Its not the first time that such a thing is happening to me. But still I am feeling like this is the first time. Its just been 10 days that I have spent in US and I have been told that due to some budget constraints and resourceability issues I will need to travel back to Offshore next week.
There are different types of uncertainities in the IT industry with different level of severities. Nothing better than a few cited instance of my life will help you understand a subset of these.
The first uncertainity of Onsite travel was when I was just compelting my first year in this company. The layout of the project demanded resouces moving to Onsite. It looked as if the entire team would be travelling to Onsite. Time passed by and one by one almost all started travelling to Onsite. There were a handful of us who were waiting for the sweet mail to arrive informing us to get set-ready-fly. But somehow things never worked out. The development project was now getting over and we were still left in the waiting queue unsure if we will ever go onsite.
Type 1: You do not qualify
Side-effects: You start feeling frustruated as everybody around you is going onsite and your name is not even being nominated. You start feeling(which can be true or false) that even though you are the deserving person to travel, all the non-deserving useless people are going Onsite. You start feeling dejected and demotivated towards work. You think of quiting and joining another company.
Comments: This type of uncertainity can also arise from lack of travel documents/visa,etc.
Within a month, a mail arrived and we realised our names had been listed for the Onsite Support. Wow… I thought: I would be travelling to onsite: to a different country, a new place!! I was excited "Chalo..naam toh aaya..!! I started making plans, being happy thinking about my upcoming travel and wondering how everything will happen. My thoughts came down with a heavy crash when I came to know that due to some reasons somebody else had to travel and I would not be travelling to onsite.
Type 2: You name is suggested but you never get the confirmation to travel.
Side-effects: You are definately upset whent his happens but find yourself in a better position. You know you can be nominated again. Its not something you could have done. You start puttin in efforts in learning some new technology or skills that can help you gain opportunities. You are hopeful.
Next came some project which needed a couple of resources for 3 months. Again my name was suggested. But having unpleasant experinces, this time i didnt feel excited about the nomination. Rather I made my self understand that unless I am in the plane, I am not going onsite. The travel confirmation came and I flew to UK. It was nice. I staretd getting accustomed to the new place, the new weather and the new people. It was just a month that had passed in UK, when my onsite lead called me and my fellow colleague and told us that due to some budget constraints the project would be executed from Offshore and the onsite team would be dissolved. Within a week, I came back to India.
Type 3: You reach Onsite and project budget constraints cause you to return back to offshore within a really short span of time.
Side-effects: You are content over the fact that you finally reached onsite, got to see new a new place, earn little money and roam around. You wont mind being offered the option of an extension of the travel. You want to return onsite ance again.
The above three types are the most common ones. There are other types as well. But everytime in my IT career I feel myself hanging around either of these. Each of these have taught me many things and made me believe that whatever happens happens for the best. We need to believe in ourself. After all, it is these uncertainities and certainties that color our life with dark and bright colors.
Hey Miriam,
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with the 'types' you have described. And believe me, this is not just in your company (which is my company as well). It is a standard feature of IT industry in India.
I have had my share of this uncertainty when I had to tailor and submit my CV almost every week for different opportunities and ultimately was not even interviewed for any of those projects. And when I finally had the visa stamped, my travel was postponed by a week 3 times in the next 1.5 months.
Its my personal view that things can improve with better planning and communication (from both vendor and client). Yes, some uncertainty does exist but IT is not so dynamic that everything has to keep on changing daily. It plays havoc with people's personal lives and schedules.
PS: A bit of an introduction - I worked in the same deptt and location as you do before being transferred. That's how I know you. Being a blogger myself, stumbled upon your post and thoroughly liked it. Cheers!!!