Monday, 24 August 2009

Some WTF thoughts about IT


This post is more of a continuation of my previous post "I wanted to be an airforce pilot".
After thinking long and hard about the goodness of being "fired" i decided to rake my brains about thoughts which we normally do not think when we are happily chewing the currency notes.

Here are a few WTF thoughts about the IT industry:
  • We sit in air conditioned offices all day yet complain about illness due to 'sitting in front of the computer', jeez get a life!
  • Our claims run to 100s of $, pounds, riyals yet complain about the company not doing enough, well did you think the company will pay for ur toilet paper!
  • Our yearly perks are among the highest in the job market yet its always a few % less, when did you dad get his last raise?
  • Our salaries/allowances are sometimes ridiculous for the actual work we do yet we complain about how grossly underpaid we are, tats coz Tom-Dick-Harry work for Mr.Gates and Mr.Jobs and you work for Mr.Raman Iyer trying to sell a code available on google!
On the lighter side:
  • We get to chit-chat with the female species unlike other industries since the female in IT is considered liberated...sexually or mentally...ur guess is as gud as mine
  • We get free coffee, snacks and in some cases even lunch....although most companies have stopped offering freebies now, anyways it tastes like mud most of the time.
  • Some lucky folks get to travel in business class
  • Some lucky folks even get fuel allowances
  • Some companies have the most beautiful HR girls
  • Some lucky folks get to work on exotic onsite locations.....im in Saudi Arabia, and tats NOT Exotic!
  • Everybody gets food vouchers....err i would have preferred drink vouchers
  • You can hire a houseboat in Kerala for a team meeting as part of the 'stress-free' work week program wherein you actually...hmmm. Furthermore, its paid for by the company!
  • Laptops/mobiles are part of the salary package.....if you try a bit harder the HR's personal mobile number aswell
  • You can go out with ur mates (read as team in the claim sheet) and get drunk on a team nite out.....ofcourse, paid for by the company
  • If your have the right connections, ur techi wife will be ur team member on an onsite project in Switzerland...now thats a WTF moment!
But the biggest boner is that, all of this counts for nothing when your fired due to 'non-performance' in the middle of an onsite-honeymoon in Europe with your colleague(read girlfriend)! IT folks need to understand that 'there is nothing called a free lunch'