Monday, September 25, 2006

Life cycle

This is the story of a young bright man
Who was a qualified engineer
Who wanted to rise to the top of his clan
And have a scintillating career


He graduated from a premier t-school
With good if not the best grades
And like the rest of us, landed in the IT cesspool
Earned lotsa money, drove a fancy bike and wore Ray Ban shades


In the first year into his employment,
He learnt a lot, he worked hard and smart
His life was filled with work and enjoyment
He hoped it would all pay off, this was just a start



VB, VC, C++ and java,
Unix, Sun, Linux and windows
His tech skills were red hot like lava
Little did he know that these were to be his biggest foes



Things became a little monotonous, in the next year or two
There wasnt much to draw him to office on a monday morning
To advance his career, he tried everything he could do
But each time he was bypassed without prior notice or warning



He couldnt figure out what he did wrong
He wondered where he was going astray
Until one day, a bell in his mind went ding dong
And he realized "I need an MBA!!!"



So he studied for every management test
JMET, GMAT, XAT and CAT
For his job he lost all zest
He used to disappear from office at the drop of a hat



Bright as he was, he cracked every exam
And chose to go to the country's best b-school
His manager tried to retain him, he didnt give a damn
And to the annals of history was added the tale of another misguided fool


At b-school, the course-work hit him like a ton of bricks
He barely had time to eat and never enough sleep
Constantly toiling from eight to six
He felt like a bollywood villian, tied to the back of a speeding jeep



The stuff he studied, all seemed like simple common sense
But it was made out to be the cleverest thing around
It was embellished and polished with masterful pretense
Redundant with banalities, jargon abound



Thro two agonizing years he struggled
Barely managing to maintain a respectable GPA
But one question always had him puzzled
Why the hell was he doing all this anyway ?



Come placement season, there is tension in the air
There's fierce competition for every job on offer
Nobody takes chances, they all apply everywhere
Dressed in their best suits, clean shaven, prim and proper


He doesnt get a job on day zero or one
He apparently doesnt have what it takes
He gets a job on day two to the amazement of no one
The package is peanuts compared to what an i-banker makes



Another bright engineer following age-old tradition
Another reluctant manager, who does what he does because he must
Walking down the dark road to management perdition
Another one bites the dust


Thanks to Venkata Krishna Mohan Pilla of Infosys