My First Job

Some people get an education that prepares them to be a captain of industry, or that sends them out to do important scientific work to cure world hunger or horrible disease. But my education hadn’t done any of these. I graduated from Govt Engg College, Bartonhill(GECB) in 2007 and am proud to say that I spent four years of my life here. I still remember the day I joined my B.Tech. It was 27th of August 2003. I can still remember the words “Enter @ your own risk” scrawled across the door as we stepped into what was going to be our home away from home for four years. Four years of one’s life, a period where one becomes a man, where one earns his 1st job.

First job, it has got a sweet sound, doesn’t it? My 1st job interview was for Wipro. My luck favoured me when I cleared that and technically it is my 1st job. But the 1st time I’ve been working was when I stepped into GECB again on 18th September, 2007. It was something that I’d never planned for, something that I’d never expected myself to put up with. But there I was, waiting outside the HOD’s room to join the elite list of enlightened people whom we call Teachers. It’s a great feeling when you walk into a classroom and have a set of 120 eyes staring at you with anticipation. I had never thought that I’ll be teaching, and even when a friend called me to join up, I had refused saying that I’m unsure of myself, how will I teach a bunch of students who’ve set their expectations on me?

But then something's are beyond one’s control and so I joined up and found myself sharing desk space with some of MY teachers! Till that day I could come to college anytime and sit on the steps leading to the EC labs or the drawing hall. But now I’m a teacher, someone who’s respected. I do miss those days when I could roam around the college, when I used to cut classes and share a laugh with my pals or jostle for space in the chairs at the canteen.

All those are sweet memories and are etched in my mind. Thinking now, being a teacher is an opportunity that I didn’t want to miss, especially when it’s in an institution that made you what you are. Now when I see guys and gals talking or doing things that I did with my friends I feel so jealous! I wish I could do it again, wish I could turn back time and be a student again! For those who’re cursing their days at college, you don’t know what you’re going to miss once you are out of this compound.

I’m someone who wanted to join the corporate world. Where I wanted to set a distinct mark, and I had thought that teaching is one job which doesn’t give you the challenging environment where one can find the excitement and the adventure of a corporate job. I’ve had many friends who’ve joined software majors and most of them, except a lucky few, have got numerous bad experiences to tell. There’s even a guy who quit his job and told that it’s a dog-eat-dog world and all we’ll ever achieve is the hatred and evil stares of our peers due to the rat-races going on to gain a upper hand in evaluations and projects. It’s a blank life for some, with no entertainment and no enthusiasm. All we’ve to do is code a programme that someone might use in some other corner of the world and we don’t know who actually benefits from what we do.

All one is bothered about are the looming deadlines and bad bosses! For another friend it’s an aimless world where they say we’ll end up earning this number at the end of the month, but don’t know what to do with the money that’s cashed into the account each month. For the companies it’s a cheap labour force which they use and abuse to their best of abilities. One guy went on to say how sweet the grass looked on the other side when the HR people came with their presentations and now the world looks worse than the Sahara desert. People are yelled at, made to clear high cut-off’s in training tests and finally they say the effort isn’t just paying enough!

These words aren’t supposed to be demoralising to my juniors who’re looking forward to work under the Premji’s and Narayanamoorthy’s who’ve brought prosperity to our poor nation. But it is just a word of caution for those who really don’t know why they took up a software job. For them it’ll be the most boring job in the entire world. Teaching too has its share of boring moments. It is really plain boring to sit in a class with 20-30 students writing page after page of exam questions. I had suffered that boredom for three straight days and frankly that was the only time I thought this is a boring job. Other times I’ve had chances to learn things afresh, sometimes entire new concepts which I had skipped when I had learnt the same subject a few years back.

Now having said all this, I’ll soon be joining the rat-race myself. Not because am a daring person who would want to taste the dangers out there in spite of the warnings, but because I believe in the line from Forrest Gump "Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get." But in my heart of hearts if I ever get a chance to come back to these classes again as a teacher, I would give up anything for that offer. As Don Corleone says in Godfather “It is an offer that no man can refuse”. But then it is upon time to tell, because once again in Don’s words “Each man has his own destiny.”

Some things are better left unsaid…………