The IT life

This one’s for you Adi!..
(And let me thank tippu before he accuses me of plagiarism)
And as for the title, no this isn't inspired by neel's blog.

Ever peeped into the inbox of s/w engineer? If you haven’t, then picture this.
3 kinds of mails

1. Work related mails
2. Forwards on how dumb managers, HR officials and domain heads are. Believe me
Crazy theories with explicit graffiti.
3. Forwards on why the life of a s/w engg. Sucks BIG time!!

The last one is the winner here. Maximum no. of mails are on our (boring) lives. Each one more depressing than the other. Read all the mails at once, then suicide would appear as bed of roses. These mails are pathetic, they make you feel pathetic, especially coz you’re the one they are talking about. I know most of you guys disagree. You would probably croon like SRK “life is rockin n reelin..” But on reading the mail a poor s/w engg. feels he/she has no aim in life, no friends in life, rather no life at all!!! Here is an extract of what I received today morning…It’s what a s/w engineer feels while sitting at office.

….I could see a small girl trying to hold on to her umbrella which the wind was snatching away from her. I felt sorry for the girl, and was happy that I was not in a similar pathetic situation. Yes. I take pride for the fact that I am a software engineer….

….I have everything which a common man would envy; money, status, respect, you name it I have it. But then, am I really happy?.......

…..I have a big house here, but then it is just a house, not a home.. My parents are pretty far away from me now. I have a cell phone to talk to them everyday, but then I really miss those dinners which I had with my family everyday. I could easily afford to taste all the different cuisines these days, but the best of food there, lack the love and affection which is present in the food prepared by my mother…..

…..It's true that I have a lot of things now. I have a nice bed, but no time to sleep. Lots of money, but no friends to spend it with. The latest designer clothes, but a worn out body . Awards for technical excellence, but no reward for the crave for peaceful ambience…..

…..I have decided to come out of this false fantasy, even if it is at the expense of losing the tap of the software engineer. I am going to again enjoy my life. I am going to go out in the rain and play with the small kid now. I removed my tie, and went near my computer to shut it down……

What the hell right?!?! The dude feels he has made the biggest mistake of his life by joining the S/W industry and so has decided to go and play in the rain!!! Are u kidding me!?!??!

The whole thing is a myth…

#1----> Dude, the reason you’re not getting drenched is because ur inside the building, not because you are a s/w engineer. In fact, anybody, inside any building, wouldn’t get drenched. And man, are you a sadist or what, taking pleasure in seeing a small girl get drenched.

#2---->you don’t have everything that a common man would envy,

Money... not enough of it ever! Considering your expenses in the big city. (Folks in the core sector are the lucky ones here). Taking recession into account, you’re just about lucky if you have a job.

Status..... Yea rite!! There are about a thousand replicas of you in your company itself. Nothing to be proud of. Heck some matrimonial ads even have a strict s/w engineers please excuse criteria.

Respect.... Ok, from whom exactly are you getting this from!?

#3---->you claim to have a lot of money, why don’t you ask your folks to stay along with you? As for tasty food, cook once and soon everything/anything else in the world would taste amazing.

#4--->I agree on this one. In fact most hardworking s/w nerds sleep alone. Yea you could crib about that. But that’s your fault. There isn’t any dearth of the fairer sex in s/w industry. Worn out body?!?! Hello?? Heard of a 3 lettered word called GYM!?!?

It’s a very simple life folks; I’m not saying it’s great or bad. But it’s work. And work is well.., work. That’s all there is to it. What do I have for the author of the above mail...? The same what Monica says to Rachel in F.R.I.E.N.D.S… “Welcome to the Real world, it sucks!”

And yea i wrote this blog while sitting in my office. i work a software company... :P

Seen on someone’s status message: “If he says he loves his work, then he hasn’t worked a single day in his life”


PS: The story ends with the engineer returning back to his computer to fix some lines of code… So much for playing in the rain right?!?