Sunday, October 08, 2006

Nick in his new attire














No!!!!


Please don't look at the T-shirt which I am wearing. Now dont go back to take a look once again! Actually good thing about the snap was i am only half exposed! The other half wore a sneakers!!


::Software Engineer's Daily Diary::



It has been nearly 8 months of my stay over here in the USA. Life here is pretty fast. The day dawns for every software engineer in the US at 7.15 AM in the morning( Dont kill me if I am not exactly accurate!!) And for the bachelor's with 3 people staying the same 1 BHK apartment, the rush to the restroom door is a sight to see! Each has a time slot and the first one comes out and goes to sleep again. The second one comes out and wakes up the third one. The third one comes out, puts milk in the microwave and wake up others! All three get ready for another hectic but enjoyable day ahead!


Who will drive the car?

Luckily for me, Sushovan and I drive alternatively so there are no hassles!And the cool breeze of the October falls swishes past and tells you that you have forgot your jacket inside! Once you get into the parking lot of the office, the fight starts - the first one- find a parking place, remember it and walk to your desk. As you walk down the aisle to the secure entrance, you are reminded of the the corridors of the company which sent you here and you thank God that you are here away from the place! :)

And you reach your desk! The red color blinker on the phone at your desk reminds you how important you are and how many people miss you when you are not around. Keep your pen and pencil ready to take the numbers from the voicemails when the computer starts booting. Once all set, Press Alt+Ctrl+Del and start the day ahead. I usually open my email box at 8.40 AM and find 40 emails staring at me, each waiting for their turn to be read! One by one I reach to the one which had come last and then look up in the chain in inbox to see another 15! And the mails keep coming like that for the rest of the day! I forgot.. Some find their way into the PSTs( People who are not software engineers - PST is a local folder on your machine where you archive your old emails!). Oh No! Do you think i keep looking at emails all day? I reply to them! And in a day i get around 230 odd mails and i reply to them each! But yes, it is all taken for granted that there has to have valid content which makes sense to the recipient or else the number of mails increases in the inbox! The matter is being escalated!!

Boy! Its time for the L1 meeting. The Level1 Meeting- What is done here? No idea. People dial in. Wait for your turn to speak up your name. 'Hi this is Subhendu from EPDB! - Subhendu Patta Nick!' Then press the #5 to mute your phone! And you dont need to learn Microprocessors to understand what multitasking is! - You have to respond to the emails which keep coming when you are in the meeting! Boy! The typing speed grows like anything! The meeting ended! Drop down saying - Thank you.

Another window goes red. Another meeting is due in next 15 minutes.. :)) The triage meeting. The Weekly Status meeting. Let me introduce some characters here! -
The Project Manager( Project level)- He knows something about the project and needs status if a person sneezes regularly and is not sneezing today!
The Delivery Lead - He needs to explain the Project Manager why the person si not sneezing today and asks you to explain it!
Other App tester/Developer - He needs your sneeze to trigger his application sneeze! He needs data from you.. He is the Downstream system!!

Boy! The lunch time is gone.. Did you miss the lunch? How could you? Time to take a break. Checkout the restroom atleast twice a day! Finally it is 2 PM in the afternoon and the Mail storm seems to subside.. The client team is calling it a day and reclining! :) Take the offshore issues now and sit with the development team..

Few more hours which include the gruelling setups, xpeditor and what not..Finally the clock strikes a 6 15PM and you are out to shutdown the machine. Lock the computer if you want to save sometime tomorrow early morning! Time to call Sushovan and Dipayan over the IM!

Finally you reach home. If my grandson asks someday to tell me a story, i will teach him english and make him read out this blog of mine!! The day is not yet done..

Time to clean the utensils and check the writing on the wall- My turn to cook!! God.. Take up all possible vegetables if they look greeen. Cut into small pieces. Peel off the skin if the vegetable looks brown or black! Put all of them into water. Put the Ruchi masala from India Mart, tune the Burner to Medium and take a nap. Dont forget to set an alarm! Wake up and stir the bowl and food is ready.. To be thrown out!!:) I have very understanding roomies.. they never complain, but they rely on the packed ready-to-eat items bought from the India Mart!

Its 9 45PM. Time to get ready for the offshore call! Open the mailbox over the Xtranet once more and start responding to the piles of emails since you left office! Its 10 30 now means Offshore time starts now! 7 AM Indian time!

11 people come over and take their seats in a conference room. And then mass ragging starts! :)) My offshore team is real nice and efficient. But still my calls extend till 2 3o AM in the morning. Hey you missed the dinner too! No probs. Take it when you enjoy Sarabhai V/s Sarabhai over MusicnMovies.com! Its 3 AM in the morning. Time to go to sleep now.

And the software engineer calls it a day!

It may seem hectic, but i enjoy every bit of this life. Coz you know my parents back in India take pride in telling people that my son is working in USA! And for them, anything it takes.

Keep watching this space!

5 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

cool... man write a book or something ..

7:02 AM  
Blogger Sarmistha said...

Bhai .....Keep writing..Its too good...:)We all want to read more

9:21 AM  
Blogger Sarmistha said...

Bhai .....Keep writing..Its too good...:)We all want to read more

9:22 AM  
Blogger Anshuman said...

You are prolific writer........
will visit again to read more

4:32 PM  
Blogger Sarmistha said...

No recent updates.....Are you busy with work brother?

6:10 AM  

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