A Story...

Today I will tell you a story about a person who has nine years of working experience and is presently my onsite coordinator. Be seated, have patience and bear with me as I try to unfold before you a serious case of genetic malfunction:

To start with, he is presently at US and his wife called him yesterday and since he didn’t pick up the phone, the call got auto forwarded to my friend sitting here at India as a part of or offshore team. Yeah, my friend’s number is set on his handset as an auto forward option. That can give you an idea of how frequently he calls us. While US calls are common and almost an essentiality in IT, here we are dealing with a calling maniac. He feels comfortable being on call and we spend four-five of our working hours with him. As for the details of the call, well, better let’s not go into all that. I say that because whenever he fails to get what we are saying or explaining, he would say “I think I am doing too many things at a time…give me some time”. He is a person with a skill set of 2/10 in core java and believe me, fresher’s out of college come with at least 5/10 expertise. That is where his nine years becomes questionable. So, amidst all this when you try to communicate and work with him, you will often find him doing an FTP to move a log file from the server to his machine and when you ask him why, the answer comes “I thought it is a java file yaar”. Only a blind can have that freedom. Even a fool looking onto a system is able to make out a “.txt” and a “.java” file extension. And as to why he expects a java file sitting under a log folder is beyond the capabilities of human logic to understand or reason. Now, when you try to answer his queries, as he shoots at you all possible combinations of “How & Why” before his call with managers, he often maintains “I am better when I see code…logs doesn’t make much sense”. So, you move on to explain him the code and in the process all you deal with is his simple innocent futile foolish dumb basic java fundamental questions. If you make him realize that he forgot something or misunderstood something which he had said earlier he prefers saying “You can ask me as many times you want and I can ask you about the status of work as many times as I want. I don’t know why you are asking me the same thing again and again”. If you set up a call with him and your manager in loop, he maintains “I don’t want to waste time on call with managers”. As to his performance, he is giving us a single SQL select query for the last two months and he still isn’t able to complete and get us the final one. The query changes every two days and without testing it, he would send it to us via mail and ask us to test it. He often displays a high incapability to understand questions too. Like when my manager asked him about the final date by which he would be able to complete his SQL query, he replied “this query is supposed to pull all the data based on a date”. He feels power in making us work on weekends, quite pointlessly though. He maintains “our project is in a red state..we need to put in efforts to make it go to a yellow/green state”. And he is proactive enough to send a mail asking offshore to work even if there is no work to be done. Since I have put down my papers, I refused to do so and he was quick in sending out two escalation mails highlighting the fact that he isn’t getting the needed support from offshore. He would often comment about this to my friend as “If he had been under me, I would have taken good care of him”. He is supposed to understand the business requirements and communicate the same to us. On the contrary, he is busy feeling a lead and someone who watches over us and inspite of several mails, long hour calls we have failed time and again to make him understand the very same requirements which he was supposed to understand and communicate to us. Before the start of the project, we highlighted a couple of issues that we may ran into while moving to production and he gave all of it a deaf ear. Now, he is asking the same things and wants us to own the whole show and explain as to why these were not highlighted earlier. Any efforts to make him realize as to the fact that these were already highlighted gets us a response “see, I can very well remember that I have never heard any such thing” and any effort to get to a solution gets us a reply “u guys have the code yaar…you are supposed to tell me what has to be done but ideally you should have told it to us long time back”. As for a mark of his individuality, he spells "Google" as "Gugul".

Well guys, this is him. There is so much more to say about him. He is a genetic malfunction born to exemplify fools with dumb brains and is here to stay and make life miserable. These are the kind who makes things difficult and pose real challenges during the lifecycle of a project. My four years of experience rates him as the worst that I had ever seen or heard of before. This makes me wonder the quality of product and commitment these companies and clients are now a day’s fine with. And if you are from US, well, beware if you work in IT…you may come across him one day and if you are reading this, you will be the first one to identify him with perfection. And, he is enjoying the so called glorious much wanted heart throbbing “Onsite”. LMAO.

WC 2010.....a dream...

I was unable to get up in the morning and we missed our plans for the trip. We had plans to bunk the night and start early in the morning. But my study plans are keeping me asleep during the night. I tried putting in as many hours I could for my GMAT preparation. I struggled though, a lot with my focus. It gets difficult to give away your limited weekend hours to studies when you always know how bad Mondays are. I somehow managed an average pace. The most remarkable event of the day was however Germany beating, sorry, thrashing England out of the WC. I am in for GER & ARG and it’s sad that they would meet in the quarters. Anyways, ENG deserved the loss. It is high time they start thinking of as a team. And pace and agility is something they always need to learn from the German team. The Germans are probably the best European soccer team ever in the history, all through. But when it comes to Argentina, it’s the “Messi” factor which makes me set a 60-40 priority. Nez…hope things sway in my favor…when they meet…I just hope that the best one goes ahead and it does win the WC this time. To see your team win WC is a dream. I would count it as one of my gifts of life.

Throwing off the rust..

Life has become rusty. As the loop runs, with the same set of operations, I am tiered mentally as I fail to apply myself at my purpose. Parents are now staying with me and my friend. As for my parents, they seem to be the way they were except that they are feeling a bit bored now. They don’t have people who belong to our caste and are skeptical about the ways the IT world behaves and functions. Apart from that, my friend deserves big thanks for the way he has adjusted himself to such an arrangement is marvelous. Life now has more visits to local stores and grocery woes have increased. Every morning has an added responsibility to check if anything is required at house. It is still a care free mad world except the fact that the madness is now configurable and can be switched on/off whenever we want. Yes, over time, after having been involved in numerous feats of extreme madness, we have been able to tame it. Well, after a long time, we have planned a trip to Bhongir, a nearby fort of the famous Kakatiyas dynasty. Plans are to drive till there and trek and enjoy nature till evening. Nez….it is getting late for me to go the new flick “The A-Team”…will be posting the pics tomorrow.

