Dangerous Profession

Enter Bangalore. The Silicon City of India. If you are an engineering graduate and you have the desire to see yourself in a technical role in the world computers, then you land yourself in a software company if you dream of working for it.

Software engineers have aspirations of many kinds. Get a load of this blog post: I Won't Go Onsite. It throws light on some things that goes through an Indian IT professional's mind. People die for onsite assignments to earn more money, to have a look at other side of the world. I find people dying to climb up the career ladder; promotions, better salary hikes, and so on. Also, I find geeks who drive with the motto of "Excellency is Success", you know, who are always hungry to learn new things on technology, management, etc. I agree, all these aspirations are completely valid.

Facebook Inc employees are the youngest and most satisfied, and yet the most stressed, among workers at big US technology companies, a survey found. Read more

Let's look at the other side of this business. You find many people who work just for the sake of their livelihood. They work very hard to earn more. Apart from work, people have plenty of financial liabilities to handle, personal issues related to their families, loaded with responsibilities & commitments, etc. Its way too much. Earning more is directly proportional to more work getting done from you. There is always a catch behind earning money. Its not as easy as we think or the way other people think about us. As we all know there is no tree that bears money. Secondly, there are situations where employees are exploited. For example: pressurizing employees to finish the task(s) within short time, provoking fear of getting sacked, etc. This leads to disasters. Couple of incidents are spotted below.

BANGALORE: A 31-year-old techie killed his 2-year-old daughter and later committed suicide at his house on Tuesday night...Failure at work is suspected to have pushed him to suicide. Read more

BANGALORE: Depressed over professional complications, a 38-year-old software engineer allegedly committed suicide. Read more

The question remains: what's the point working very hard that costs your life? I mean, is there a need to sacrifice your life for the sake of work? I don't think so! There are many other jobs available, but only one life! For the mankind's ever changing and everlasting desires, how long are you going to work? How much more are you going to earn, than anyone else? How long are you going to stay abroad experiencing the pleasure of alien life style? It is a matter of few days, few months or may be one or two years. Ask yourself:

Am I really happy?

If the answer is - NO, then you are definitely in the wrong place. Its time to walk away! Be contended and satisfied with whatever is given to you. But, don't ever let anything come near you that will take away your life or hamper  your well being! Whatever you do, make sure it has certain limit and also make sure you are enjoying it to the fullest. All that matters is the realization of the question: "What makes me really happy?" And, remember, life is very short to be very serious! It seems a little funny, but as a matter of fact the answer to this question changes with time. It is always better to introspect and choose the right answer which suits happy & healthy life in the long run.