Chapter 11- The race to promotion
As the days went on, my on-site glory died down. And I came back to being an ordinary SE in an ocean of ‘IT professionals’. The last quarter of the year had arrived. It was the time of my performance evaluation. This was the time when all SEs would woo their bosses for increments and promotions.
I must admit that due to my immaturity in the initial years, I had fallen behind in the promotion race. I had seen my batch mates reach higher ranks in my company. It was high time for me to be promoted. But my manager, Mahesh didn’t seem to be in a mood to do so. And just like every time he had the perfect reason for this season.
“The client is very happy with your work. I have got a good feedback about you. But how can I promote you dear? You already went on-site.” said Mahesh
“Excuse me, Mahesh! I don’t get it. How has promotion got to do anything with my on-site trip?” I asked
“You are right. On-site and promotion can’t be compared. But you see, as others didn’t get the on-site they should get some incentive for their hard work. Also, you must know that there is only a limited number of promotion quota for my team.”
Yes guys! My manager had again played the Promotion Quota game. You may wonder, what is promotion quota?
Well, as India is a great country. The managers thought that if everything can be managed through a system of quota (like caste, sex etc) then why not manage promotions through it. And so they decided that even if four people performed well out of ten, they will promote only two. These too they will decide based on who didn’t get the on-site or awards and who should be stopped from resigning.
Also, as India is a great developing nation. The policy makers thought that those going on-site will be more developed to handle the client issues. So they should not be promoted to keep the number of sensible managers a minimum. This way they will ensure that India is still developing and not developed.
I was down with the happenings. This promotion was important to me. Also, as I was planning to get married, I had hopes of handling the marriage and honeymoon costs with my incremented package. My father had retired from his job and he was not in a position to handle all my marriage costs.
Besides, I just couldn’t afford to be a mute spectator every time and watch others grab the promotions. Something had to be done. But what could I do ?
One solution was to resign from my company and join another firm at higher package. But then my impression on Trisha’s family as reliable Software Engineer would go for a toss. Moreover, I didn’t want to leave this team as I was well settled here. Adjusting with a new boss, a new TL and new bunch corporate victims was not a cup of tea.
The other solution was to take out my competitors and become the sole survivor for the position. According to the insiders, there were three promotions happening this time. To save our team from further disasters, my Team Lead, Rajiv was going to be promoted as Manager. Next was my manager's sweet eye, the ‘extra mile’ lady, Priya. She was going to be promoted as the new team lead. The third guy was none other than the ‘stay back’ hero, Satish. He was being promoted as Senior Software Engineer for his 'exceptional' hard work and dedication.
As I was already a Senior Software Engineer, my direct competition was with the lady, Priya.
After returning from my on-site trip, I had not paid much attention to the lady. Now was the time to inquire more about her.
“Hi Priya! How are you doing?” said I, on reaching her desk
“I am fine Rohit. So Mr On-site, are you back from your on-site hangovers yet?”
“Yup! I am back to my old ways of copying and pasting of codes. I was thinking, if you are not busy, will you like to have some coffee with me?”
“Sure man! I am board too. Let’s go for coffee.”
We went to our office pantry to sip our cups of coffee. To my surprise, I found that Priya was not in a talkative mood that day. At times she was not paying attention to my words. Even through her cheerful replies, I could sense some uneasiness. It couldn’t have been work as she usually never actually worked. Besides she was getting promoted anyway. Was it her love life then?
“So when are you getting married Priya?”
“Oh! Please don’t talk about that, Rohit. I recently had a break up with my boyfriend.”
“ Sorry! I didn’t know. But what happened?”
“We were not compatible with each other. Besides, the guy had some other priorities in his life.”
Hmm! That’s what girls say when they break off with the guys. I knew this girl very well. And from her reasoning, I can assure everyone that she must be the one who dumped the guy. It was not the other way round.
Also, I can tell you that this lady could go to any length for grabbing an opportunity. Priya was good looking and had many fans among the boys. But she always dated the ones who were in good positions or had long on-site opportunities. Her last boyfriend was nothing more than a long term ‘on-site insurance policy’, which seemed to be broken now.
The rest of the guys served as her helping hands. Priya would often seek the minutest help from them. And the stupid guys, in spite of knowing that she was committed, would rush to help her to earn sympathy. In the meantime she would concentrate on not-so-important jobs and present them in a big way to impress my manager. And my mesmerized manager would then give her the best ratings for her dedication and ‘extra effort’.
I had watched her play these games for a long time. But I never took any action as it didn’t affect me. However, this time it was different. This time we both were fighting for the same position. This time she had to be taken out of the promotion race and I knew exactly the way to do it.