in jeans and ideated.
Technology was the king and profit was somebody else's problem.
Engineers were the most important asset of an "IT" company and were suitably valued as such.
People who attempted to introduce unnecessary bureaucracy and related processes were routinely taken to a back room and kicked around a bit.
People were proud of their creations. These places had a character, and most of the time a face
too.
And then somewhere along the way... the plot was lost.
Most companies are now run not by people who loved it and are passionate about creating stuff, but by corporations who are in it for the money.
Every morning (or afternoon, or evening) I am bundled into a bus and herded to some large faceless company along with a few thousand others. Punch in , do my stuff according to the established "processes" and when my 9 hours are up, punch out and head with the herd back home. Exactly like an assembly line worker.
Ideating ? You got to be kidding...There is no column in my timesheet where I can put this
against.
Independent thinking? Who needs thinking when you got rules and processes ?
Coding and trying out stuff? I will be shot for SOx violations.
In the list of one thousand of the most important things in an IT company, I, as a software
engineer, come in at around number 758, right below door knobs and just above chair handles. I would have droned on.. but my body and brain refuses to co operate with my will at 4 am in the day , in office.
Do companies like the ones above still exist ?
Heck, do sections in my company exist which function like the above ?
Once thought to be a bastion of forward thinking.
Places where ideas were born and the future of the world was decided. Places in which pony tailed guys showed up in jeans and ideated.
Technology was the king and profit was somebody else's problem.
Engineers were the most important asset of an "IT" company and were suitably valued as such.
People who attempted to introduce unnecessary bureaucracy and related processes were routinely taken to a back room and kicked around a bit.
People were proud of their creations. These places had a character, and most of the time a face
too.
And then somewhere along the way... the plot was lost.
Most companies are now run not by people who loved it and are passionate about creating stuff, but by corporations who are in it for the money.
Every morning (or afternoon, or evening) I am bundled into a bus and herded to some large faceless company along with a few thousand others. Punch in , do my stuff according to the established "processes" and when my 9 hours are up, punch out and head with the herd back home. Exactly like an assembly line worker.
Ideating ? You got to be kidding...There is no column in my timesheet where I can put this
against.
Independent thinking? Who needs thinking when you got rules and processes ?
Coding and trying out stuff? I will be shot for SOx violations.
In the list of one thousand of the most important things in an IT company, I, as a software
engineer, come in at around number 758, right below door knobs and just above chair handles. I would have droned on.. but my body and brain refuses to co operate with my will at 4 am in the day , in office.
Do companies like the ones above still exist ?
Heck, do sections in my company exist which function like the above ?
.
This happened in the middle of last week. It was around 6 pm. Issues were dropping in like bird droppings on a statue.
I was staring at the growing unattended list in my inbox in a kind of glazed expressionless trance which can only come from continuously looking at hopelessness.
Felt a tap on my shoulder. "I need you to go ahead and carry out an exercise in facial expression control", said my manager to a very startled me.
"Me..?? But I... I mean..", I began. "Go..!", came the interruption, with some decisive thumb pointing ,not unlike a swimming instructor telling his very scared student to jump in.
What happened for the next 30 minutes can only be described as hilariously pitiful. One moment I wanted to laugh out loud...really hard, the next I was enveloped in a kind of why-on-earth-I-am-here fear. Every single one of my facial muscles was hurting from a concerted effort to not let them do what they were attempting to. I did indeed periodically nod in order to break the monotony of thought (self pity!) , and so did the other person. I am pretty sure both of us were thinking that the other one is,without question,correct.
Tips on how to keep a straight face while interviewing someone (while knowing you absolutely dont belong there) would be greatly appreciated..
I was staring at the growing unattended list in my inbox in a kind of glazed expressionless trance which can only come from continuously looking at hopelessness.
Felt a tap on my shoulder. "I need you to go ahead and carry out an exercise in facial expression control", said my manager to a very startled me.
"Me..?? But I... I mean..", I began. "Go..!", came the interruption, with some decisive thumb pointing ,not unlike a swimming instructor telling his very scared student to jump in.
What happened for the next 30 minutes can only be described as hilariously pitiful. One moment I wanted to laugh out loud...really hard, the next I was enveloped in a kind of why-on-earth-I-am-here fear. Every single one of my facial muscles was hurting from a concerted effort to not let them do what they were attempting to. I did indeed periodically nod in order to break the monotony of thought (self pity!) , and so did the other person. I am pretty sure both of us were thinking that the other one is,without question,correct.
Tips on how to keep a straight face while interviewing someone (while knowing you absolutely dont belong there) would be greatly appreciated..
Thursday, May 21, 2009
.
