I have to ask myself this question. My career path would take me down to a place I am afraid I don't want to go. Because I see people who are there and I don't want to be like them. Here are the profiles I am afraid of being in:
The Sales guy - I don't want to be the smooth talker who just believes in selling by hook or by crook. He is the one who would convince the client that they ought to do business with us and that we can develop projects for them in any domain, any technology. He is the one who makes the clients believe in our abilities when he himself believes in us the least.
The Higher Manager - I don't want to be the talker who watches baseball games or news just so that he has something of common interest to talk with the clients and not because he loves baseball or the news. Someone who commits to building projects in unrealistic time without even knowing the names of technologies or the complexity of the project or even consulting the people who would actually be working their pants off to meet those deadlines.
He will like you if the client loves you. He will shun you if the client as much as raises an eyebrow.He loves to create the illusion of the biggest panic if the client as much as sends a one liner email asking about an update. He will call you from any part of the world at any time of the day if he is as much as copied on the mail. He will make statements like "I want people who can stick to the client like amoeba" (I think he meant 'leeches' but didn't care about biology anymore)
The Manager below the Higher Manager - This is the guy who loves to move things around to create an illusion of managing resources and requirements. When you need a pro, he will give you a neophyte. This way he creates an illusion of challenge for you. So you not only prove that you can do your job, but also that you can tolerate ridiculousness when you are just millimeters away from tearing your hair apart due to deadlines.
The Manager below the Manager below the Higher Manager - This is the guy who will execute any orders given by the Manager below the Higher Manager and the Higher Manager by passing those orders down to you. He can listen to your issues, but he can pretty much do nothing about them.
Here is what my profile seems like right now:
The Developer - I am the person who actually builds these projects. I know the names of the technologies and the technologies themselves. I know a thing that can be build in a day and a thing that cannot be build in a day. I build things that can be build in a day, in half a day and thing that cannot be build in a day, in a day, by never caring about my life, family, sleep or food. Sometimes it makes me question whether the job really could have been done in the given abysmal time and whether I am simply not good enough. I like to learn things but sadly there aren't enough people to look up to who can teach me. I am the one who will crib about a newbie in the project for a few days, then try to train him, then give up and do the job myself because it would simply save me some time and rework.
I may like to change somethings from my current profile, but I do not want to change who I am. I like being a simple developer.
I looked into your pensieve and your thoughts back then were still the same. I pity you. Hope things change for good. :)
ReplyDeleteThis is all routine, regular stuff here where I live. Maybe you should move to a company or relocate to a dimension where these definitions change!
From the last paragraph it seems to me that you are a hardworking ant. Loosen up. Date the queen before you die.
Did any one of above make you smile? I bet this question did!
Keep posting!
Really enjoyed reading your post. Thanks for sharing this. To add to this -
ReplyDeleteDVM: This is the guy who typically does not know you personally neither will have any conversation with you ever. He also doesn't know what project or technology you are working currently let alone your background or expertise. But as a part of his job he tries to encourage you on each email stating successful completion of project or client appreciation. On brown bag lunches you will get a chance to see him and question him. He will circumvent your complex questions and existing problems smartly and will ask HR to note down the silly problems or the non-issues to find solution of them. He will have limited words in his dictionary and will always select some of them randomly and reply to you and all involving higher management folks. The sentence which he doesn't forget to write while replying on successful completion of your project is "Great work. We need more of these!"
Unit Head: This is the guy who is on top of deliver hierarchy. This guy, just like DVM, neither knows your problems or execution challenges. You would not know him either usually till he does formality of sending his precious email on such project completion occasions. Instead of asking you how you overcame challenges and how much you struggled for happy ending or sometimes even without caring for type of the project you completed, he would write in his email "Good job, Now identify reusable components and share the best practices with others!"
I cracked a good practical joke last time they did this. I just visualized the below and we laughed a lot. See the mail chain..
Developer: "Sweets at my desk. I am blessed with a baby girl"
DVM: "Great work! We need more of these"
Unit Head: "Now identify reusable components and share the best practices with others"
ROFL...!!!
Nicely written. But I believe that the characteristics that you described are of the people and not of the position. You can well be a Higher Manager who knows the technology, who isn't afraid of the client and who can empathize with the developer. It is not the position but what you do with it that matters.
ReplyDeleteThanks guys for reading.
ReplyDelete@Samuh - You know how to make me smile :)
@Indiantroy - That joke was hilarious. The two levels you mentioned, well, I tried generalizing their feature set in the managerial levels. Else the bolg just would have been too long if I would have tried putting in the whole hierarchy.
@Binu - I believe people change with position...atleast lot of them do. Most of the people at the higher levels will confirm to the characteristics I mentioned. Some would be exceptions. They know they can't be a sales person and considerate about developers at the same time. They choose the option that gives them good grades.
Thats too much of reality! But I guess things would always remain prettu much the same...I agree, we can't do anything about it:(
ReplyDeleteNice post, btw:) Any plans of coming back?
Very well written. Stereotypes do exist and stereotyping helps us in organizing our thoughts, but it may sometimes make us miss the so called 'exceptions', who very often are the game changers. Believe me, you dont want to miss them!
ReplyDeleteSo, although I agree with you, I would want to believe in what Binu has to say.
And I dont think people change with position. Position and power simply bring out one's true character.
Thanks for reading, guys.
ReplyDelete@Aks - I don't have any plans of coming back atleast till Jan.