1 year of a software engineer

Exactly 1 year I worked in the IT industry as a software engineer and I find the life quite similar to what we have always heard. Most of the stereotypes are indeed correct in one way or another. All the jokes about ‘Monday’ or the ‘Salary Day’, all the fear and anxiety about bonus, onsite opportunities, unrealistic expectations, insults, politics, pressure, people who have no knowledge judging your knowledge and deciding your future. But still it’s indeed one of the must have experience in life. It makes you more responsible not only in terms of your job but also in terms of what you want to do in life. You meet some of the best people in your life here and they might play a pivotal role in your future growth. It’s a journey comprising of variety of experience, a road full of multiple navigations and directions and at the end of the day it’s up to your conscience to choose a particular way.

Imagine an organized world from your unorganized college life. Getting up, dressing up and going to office daily at a regular time and then coming very late where you don’t have any energy left to do anything else. Imagine a routine that you never followed in college but now you have to. Well, that’s pretty much office life. A routine that has to be followed. It is complete opposite of the unorganized scattered random life we live during college because we are supposed to act ‘professional’. There are rules that are meant to be followed and no one never dared to break them so no one knows what will happen if they are ever broken. An unsaid inexperienced unwritten fear of not making mistake and perpetual attempt to please your superiors.

There are many things all software engineer shares in common. A feeling of being underutilized in terms of talent and over utilized in terms of hard work. Constant bitching about people getting more perks, appreciation and opportunities while sharing a feeling that their life is very unfair. A constant wait for weekends during the entire weekdays and spending most of the weekends sleeping because they are too lazy and tired to enjoy. Drinking multiple coffees not because they felt the urge,but because everyone else is doing the same. Complaints from parents and gf/bf that they are not giving them any attention and you have no energy to explain that either you have no time or no energy.

You can always find multiple characters in the office. There is someone who doesn’t give much shit about the work but is very smart to put proper mails and get credit for someone’s work. There is someone who works very hard but doesn’t know how to display and show off and thus always unsatisfied with life. Some person who keep regretting why he joined IT and many persons who are determined to quit the job but they never do. There is a team lead who doesn’t know much about the project but who thinks it is his birth right to boss around. There is a manager who literally doesn’t even know the name of project but always wanted to know when things will be done. They want you to draw blue lines with red pen and they can’t take no for an answer. According to lead and manager, every problem is simple and can be done in only half hour but we aren’t able to produce results because either we are lazy or incompetent.

Most of the time you had no idea about the work allotted to you and somehow you are able to finish it by luck, by help by a generous colleague or the famous last day hardworking routine. Then there are vacations, you are encouraged to take vacations in most formal meetings but whenever you ask for vacations you are treated as if you are asking for kidneys. Asking for vacations is seen like a cardinal sin one can never get redemption of. It's always tough to get vacations on Diwali and Rakhi because everyone is asking for the same. Same is the case with onsite opportunities, there are so many people already in queue, you have to wait for a long time before even asking for it. A person is your friend till he doesn't get an onsite opportunity, once he flies you just bitch about his incompetency and his treason. A person coming back from onsite will always bring same kind of chocolates and everyone keep asking the same repetitive question and gets same repetitive answers. The one who resigns get promoted faster than the one who does his work properly. One who threatens the most move the ladder faster than the generous one. The diplomats gets promotion faster than the whistle-blowers. The one who keeps their head low and floor clean rise faster than those who raise their voice. It doesn't matter how efficient a resource you are, marketing matters, putting proper mails matter, showing off your work matter and having good terms with superiors matter. I guess there would be only very few exceptions to above mentioned rules.

If you are working offshore then there is 1 golden rule. Onshore is always right, they are the people with higher capability and authority. It really amuses me that how we treat ourselves as slave just because we want to please someone with a fairer skin. There are people who work much more than what is expected and then they cry that they do not get enough reward. I guess this is exactly the point where we start spoiling our work culture. Our ambitions drive us into unrealistic expectations; we raise the bar not only for ourselves but also for everyone. We keep on working more in blind lust of rewards and eventually we not only screw our own life but also life of everyone who were doing their job properly.

