Five months of training, one month of quasi-bench, three months on a tool, three months into Prod Support and with this comes to an end , just another year in my professional career.
I never had to choose what was good for me. Folks out there always made the choices. Two days before I’m to report to the Mysore DC, I get a mail informing that I’m to report to the B’lore DC instead. Two months of generic training and they choose which stream you’d be spending the rest of your IT career. Mainframes, someone says has high demand in the IT market. I take it with two tablespoons of salt. Two and a half months of core training and then you’re almost randomly allocated to a unit that you only have a vague idea of. Wait, they also choose the DC in which you’d be working - Thankfully an iota of consideration is given to your place of domicile.You’d be lucky if you get a project in the very first month. Am I not complaining? But then there’s no one to blame. More or less every IT company does this!
Why did I join Infy? Infy was never my dream company - In fact I fail to admire any IT company. I never had a role model in the IT industry, neither do i have one now. It just happened to be the first option in hand. Infy was the first and only job interview I’d attended and oh yeah, the tag name mattered then and besides, at that point I had no other options open .
Today, as I tick off the 365th day as an IT engineer, I see nothing really magnificient that I’ve achieved professionally. I’m just one out of those umpteen number of software engineers strewn all across India, sitting in front of the LCD screens trying best to reolve tickets, meet deadlines, work on codes and prepare patches. They’ve been days when I wondered where my contribution falls into place in this whole big maze only to realise, all that I’m doing is donkey work. Every third engineer does what I’m doing! There’s no stark differentiating factor. Not a single person’s life is directly affected by what i do day in and day out. What’s the point looking for Onsite oppurtunities when you know you’d be screwed day in and day out at the Onsite location? Where you don’t get to enjoy even your weekends properly? It’s all a mad race to satisfy the person governing your monthly check. They elude you with rewards, opportunities and finally when it looms in your head that there’s a lot more left in life to do, you get your next appraisal.
All that said, there’s no denying to the fact that the work culture in Infy is stupendous. I got a platform to network real well, a place to vent my thoughts to the higher management as and when the need arose, a place to increase the scope of my Extra-curriculars. I’ve started clubs, joined groups, built up on my french, strummed the chords, built up on my hobbies, grown socially conscious, learnt mannerisms on the way and what not?
I’ve been receiving group congratulation mails right from the time I opened my Outlook today at office. But I still fail to realise what exactly the celebration is for? All it finally means to me is a small increase in my pay package and oh Yes, I’m no more legally bond to the company.
Probably I’ll be doing something starkly different next year or for all you know still be eluded by the mirage of recognition all the way lamenting ‘C’est la Vie ’ and keep moving.