Well, I had one of those lousy weeks at work as an IT professional where everything went wrong, and I was wondering whether I made the right decision to switch from Mechanical Engineering to IT. Like thousands of others, though I studied something else, I finally landed in IT. In true actress-speak I can gush “You know, it was quite accidental, how I became a Software Engineer, I always had this passion for computers from childhood, blah, blah, blah..” (No one will ask me this question anyway, this is one question which is reserved for our heroines only!), but the hard truth is – I Shifted to IT for one reason only – big and fast bucks! Still, there are times I wonder whether I made the correct decision, of course it is too late to go back now, but sometimes the heart thinks about the ‘Road not traveled’ and tries to make me feel guilty for compromising a lot for money. I tried to compile some ‘perks’ I have enjoyed as an IT professional, things I would have missed in any other field; Apart from the obvious one like more money and frequent trips to ‘exotic locations’ like Venezuela or Ohio or Memphis (depending on where your project clients are situated), there are some perks which we take for granted.

Plush offices and pampering environs – It is easy to take the plush AC office and the super-comfortable swiveling chair for granted. I only realized this when the other day there was a power cut at home due to some ‘maintenance’ from 9 to 5 (why do they have to do it on Saturdays?) and the sweltering Chennai heat got to me, and I longed to be in my plush AC office. Where else will I get all these plus lots of free coffee/tea/lemon tea vending machines? True, all these are like carrots to give the donkey to do more ‘donkey-labor’ and to keep us in the office for longer hours, but still not everyone gets to enjoy such comforts, right?

No Hierarchy – Amreecan Ishtyle – As we deal with Americans a lot (more than 70% of software revenues is thanks to Uncle Sam) some good qualities of Americans have rubbed on our work culture. Like, not expected to call your boss Sir/madam, but be on first name basis irrespective of age or hierarchy. So you see a young trainee calling a 40+ PM as ‘Subbu’ or ‘Srini’, You see, Americans cannot get names like Subramanyam and Srinivasan, so even first names are always shortened for our client’s benefits! It is another matter that the said trainee will be calling his boss as ‘sottai’ (baldy) or ‘mottai’ (tonsured head) among his friends. Sadly not all good qualities from Americans have rubbed in, some really good qualities have been lost in translation - My counterpart at onsite can actually leave office by 5 PM, and even if I don’t have anything to do, and all I’m doing is reading forwarded funny mails, if I decide to leave by 5 one day my Manager asks me “You are leaving so early? Are you sick or something?”

Excuses, Excuses – blame it on your job – It is understood widely that a software professional has no set timings for work, and sometimes has to work late at nights and on weekends. This comes in handy when you want to avoid doing anything you don’t like, a software job gives you a perfect alibi. Picture this - “Remember I told you 2 weeks back, my second cousin’s brother-in-law’s wife is having a seemandam (baby-shower) this Saturday, and I want you to accompany me” “Er..I have a delivery by Monday, and I really need to do some last minute reviews and tests, I am so sorry dear, I need to go to office this Saturday, but you don’t have to miss this for my sake, go ahead and enjoy” or “You are putting on way too much weight, look at that beer belly, why don’t you join the gym or yoga class?” “I would really love to, but who has the time, you know my schedule..”

Free Internet access and what not! – Who else can follow cricket scores all day, in the midst of heavy work, or do some online shopping as a break when the testing doesn’t go well as expected, or do some blogging when the work is done (and of course when the manager is not looking, or on Saturdays when none of the managers are around anyway) all at company expense, in the company-given internet connection or the company-given laptops!  Most offices also have gym, table tennis court and basket ball courts inside their premises, to ‘unwind’ from a long day. (More carrots for the donkeys!) Of course, it is another matter that no one will actually have the time for a quick ping-pong game when you have a delivery looming or a deadline approaching or attending endless meetings, but, heck, you can boast that your office has all this comforts to your non-IT pals.

Common sense – general knowledge, huh? – I find the interview scenes in the movies so funny, they always seem to ask all kinds of General knowledge questions, but in our field, it is such a relief that we are not expected to know where exactly Java is, (er, somewhere in Indonesia?) but it is enough if we understand a complex Java code. So, in none of the interviews we are asked any common sense or general knowledge questions, but they come straight to the technical points. The other day I decided to chat up this girl (who is quite pretty and whom I was eyeing for a long time!) and as an opening (for a coffee chat, that’s all, honestly!) asked her which project she works for – She said “CIA” (Customer Interface Access or something boring like that) – and I decided to impress her by wise-cracking “So you do a lot of clandestine work, eh?” and saw with dismay that my poor attempt at wit fell flat because she didn’t know what CIA stands for! Oops, forget the coffee! Then I realized what I have long suspected – you really don’t need any knowledge on any other subject (or even common sense) to be in IT as long as you are able to ‘deliver’ the results, and be a techie geek! No pressure on us, what more can you ask for!