The company seems to run on only one philosophy these days : Employee miserability is directly proportional to customer satisfaction.
The fact that I have accepted that life is going to be considerably difficult in the days to come doesnt make it one bit easier.
Ohh, and my co's transport management SUCKS. And I am even more of a jerk to be still dependent on them for ferrying me to and fro. 2 years since I am here, and I still have to think 10 times before I can even consider buying a Nano. Second hand ofcourse. (New cars are the sole preserve of those "software guys").
Ofcourse, in theory, I just might be able to scrape together enough to get something like the above, but I will have to give up a few trivial things. Like eating. And electricity.
I have already given up on having an interweb connection.
Desperately needed : a panacea for boredom.
PS : Lack of sleep and being miserable in general is a great way of losing weight! I am well on my way there by shedding some excess load in the form of hair on my head.
The fact that I have accepted that life is going to be considerably difficult in the days to come doesnt make it one bit easier.
Ohh, and my co's transport management SUCKS. And I am even more of a jerk to be still dependent on them for ferrying me to and fro. 2 years since I am here, and I still have to think 10 times before I can even consider buying a Nano. Second hand ofcourse. (New cars are the sole preserve of those "software guys").
Ofcourse, in theory, I just might be able to scrape together enough to get something like the above, but I will have to give up a few trivial things. Like eating. And electricity.
I have already given up on having an interweb connection.
Desperately needed : a panacea for boredom.
PS : Lack of sleep and being miserable in general is a great way of losing weight! I am well on my way there by shedding some excess load in the form of hair on my head.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
.
I am getting old. Really fast.
The day you realise that you find separating your PC paraphernalia too frustrating a process, you are O-L-D. (Something you enjoyed doing a thousand times in a day in college now seems extremely daunting.Things also suddenly get very heavy.)
A fact reinforced by the looks young people hanging around give me these days. "Maan...he must be ooooldd.. Must be atleast TWENTY...ewwww". "No yaar, definitely looks much older, must be nearing twenty-two".
I stare at them whizzing past, as I stand at the bus stop and observing how their 16 year old brains make them believe they are invincible. Frankly though, my "extremely old" brain thinks that a scooter against a JCB isnt much of a match.
But doesnt really matter to the chick who is riding and glares back at me. "Urghh...this guy is old, must be old enough to be a colleague to my parents".
The day you realise that you find separating your PC paraphernalia too frustrating a process, you are O-L-D. (Something you enjoyed doing a thousand times in a day in college now seems extremely daunting.Things also suddenly get very heavy.)
A fact reinforced by the looks young people hanging around give me these days. "Maan...he must be ooooldd.. Must be atleast TWENTY...ewwww". "No yaar, definitely looks much older, must be nearing twenty-two".
I stare at them whizzing past, as I stand at the bus stop and observing how their 16 year old brains make them believe they are invincible. Frankly though, my "extremely old" brain thinks that a scooter against a JCB isnt much of a match.
But doesnt really matter to the chick who is riding and glares back at me. "Urghh...this guy is old, must be old enough to be a colleague to my parents".
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Between a rock and a hard place
Long weekend, this one. One that I wish would end soon. Yes, you read right, I wish this weekend would end, so that I could get back to work.With certain new developments taking place, I have had some "change of circumstances", which put me somewhat away from my usual comfort zone.
So what do I do now ? Do I hang out at home, where I get decidedly superbored or hang out all the while in office , where I get decidedly superbored and decidedly frustrated.
To pass the time here, I am reading stuff like Mathew Reilly's (hadnt heard of him before) "Scarecrow" , which reads exactly like a script for a B-Grade hollywood flick. (Everybody is very good looking, every enemy is a communist and everybody can drive/fly/ride everything).
But it still temporarily gets my mind off everything. I think I should stock up on reading material other than manuals of old gadgets. Maybe technical books (which would probably increase my chances of cracking an interview).
Amongst office things, some more good things came to an abrupt end. (Though I had a feeling they wood)
You win some, you lose most. Life goes on..
So what do I do now ? Do I hang out at home, where I get decidedly superbored or hang out all the while in office , where I get decidedly superbored and decidedly frustrated.
To pass the time here, I am reading stuff like Mathew Reilly's (hadnt heard of him before) "Scarecrow" , which reads exactly like a script for a B-Grade hollywood flick. (Everybody is very good looking, every enemy is a communist and everybody can drive/fly/ride everything).
But it still temporarily gets my mind off everything. I think I should stock up on reading material other than manuals of old gadgets. Maybe technical books (which would probably increase my chances of cracking an interview).
Amongst office things, some more good things came to an abrupt end. (Though I had a feeling they wood)
You win some, you lose most. Life goes on..
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