A typical IT experience!

A newbie fresh out of College is happy to be placed in a reputed firm. Family and relatives are happy on this achievement. This fresh face enters the heaven (then) which will be paying out the defined salary on the last day of the month. Yes this is definitely going to be lot more than the pocket money he/she got in college. The smile on an employee face is self-explanatory for his/her status in the company - Fresher.

Introduction, orientation, meeting colleagues, paperwork and the trainings are marked on his/her calendar for the initial few days to make him/her familiar with the work culture. He/she finds friends who have similar interests. Everything seems to be colorful and joyful. The lunch breaks are more than an hour. It isn’t easy to get rid of the bunking habitJ. Enjoyment is the only thing on their minds and that is what they will be surrounded with. How long?? Soon the Fresher tag goes away. He/she becomes a part of the industry.

Though one has fun filled days in the initial months of joining any company, slowly this phase (known as the honeymoon period in IT terms) fades and the routine sets in. True colors appear. Monotonous days, nothing seems to be happening around you except that you see an elderly man in his forties or fifties, THE MANAGER gazing at his monitor, the inbox is open which has a thousand unread emails stacked up. I wonder if they are able to read them all in a day. Hats off to them if they do. On the other end of the room there is a software developer who is scrolling down his code multiple times to locate the root cause of the issue assigned to him. There is another guy screaming at his pager” Oh no not again. I finished with one production issue just now. This is disgusting, I need to have my breakfast.” Also in the same room there is a testing team struggling to test a requirement but the database is down. A HIGH severity defect is raised. This is the usual morning scene in any software company.

In the cubicle next to you sits a girl who spends most of the time talking to someone on her cell phone so softly as if she is whispering into the mouthpiece. There are many colleagues and friends of mine who have asked this one question several times for which I have no answer till today. “What do girls talk about for hours and for god’s sake why on the phone?” I say bluntly “Do they really need a topic. No not necessarily “. But what do we girls talk. I am not that fond of talking for long hours. So am out of this branded tag. There are exceptions on all statements people make you see. Of course!

By the time everybody settles in for the day it’s almost noon and that’s the perfect time for a team discussion. This is just another chance for the team members to get away from work. A face always filled with ??Questions?? walks into the chamber. Mostly the leads are a he not a she, so I shall start addressing the team lead as a he. No offence to fellow colleagues! He then starts with percentages, dates of completion, RTM, Designs, template, artifacts … the list never ends. From day one this is Bullshit to me as No one follows process the way it has to be. I understand the scenario completely. It is not as easy as it appears to be! Final tag line the lead makes before leaving the chamber “The Audit is scheduled for …..” Am sure no one from the team ever hears the complete sentence he makes.

When you walk by the coffee pantry (I call it the Gossip center) you get to see a group hanging around to discuss many things from politics to fashion, X generation to robotics, Mainframe to Dot net and what not. A lot of talking happens over a coffee. I steal the tag line here from the favorite coffee shop in town - CCD (Café coffee Day).

Its time for lunch and the stomach bell starts ringing when clock strikes one. The cafeteria is the next hang on place. The non-localites have no option but to eat the food that tastes the same everyday. Even with all the hating they stuff in the same thing unless they find a better place which serves good food.

A lot of these techies spend their Quality time post lunch to resolve the issues on hand, develop new stuff, and enhance the existing functionality, creating document for recording the details etc. The seniors with expertise come in for rescue when a situation goes out of control or when there is an issue that needs immediate attention. That is how one learns the criticality of the problem and modules they are working on.

It is almost the end of the day, when creeps in silently the need for status updates with the counterparts who sits thousands of miles away. I forgot to completely mention about one important gift in any company – Instant messaging. Yes the means of communication between anyone in the company is possible through this technology. No wonder how all of them in the floor appear to be busy the entire day. However in its real usage, a message comes in at the time you are about to pack your bags and leave. It typically starts with:
Abcdef: Hello Good morning.How many ever times we correct them that “it’s good evening here “there are a few of those who don’t get this right even the next day.
Reply goes back:
Xyz: hiAnd the conversation continues … If needed there will be a meeting arranged to clarify the doubts and to get things flow in the right direction, the way it has to be.
Abcdef: Thank you for sparing a few extra minutes on this. Good night.
Xyz: thanksConversation ends:

The tired employee finally leaves his desk and moves towards the door only hoping for a better tomorrow. As I have said there is always an exception to this scenario and I would really be happy if there is a better one.
- An experience really counts!Ashwini Nagaraja