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Office Chronical: 2021 Year End

(2021-12-31 10:17:08) 下一个

    If you really want to escape the things that harass you, what you’re

    needing is not to be in a different place but to be a different person.

    -- Seneca

 

It is that time of the year when at work, the pace slows down, groups go out for

socials, and people start to take vacations. It's also the time the engineers

get a year-end review.

 

"We go way back, Bill, and I know you are a very good programmer. I still recall

your memory allocator." Saranya began at their one-on-one meeting. Yes. His work

has stood the test of time: not a single bug in four years. "I think you are able

to contribute much more to the team."

 

It was a typical exchange between the two. Next, Bill was urged to close bugs, the

urgent ones especially, faster. His group were still recovering from a few tough

weeks before the last release when timely resolving high-profile problems became

a critical skill. He tried to understand from her perspective and their talk went

well. Bill cheerfully accepted everything without even looking at the appraisal

letter which detailed his pay in 2022.

 

Saranya used to work with him and was only recently promoted. A diminutive

southern Indian girl in her early 30s, she had a head of long auburn hair and an

infectious smile and enjoyed company and joking around. Although a bit fluffy as

a programmer, she had a quick mind and communicated well. More importantly, she

had the hutzpah and kept her head cool where things heated up. On top of these

rare qualities, the mortgage on an apartment in Cupertino and monthly dues for

the new BMW must have helped motivating, Bill thought. In fact, he predicted

years ago that she would become a manager.

 

It was lucky that the first piece of software Bill wrote, the memory allocator,

had been a success. Even better, Saranya had been there to witness, and his

former manager, Santosh, must have said good things. After that work, however,

he had taken on only minor tasks. The few Brahminic technocrats were not

comfortable dealing with a stiff-necked boor susceptible of openly defying

hierachy. Working directly with Saranya was more pleasant.

 

Facing an uphill battle, he used to seethe at perceived unfairness and move on

in a tick. Early on, he changed jobs every couple of years. This round, however,

Bill stayed at his post and changed his own ways. He largely stopped craving a

raise, a promotion, or recognition, which depends on others' opinions of him,

and shifted attention to the things where he could actually make a difference:

his health and his kid's and his own education, e.g. He figured these things

would matter more than title and money as he aged.

 

He was not the only one disillusioned with chasing career success. Quan, a QA

engineer in his 50s from Vietnam, told a similar story. "Switching jobs gave

thrills but in a year or two, I found I was stuck in another swamp." he said,

"My nature runs against the very practices that define success. It has more to

do with who I am than which company I work for." Before retirement, Quan felt no

need to go through it again.

 

Bill's pal Lucas, however, would welcome a change at the moment. It was three

years ago when he felt stagnant and switched to another group, to learn 

something new and stay in the game, as he said. It didn't turn out well: his

boss retired six months ago and left a damning review and he was given an

ultimatum to finish a task. The 63-year-old had been with the company for 10

years and lately lived in constant fear of losing his job. The income was only

part of the story. He needed the insurance for his family as two of his sons 

were still in college.

 

Bill did not know how to help. This was the first time he did not envy his

friend's success in raising three great kids. The poor bloke must have suffered

all these years. Neither was he jealous of Saranya's promotion. The girl had

been paying dearly: in three short months, the spark was gone from her eyes and

it looked as if she had aged a decade and doubled in size. Both reminded him of

the ancient Chinese tale which starts with an old man who lost a horse. Was it a

good or bad thing? It was hard to say. A cliche as the story has become, it 

rings no less true. Living in Lucas's fear or Saranya's stress would have been

unbearable for Bill.

 
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7grizzly 回复 悄悄话 回复 '暖冬cool夏' 的评论 : Thank you, 暖冬, for reading and liking. I'm thrilled that J would want to read the
stuff. They were written late in Bill's career and with the next generation in
mind of course. Young people should take a grain of salt, however, when reading these stories,
which obviously need a lot of work. :-)

His pay was in his estimate right in the middle of the pack and nothing to be
proud of. Only he himself thought it was enough, BTW :-)))

Happy New Year!
暖冬cool夏 回复 悄悄话 I am very curious of Bill's pay raise in 2022:)))) Good luck to Bill!
I showed your post to J, who found your blog very interesting and asked for more after reading this one. So I opened "Stories of Bill" for her... In the end, she asked for your blog address:))) Many thanks for writing Bill's stories.
Happy New Year, my friend!
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