Not a new word for most of you...right? "An urgent issue.. to be resolved in next two hours", " This has to be finished today EOD", "Deadline to release this patch is 1 week"... These are the most common statements that you must have heard your supervisor or manager say most of the time. At times I feel that they are like some code themselves in which a function of "Show Alert" is called whenever the client calls them up and asks to finish something :) and the "Show Alert" block comprises methods like "Leaves canceled" "No coffee breaks" "Weekend Working"...so on and so forth....Wow!! so well I know the managerial class of people by now.. 3.2 years of IT experience huh!!
Well, this time my managers gave me a very different kind of deadline...It was actually not a deadline.. it was a "line" which if I crossed, i would be "dead"..simple enough ha? 22nd October 2010... friday..appraisal discussion..my supervisor and my delivery manager called me to the delivery manager's cabin..
Act I Scene 1:
Delivery manager: Lady, you are not performing..
Me: Why sir, what made you think so? I mean, whatever task I have been given till date, I have finished all on or even before time.
Supervisor: I have hardly given you any task.
Me: And may I know the reason please?
Supervisor: Because, i did not have that confidence in you that you will be able to give the desired output.
Me: Can you give it a try?
Delivery Manager(In a rude and insulting tone): Ok, lets give her 2 weeks..if we find her up to the mark, then ok..else I think you should try for big companies...that's where you have come from..and I think that kind of environment suits you..you are not fit for this organization.
Me: ?????????? Totally puzzled....
I mean what?? I am not good at work and I am suitable for big companies?? What was that??I was confused..whether to take is as a compliment or comment..
Well...I took it as a DEADLINE....dear...2 weeks...then you are gone...at such times there are a few people whom i prefer to contact immediately...my best friend Ajay,my Supervisor at my previous "big company" Vivek and my 24*7 help desk Arham...
Act I Scene 2:
I rush home.. Vivek told me about walkin at one of the "big" companies the very next day...that night I studied like a student who forgot his examination date and somehow came to know just a day before the exam... One full book to finish..CV to be edited..print outs needed...tensed, perplexed and determined..I studied.. I told dad about the hell I was in and told him not to tell mom....could not eat..could not sleep..so huge was the fear of being jobless in 2 weeks..
Act II Scene 1: Saturday, 23rd Oct 2010
Well,I am the only player in this scene... Ajay,Vivek,Dad,Bittu Da,Shipra and other morale boosters are working at the back end..Interview at one "big" company.No food no water since morning..I was so damn tensed..I would have puked if i took in anything ..1st round...2nd round...hunger...still waiting...hunger..tension..sleepy..then finally the HR declares that the 3rd and the final round would be telephonic...Relaxed...not because I had cleared 2 rounds..but because I could rush to bhaia's place now and have food!!!!
Act II Scene 2
Monday..Tuesday...days were passing like hell.. I used to sit right next to my supervisor..and he had given me a "Maha faltu" kind of a task to check my ability...I don't know what ability...coding ability or patience ability..All the time I used to wait for the HR's phone call for the last and final round.. Well, it was scheduled on Wednesday..27th Oct 2010..I cleared it!!!yesssssssss!!!!! and within the next two hours i got the job confirmation in that "big" company..It was a verbal confirmation though...I was still waiting for the offer letter.Wednesday went well..Thursday...day by day that guy's attitude towards me was becoming awful..I ran away from office..could not take the insults any more...
Act II Scene 3: 29th Oct 2010
Friday...I messaged him.."I wont be able to come to office..not well enough..please allow me to work from home.." He replied "I am sorry..i am not sure of your productivity..can't allow you to work from home..please apply for leave"... Another good time to have measured the boiling point of blood...Back again to serious studies..there was another walk in the next day at another "big" company..and to be very specific..the fifth largest company of the world...And yeah...I also received the offer letter from the company at which I was given a verbal confirmation two days back..Confidence level increased..
Act III Scene 1: 30th Oct 2010
Immense confidence...interview.. first round..second round..no hunger this time coz I had had a packet of maggi as breakfast..third round.."Congratulations..you are through..will soon give you a call for salary negotiation.." Party time!!!!! I had already drafted my resignation while my blood was boiling the previous day and it showed very well in the mail... Came home..opened my mailbox/drafts and clicked the "send" button with pride...
This is how it happens my dear friends...you must have heard your managers saying.."Be proactive"...This was proactiveness...I was asked to look for 1 job in 2 weeks...and keeping in mind my manager's words "Probably you are meant to work in "big" companies"...I managed to get myself 2 jobs in 1 week...
Happy...content..and confident!!!!! Happy diwali..
