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Posted By
Ritesh Chhajer on Saturday, August 14, 2010
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 "It is not that I come like water and like wind I go. I do play a significant part in the great whole and I am here today to make a substantial contribution." You must be thinking what the heck was that? Well, these were the very words that helped Alex to win an essay competition in his first job as a software engineer. After 10 years of fooling around in this profession, he still felt the identity crisis as he did when he was fresh out of school.Taking a walk down memory lane and rewinding his life 10 years back when the "can-do-anything" attitude with a condescending look at the mediocrity around was all over the place. Inspired by autobiographies of great thinkers and visionaries, he had perhaps expected too much out of himself. During those early days, he did anything and everything without any sense of time, taking on challenges and challenging mediocre people head on. It took a long time for him to realize that this attitude just doesn’t work out. After all birds of the same feather flock together & protect each other. And Corporate Culture is no different. A quick reality check would reveal that the notion of revolution works only in make-believe world of escapist cinema. Sadly, the world we live in rewards mediocrity more. Van Gogh and Franz Kafka were unrecognized geniuses in their lifetimes. He was advised to become nonjudgmental on people. But then how can one be passionate about his work and still be dispassionate and oblivious to the opposing forces. It was hard for him to fathom on why his colleagues were averse to his way of working. Were they feeling insecure or plain jealous?Talent is subject to ridicule. The more you excel the more number of enemies you'll have. This animosity towards excellence is perhaps due to mediocrity being in the majority.Nevertheless, that elusive pride of establishing one's own identity was still missing. Finding acceptance in the big bad corporate world was getting frustrating day by day.Why was Alex going through this whole fuss about identity crisis? What was really driving him to slog day in and day out? Of course he had a choice where he could be just content with his paycheck and maintain the status quo a.k.a work-life balance. Perhaps he was just satiating his false ego and desperately trying to prove a point(To Whom?). It had been bloody 10 years doing that.Unfortunately, he was never taught about working smart. Hard work and being loyal to his job was all that was instilled. Blame it to his father. Enjoy your work to enjoy your life was his father's philosophy and was passed on as a legacy. Purists would say the greatest glory of happiness is not in doing what one likes but in liking what one has to do. But then whether you do what you like or like what you do, either way life will screw you. So is this the time for Alex to call it a day and just move on? Some may argue you should not give in and keep trying. Huh! Try and try till you die! What if Alex put all that energy and soul into starting something of his own? Is there enough courage and financial stability to pursue that?All he knew is that the words that won him that essay competition had not yet translated into action. With confusions galore and cynicism all around, the desperation continued. So what's your advice to Alex?Disclaimer:This posting has nothing to do with my present or past employer.This posting is a work of fiction and any resemblance with living or dead is purely coincidental and unintentional.
Image Credit: Jason's Blog
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