It’s not so bad, after all
HYDERABAD : Does actor Naga Chaitanya’s dialogue in the trailer of Sekhar Kammula’s upcoming movie Love Story ring a bell? Chai asks Sai Pallavi why she needs to work hard, tied to her computer the whole day, from 9-to-5, which affects her eyes and back? Well, the 9-to-5 jobs seem to have received some bad press in the last decade, painting these jobs as boring and mundane.
However, not everyone in the IT city is unhappy with their 9-to-5 jobs, In fact, it could be just another stereotype that all jobs in the software industry that involve ‘sitting in front of the computer’ are boring. And much to the popular notion that they don’t enjoy what they do they actually beg to differ -- we find a few Hyderabadis in the IT sector who seem to be enjoying riding this 9-5 way to prove that all is well if you love your job, even if it is misjudged as not-so-interesting.
An industry that contributes 7.7% of the country’s GDP, it becomes the most agile and fastest-growing industry in the country. So, when someone asks me how’s your experience to be part of IT or being a software engineer, I say that we software engineers are driving the community towards the world of possibilities. Computer science has gone so far that today we can predict tsunami base on Data Analysis. So, it depends on how you perceive your work. For me, it’s very exciting when I play with billions of data or when I build a data model. It also depends on your educational background. An electrical engineer will never find computer science interesting. Also, post- Covid all IT companies are more enthusiastic towards WFH culture which encourages work- life balance.
Biswamit Dhal, Senior Associate Consultant, Infosys Ltd.
You must love dealing with software or else this will be hell. Software is the backbone on which an entire industry works, dealing with large monetary information. A wrong step can take the company down. This job can become monotonous, dealing with the same sets of procedures. Also, the pressure on a software professional can make it frustrating to deal with the same work on a daily basis. But, if you are passionate and have innovation and ideas flowing in your mind, then the field of software is one of the most exciting fields you can be in, which can reward you more than what you expect.
Seema Kukreja, Infosec analyst, JP Morgan Chase
It is only boring if you are not creative or your creativity is explicitly forbidden and you can’t find a way to make your work interesting. You would say that it’s a typical 10-7 job - quite boring? No. Every morning I wake up at around 7:30 am, drink tea, and get ready to work from home. I am fortunate enough to work in a company like Jellyfish where everyone helps others making their job easy and interesting. If you don’t have that zeal of building a career out for yourself and okay with regular monotonous work, you’d surely feel bored.
Rizwan Farooqui, Paid Media Operations Manager, Jellyfish Digital India Pvt. Ltd.
I feel that whether a job is boring or not is often very subjective. For me, a desk job, writing code, isn’t necessarily dull. A software professional is uniquely privileged to be able to continuously learn and grow. Nothing has hammered home our privilege than the past year. IT industry was able to adapt and transition to a new normal that included the safety and comfort of working from home with flexible work hours and a fairly generous leave policy enable me to chase my passion for food and travel without impacting work.
Pallab De, Software Engineer, American Bank, also food blogger
From my early childhood, I have loved solving a maths equation, or a puzzle. So, I feel right at home in this industry, as its revolves around solving problems. The dopamine rush that I get after finally cracking an issue, is indescribable. The other thing that I love about this industry is that I can work at my own pace. Flexibility in working hours has drastically increased. Mental health is given the due importance it deserves. We get 10 free sessions with counsellors.
Saikat Bhowmick, Senior Quality Engineer, Larsen & Toubro Infotech
Contrary to the cliched perception of software engineers’ work being boring, the techies enjoy not just their jobs, profile and perks but also the extra time they get to maintain work-life balance. We speak to a few city IT professionals
— Saima Afreen saima@newindianexpress.com @Sfreen