sure
Posted by mansoor on 26 May 2007 | Tagged as: lifes anomaly's
When i was little, i was sure of what i would become. A computer programming guru. From the first moment i got a commodore 64 in my hands i knew my destiny was to be linked with it.
My life choices for the next decade was to reflect this surity. I got the unofficial title of ‘computer genious’ within the family and the community. In addition, I became the troubleshooter of choice to go to whenever someone had any troubles with their PC. This was even before i reached intermediate.
Then came the choice for university degree. Everyone around me entered in Computer Science because it was the ‘in thing’. For me, it was a natural continuation of my passion. I wanted to know what made a computer tick, and how could i make it dance to my tunes. So naturally, where many had to strive, to strugge and toil, i breezed through. Knowing a computer system was like knowing the back of my hand. It didn’t matter what language i was dealing with, whether it be Java, C or C++ it was just a different beat. I had the music down pat.
As i came closer to graduation however, that was when the unsurity crept in. For the first time in my life, i was unsure if being a programming guru was really what i wanted. I had seen greener pastures within the software industry. Suddenly, programming wasn’t the only thing which made a software development firm tick. It needed management! I started learning of all the computer projects which had failed over the years, massive ones, millions of dollars down the drain, all because they weren’t managed correctly. It occurred to me that it didn’t matter how good a programmer you were, eventually you would hit a ceiling if you didn’t have management skills. Till now, thats how the industry had functioned, they picked people from among the ranks, raised them up to titles of Team Lead or Project Manager and they assumed that these people had delivered enough projects to know how to manage. In time, you would gather enough knowledge to break the barrier into an architect or a consultant, into an area where knowledge was king and work involved passing the knowledge over. But this took almost 5 to 10 years!
I couldn’t wait that long, i wouldn’t wait that long. Why follow the trail left behind by others? In a seminar at the university i heard someone say, if you want to succeed in life, you had to make your own trail. I always wondered how one did that and i kept on wondering till i met the person who would change my life, once again.
He came in the form of a teacher, giving lessons in the art of Software Quality Assurance. From the first class i attended, i there was something about him, that he would give me the break i needed into making my career. Six months later, the break came. I went to him for a job and he hired me, as a process improvement consultant!
That day, i was sure i had started out on my destiny. I would be performing consulting work within the sphere of software process improvement. Today, i once again stand at an unsurity. Going further away from what i had intended, taking a step into a field which hasn’t even begun to take roots in the country.
Thats what life is, being un-sure at each and every instant, scrambling to bring it under control.
Most of ur posts make me think deeply so much so that i become speechless and fail to comment on them…..i’m just going thru a period of what u call *unsurity* …just completed my BS…..sumhow ‘am not getting the chance of what i wanna do and i don’t want to do what i’m being offered to do…’am utterly confused
so u’ve gotten an offer that’s too tempting… and u’ve had enough of your current job… well… been there, done that. Go for it. You will not regret. But you might regret missing this opportunity.
Here’s an advice. Every morning when you wake up, look at youself in the mirror and ask yourself if you really want to do what you are going to do today. If the answer is no for too many days then you have to change something. Either fix whatever is broken at the job, or change the job.
You sound dissatisfied….meaning, time to move on and change something, like Umar said.
And oh guys, that theory is good ONLY as far as your professional life is concerned. If you try this out in your personal lives, meaning ‘time to move on to new wifey when you are dissatisfied with your ‘current’ one’….may the wrath of all women fall upon you!! GGRR!!
plans never work out - havent u realized that already? take my mantra….hope for the best but be prepared for the worst……..and never make plans - for when those plans dont turn out the way u want them to - the disappointment mars u.
khair….am not in a position to be all optimistic and lie to u that things will be just fine………and this is the part where i again say….life;s a bitch!
cheers!
life;s a bitch! And ex is the asshole livin’ it!!
Sorry couldn’t resist. Notice this one is ghayab too, Psyched? Hope all is well mansoor.
hey I don’t think I told you, I moved on to moonflowers.wordpress.com
Ah! So *this* is what’s been up with your life!
Listen. DO NOT look back. You have decided to move forward, move forward. 5 months, 6 months… go by in no time, and you could be back to Square 1.
There is something the career planning gurus didn’t tell us: CHANGE HAPPENZ!
We, the urban dwellers, are disconnected from this simple truth of life: things change. The four seasons are a great allegory for anyone to look at, and the ancients greeted each season differently. Our air-conditioned and heated lives today take no notice of change around us, and we are starved for sensory input. This is what causes the medical troubles. And I can say this because I’ve been through this, and I fell for the “can’t-miss-opportunity.”
Come two months, that “opportunity” becomes your biggest regret, because it stopped you when you could move on at the right time.
Love yourself, respect your change, and move on. Take the weight of the world off your shoulders, and put those commitments to rest. Someone, somewhere will take care of things you can’t attend to.
Good luck!
P.S. What I didn’t do was to take people into confidence, and tell them what I was going through - it’s good to take people close to you in confidence and tell them that you need yourself. Those who come round, understand you. Those who don’t are childish or insensitive to you. These times are great learning experiences. May you get the best of your time of transition!
thanks all