Office hours are fixed for all and except a few emergencies case one can always finish their work in normal timelines but of course we won’t do that. We are Indians; we are hard working from birth and by nature. We like to finish 5 days work in 3 days and then we will do more work. We will work very hard until we will make everyone’s life miserable. We raise the expectations bar too much and we keep ourselves in the delusions that we are just being responsible and professional. We love to boast off the fact that we have no work life balance and we never demand for one. We don’t have guts to say NO because everything is related to our promotion. We don’t oppose the management, we let them exploit us, and we let them put more work on us only because we are too timid and insecure to raise our voice for the right.

Work culture is something that we create for ourselves. If we keep on spoiling it for the sake of our ambitions we have no right to complain about it in the near future. It’s our responsibility to have a work life balance. To spend time with our dear ones, to travel, to relax and to enjoy. It’s our responsibility to maintain our self esteem and self respect. It’s our responsibility to earn success instead of pleading for it. Sycophancy might get you far enough but what good a life is where everyone around you is having a low opinion about you. Only a sadist can be pleased by a success which came on cost of precious relations but of course you would find many sadists.

Well, life isn't that bleak in any office. You can always find people joking around and making the atmosphere light. You may find very supportive and helping leads and manager who not only help in your professional aspirations but also in your personal aspirations. There are numerous people with whom you form a very strong bond because of the similar life tragedies and conditions. You can always crack joke on the hard-working or the desperate ones. Bitching has its own fun in office. Office trips make you see the other side of many people whom you didn’t know much before. There are always birthday celebrations and then there are farewells where people say good stuff about you most of which are big fat lies. Some of us are lucky to get a very good team and very good work. Some people really excel and live a happy and satisfactory life. Some people get proper recognition and encouragement. It’s not always rainy, it’s not always sunny.

Office always add spice to life. Many people fall in love and get settled. For a fresher, it’s a whole new world where you learn to interact with much experienced and knowledgeable people. Where you learn to set your priorities right and accept the fact that life is fair sometimes and unfair most of the time. Where you are actually able to summon the strength to fight and tame your demons. Office life gives you insight about your real interests and how you want yourself to be represented in the world. Some people get lost in the crowd while some become part of the crowd. Few leaves the crowd and chose path which everyone in the crowd always thinks to be a part of. There are no permanent friends and no foes, there are just competitors, and there is competition, both healthy and unhealthy. There are dreams and there are restrictions. There are imaginations and there are realities, there are wills and there are responsibilities, there is freedom and there is golden cage, there is struggle and there is comfort zone, there is an open sky and there are tied feathers, there is open sea and there is a powerful flow, you are what you chose to become in this world. If you strive for an identity you have to fight the conventions of silence and insecurity and take the responsibilities of your risk. Your endeavours might not be fruitful but satisfactory. You can break out and become an example, worth mentioning or worth laughed upon, worth remembering or long forgotten, choices are uncertain but mandatory.

1 year of a software engineer or 12 years of a slave, you decide what kind of life you want. You might blame the system, your managers, your HR policies, life but at the end of the day you should take responsibilities of your action. No one forced you to join a software company or to work hard for weeks and then expect rewards. Whatever you are doing, do it for yourself and expect only from yourself. Life might be rewarding or punishing, unsatisfactory or fulfilling, enriching or dull; all depends on your actions and your responses. So next time when you feel bad about your life as a software engineer do think what you can do to improve it.

I may never live the life of a software engineer again. I loved coding, I was good at it, I enjoyed it. Last 1 year would certainly be memorable because it pushed me to chase things beyond my imagination. I hope everyone would be able to chase their dreams. Good luck people!

PS: You might have a very different experience than mine. A complete different life than mine so I am not generalizing. Please feel free to add more into the experience for a more holistic view.