Chapter 6 – It’s an On-site!
The next few days went unusually usual. There were no frills and no thrills. There was our boss Mahesh making the same ‘visionary’ statements at team meetings. The team gossiped about who will resign next? And the same dirty little bugs waited to be fixed by an effective code-copier me.
But one of the bugs was an arrogant one. It was not ready to leave me so easily. And so it took me two days to search the right code and to get ‘inspired’ from it. Finally, at the middle of the second day, I could solve the problem. Happy with my achievement, I decided not to work anymore that day.
At about afternoon three, I heard a loud shout from the next cubicle. Nimish was calling
“Core dump! Crash! Core dump!”
This was a warning signal. I quickly closed my online game and opened a nice looking code window on my desktop.
The approaching danger was none other than my manager, Mahesh. He was coming with another fellow Chetan towards my desk. I was surprised to find Chetan at my desk as the guy had recently offered his resignation to our company.
Chetan was a no nonsense guy. He was a dedicated and hard-working SE. Till about a month ago the fellow had been working tirelessly day and night. In return my manager ensured to keep him working hard by offering him an average rating every time. This continued for years until something happened and the guy realized his importance in the team. What followed was his resignation for seeking a better life elsewhere.
But what was he doing at my desk now?
“Hi Rohit! What are you doing?” asked my manager
“Well Mahesh! I am working on the XYZ component of module X and”… I continued
“That fine, actually, I want you to postpone your current activities and give Chetan a ramp up on your module”
“Ramp up! But he is going to leave, right?” I asked
“Well! You surely don’t know that yet.” replied Mahesh
“But I do…”
“No! Actually, we have decided to send Chetan to US for a year. He will be testing and integrating our products at the client site.”
Well! Well! So the guy would be travelling to US now. Till that day my manager had been ignorant about his contributions. His leaving was also not a big deal, as Mahesh as he had more faith in important resources like a ‘task delegating’ team lead, an ‘extra mile’ lady and a ‘complicating every task’ hard working guy. Then what made him stop Chetan and send him on-site instead? Could I use the same technique for earning my dollars?
“Ok Mahesh, I will train Chetan in my module. When is he going to leave?”
“As soon as his visa is arranged, which will probably happen in a week’s time?”
“US… for product support… in one week. Fine! I got that completely”
I had just a week’s time to overturn the tables. My plan was to train him badly enough to be incompetent for the trip. Then he will feel insecure to go on-site and leave it for me. Moreover, even if he leaves, he won’t be able to handle things out there alone. Then Mahesh would have no option but to send me as a replacement. Either way, I would be going on-site.
On-site! On-site! What’s so special about this on-site anyways?
Don’t ask me guys! Ask the ones who had been out there. ‘On-site’ is a heavenly place where all the miseries of a SE are compensated by glittering dollars and pounds. It’s a place far away from Indian heat, Indian corruption, Indian rupees and Indian bosses. What’s more, being on-site you can actually touch and feel the developed world. I had no experience of an on-site myself, but I could surely say that the best way to revive a choking SE, was to send him on-site.
And my-o- my, what prestige the guy gets on his return! Forget the ones who won promotions or awards. The on-site guys overshadow them with their on-site glory. Everyone feels the pinch of foreign currencies when they compare them to their Indian packages.
I began Chetan’s training from next day. But Chetan appeared to be too intelligent for my plan. He could handle many things on his own. And in spite of my pathetic training the guy could figure out many things correctly. Also, he was able to point out a mistake in my own code. No wonder, Chetan was a smart fellow.
I should have known this as Chetan was no ordinary guy. He was used to sleeping, eating and working on software codes. I realized soon that some other methods had to be used for snatching his on-site from him.
That day we went for lunch together. And during our casual time I inquired about how he managed to convince our manager Mahesh for the On-site. The guy openly revealed his secret
“Actually, it was not him but the client. The Client had doubts over our manager’s choice of, Rajiv for the trip. Since Mahesh didn’t have a better option, I was pulled in.”
Hmm! Now I get it, since the guy was in notice period with no current responsibilities, he was the easiest choice. In Software Industry it doesn’t matter which project you belong to or what work you have done before? You just need to be capable enough to get an on-site. The capabilities can vary from being free from any work; amount of bluff the guy can offload to the client and of course an incentive to offset resignation from the guy himself.
There are people who keep dreaming about going on-site. But they hardly reach there as they try the ineffective method of impressing their supervisors with work. The smarter ones force their supervisors for sending them on-site by keeping no other options open to them. Chetan had resigned and left no choice to my manager as he was important for the team. Now, I had to deploy a similar technique to win my on-site.
Being in this module for a long time, I had good knowledge of some disasters in our code. Till now, those had been cleverly hidden from the client’s eyes to reduce their anxieties. During my idle periods, I had copied and implemented some solutions for these problems. I understood that this was the right time to propose them to our client.
That evening I stayed back to draft a scary email for client. It was one of the cleverest mails ever written by me. The mail was copied to Rajiv and Mahesh. Knowing that our client doesn’t appreciate my TL, I had no problems sending him a copy too. The contents were fairly simple; first I had to scare everyone about the problems and expose their grave consequences to them. And then like a Godly avatar, the one who can only save his followers from drowning; I had to humbly propose my solutions for it.
The arrow struck the target right. When I opened my mailbox the next morning, I found lots of concern and praises from the client. My manger visited my desk in the morning and after taking my approval fixed a telephonic call with the client. What was left was just to propose my solution in a complicated manner during the call. This would make the client realize that only I could implement the solution that too from an on-site location. There would be a change in their hearts and they would find me a better candidate for the trip.
My ‘hard work’ had paid off, as I saw my manager called Chetan that evening. He consoled him with opportunities of the future as my on-site was more important than his now. I had snatched his on-site and I was going to the US.
Would he resign again? Who cares!