Lets Sleep

They are so heavy. They are coming down. It is such a pain to keep them apart. It’s kind of funny, the way world looks right now. Everything seems trifle and futile. A shadowy era in front of me makes me realize that I don’t want or need anything. All my hunger to grow or to evolve or to survive can sleep for the time being. I am in no hurry. Something inside whispers to me and asks to let things go. Never did it seem so easy before. There is pain and yet, it has the pleasure. My mind is going slow. I can see myself through the lanes stacked with to-do of the day. They can all wait. They have to. I had seen all this coming. I was intentional in letting it happen to me. It’s peaceful and human that I am, sloth isn’t uncommon to me. I am sleepy. I am about to sleep. And to let you know something, quite proudly though, I am at office. It is time for my afternoon nap needs to be getting fulfilled duly. Lets sleep…

Its pissing..

At work, I am trying hard not to do anything. Some people get it but never me. Peace at work and a smooth project with an understanding client have always eluded me since four years. For giving all of you an understanding of the position am in, I have put down my papers and thought of it as the right time to prepare myself for the GMAT as I have two months notice period with me. As if by miracle, the day I booked my dates for the GMAT, work started becoming hectic. The slope is ever increasing and I am ending up being at office for more than twelve hours. All my preparations have gone for a toss. I am always bad at saying “NO” and it’s the need of the hour. Nez, as my friend and love pointed out correctly, bigger things are at stake this time. This post is one of those efforts to stay away from work and not to get involved in the activities going on around. Internet is the only thing that sparks a fire when I am at office with such intentions. Sadly, I am in no mood to read anything today. I give a damn even if Germany looses today to Ghana or another minister gets killed. I am dead. To wait for the day to end so that you can come back and read and to repeat the whole of it every day is a real pain in the A**. Right now, that’s what I am going through…..

Happy Birth Day To ME (16.06.2010)

I was born today. It’s the day of bumps and cake-faces. Sadly or luckily, I escaped both. As I sit here, at office, there is no one around who knows about it except my manager who is on leave. And as I have mentioned countless times before, something happens to me on my birthdays. This birthday was probably the dullest ever. Nothing strange, unique, sad or exciting happened. That doesn’t make me sad. I don’t know what makes me sad. On a different note, I sometimes feel that I am not a living entity. I love memories of life more than I love life. Nez..this is my space and I haven’t wished myself yet. Happy birthday to me.

A Choice.

I am just being selfish and I chose to be that ways. Bigger things are at stake this time. A 100% commitment to the organization after you have put down your papers is always difficult. In the past, I have done that just to fight my guilt and to be decent in my exit. But this time, my GMAT exam is at stake. Considering that my academics are average, I am in desperate need to ace it. My failing in doing so will cost me a year and may be a drop of my plans to do MBA. Re-appearing the exam also doesn’t fit in as an option as I am already in a huge debt. My credit card is screaming at all time high levels due to the numerous needy swipes it has encountered.

So, my dear colleague and friend, I am really sorry for doing this to you. I know I have starting neglecting my work to leave a bit early and have been shunning away from responsibilities. But staying till two in the morning and slogging for a person who doesn’t even care if I had my dinner or is not capable enough to make out what it takes to put in twelve hours of work, makes me feel real bad especially more so when I know I am running on my last chance. You aren’t aware of my issues but I hope that you will try to understand me and behave with maturity. I have done my part in making you understand the consequences of your decision to stick out here. That is the most I could have done to show you how deep the waters are. I also gave you a helping hand to pull you out of it.

Eight Months

It feels so good to be back to blogging. If you ask me what kept me away, its issues at work and not the work in itself. Gradually over the years I have become a person who now firmly believes that if you don’t get what you want, go and get it. The moment you decide to wait for it, a few moments pushes you back the queue significantly. I was denied a promotion. I was denied a project of my skill set. An organization which I still feel is one of the best around in terms of almost any parameter that I can think of, sadly, offered me my skill set assignment I was looking for once I resigned. Although they ended up promoting everyone, they failed to even commit ten percent on my promotions. Considering the fact that I was a near to excellent performer as per my ratings for consecutively two years, nothing swayed my way. I left and landed onto a place where a even bigger pit was awaiting me. I didn’t get what I was promised, neither on the pay terms nor on the work front. Now a day I am working with people having ten years with them and still, they sound, behave and talk like a fresher out of college. It’s back to the old corporate jungle of politics, racism and undervaluation of one’s efforts. I am leaving again.

That I got through one of my dream orgs and how all of it happened is another story. Even if they didn’t pay me a hike, I still feel good about joining them soon. If you ask me why, it’s just not the dream that makes me say so. It also has a lot to do with the culture which I strongly feel and can sense have always remained a big concern of mine. I can’t work for/with fools. I learnt something which I must say applies to all of you who work: Work at a place where majority of the people know better/more than you. The eagerness to learn is infectious. If you have the hunger, which can’t always be self driven for long on a lonely island, you will enjoy the food. The hungrier you are, the tastier the food is.

And now, it seems a perfect opportunity for me to go back onto an unfinished journey which I left midway. After two organizations and two resignations, several interviews and eight months of job hunt, it’s time for me to devote as much as I can, of my time, towards GMAT. My date is booked for 9th August, 2010 and thanks to my love for that. She rightly identified the procrastinator in me and pushed me for it. Hopefully, this would mean an end of an era which was the most disturbing ever for me in my four years of work experience.

I was never a career oriented guy. Today, I feel I have become one. Time makes strange things happen.