Namaste London

Exactly after 3 yrs i have to travel to London from my current organization on a short term assisgnment. The enthu this time around is not that much to see a new place/country but i have to travel for multiple personal and professional reason but the biggest motivation is offcourse earn few extra money.

It's first week of April so the summer has just began in India and my flight was at 4:00 AM in the early morning.I decided to start at midnight as it will take almost 1 hr to reach the new international airport in hyderabad.There were few ppl on the road as i started my journey to airport, few still waiting to reach there home and few not knowing where they are going. I think i belong to the second one, i thought abt it sitting in the new Mahindra Renult LOGAN taxi i had lot of time to do that.I thought abt many things in that 45 min drive to RGIA and each of my monologue ends in one thing i.e, MONEY.

I reached the airport as the cab driver handed me Rs.700 bill, i headed staright to the checkin counter and it didn't took much in the entire process to complete.I had to spend 2 hrs in the shinning lounge waiting for my flight, to spend time i went around the duty free shop just to check if anything is intresting.I checked the liquor shop there was hard rock cafe and few other shop but i spend most of my time in one of the book store.Infact i bought my first non academic book, it was Chetan Bhagat's Five Point Someone.Well the choice of the book was very obivious a) i like reading b) since it's going to be a major movie and i am a movie buff (IDIOT is the name i guess starring Aamir Khan and directed by Raj Kumar Hirani) and
c) it's abt friends&friendship.........!

FRIENDS, so important in everybody's life i said to myself as i browse through the pages of my new book.I completed few chapters as ppl started to fill the lounge, ppl in all shape and sizes from different part of the world making the 34A checkin counter a global village.The flight got filled up and i prefer to catch some sleep as there were nothing interesting around me to keep me awake.I was still optimistic abt my chances as it was a break journey and i have to take my london flight from dubai.

Dubai International Airport truly a global village, heard of it here is my chance to see it and feel it.It was 7:00 AM in the morning and the airport was filled with thousands of intransit passengers.The most attarcting part is the duty free shops, i checked few of them but decided to postpone my spending till my return journey.It wasn't a long wait before i borded my next emirates flight to heathrow, again unlucky to have asomebody interesting next to me on the flight.

London, last time when i left heathrow i had said to myself one more time i will have to come here on work permit so that i can enjoy more and here i am minutes away from landing and i am not kicked off not sure of the answer i jsut decided to enjoy my stay as much as possible as i said NAMASTE LONDON.........................!

NOTE:This is first blog in the series of namaste london to follow, so expecting feedback for improvement.

Life of a Software Engineer

I am waiting for my new project to be kicked off; it’s been quite a while I am without any active work and people around me keep asking me one question has your project started and I keep answering them not yet. People outside the Information Technology (IT) keep asking me what you people in software do day in and day out apart from sitting in front of boring computer.

As I got enough time to hone my skills during this period, I also got some time to think about this question that is put on me every now and then and some time personally also I feel guilty of getting good paycheck for doing nothing important. Some people ask me this question due to their lack of knowledge in information technology while others ask me due to sheer jealousy as IT has made all their work easier. I tried to take into account as many profession as I could think of and tried to compare it to the job in software but I could only think of one thing that best matches or I should say overtake the IT profession. I could see my self as a soldier preparing himself for the most important battle of his life.

I have always had a very high respect for the people in defense for all the obvious reasons. If I get to live another life then I will try my best to be in defense. But for the present life I compare myself with a similar mindset though in a different profession.

Software Engineers (People in IT) can be very much compared to the soldiers (People in Defense). Like the soldier wait for that one important battle to prove himself similarly the software engineer wait for the one project where he can prove himself. When the battle starts the soldier forgets everything (day/night) and remembers only one thing he has to win this battle and make his country safe and proud. Similarly when project in IT is kicked off the team members forget everything (flexi timing) and concentrate on the completion of the project by which he can make himself and his company proud. It is the soldiers who provides the security to the nation by fighting the internal and external enemy and take the nation to higher altitudes same with the software engineers, they have taken India to different level by successfully completing one project after another and taking giant steps everyday in the field of IT. India has the second largest army in the world with more and more people willing to join everyday comparing this to IT at the current stages no other country can match the IT work force that of India. Teamwork is another important similarity between the two, though teamwork is key to any organization in any field but it might not be the most important factor as in this these two professions. Another similarity that comes to mind is that of a personal life. Like a soldier away from his family safeguarding the nation waiting for that one letter from his parents and loved ones after waiting for the enemy for the entire day/night at the borders, ditto with software engineer waiting for that one call or making calls to his parents or loved ones after coming from a grueling session in the office where he have attended client meeting/team meeting, writing complex code or brainstorming for a simple customization that his client is asking for. To end this article I will like to draw another similarity between a soldier and a software engineer that will justify my writing this article. Like a software engineer seldom learn anything when he is in a critical project but that is the best time for him to utilize the experience he has and how effectively he has used his time when in waiting for some work to be assigned to him. How about comparing this with the soldier who waits for the war to begin and in anticipation he prepare his body, mind and his artilleries that are most important to him.

So in my view it is not a matter of shame or feeling guilty been out of work for some time rather I would suggest everyone in IT should be out of active work for some time so that he can sharpen his axe and prepare himself for the next big. Opportunity.

But one should remember that client is no enemy.

No one can stop India to be a super power we are brave (soldiers) and very much capable of providing security to our nation. We have the Brain (Software Engineers) that no other country can match. I am proud not only to be an Indian but also to be part of the IT work force when our country is on the verge of becoming a developed nation.