Miles to go...

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Ramblings by Jaya Jha

Friday, March 25, 2005

Word of Wisdom

What our instructor said in the "Communications for Management" class today was some practical word of wisdom - at least for me. She said something like this - Do not get put off by the task because it is mediocre. You have some wild dreams about how exciting, challenging your job is going to be. Fine, once in a while you will get challenging tasks, but for most part the job is quite routine. So, you have to see how you can do you best even there.

I think all the protagonist of 'challenging work for our employees' would do something to learn from this. May be, become a little bit more honest. There just aren't enough challenging jobs in the world to be performed by all the B-School (or any professional institute for that matter) graduates.

And where are you to get people to do the routine work then? And who said that the routine jobs are any less important that all those elusive, challenging jobs?

Research is the only option, is it? Or even that's not good enough?

What is a challenging job anyway. Being able to type a page in word can be quite challenging for some people right?


Bah! I need some food and some sleep right now (never mind that I have slept for 10 hours at night!)

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posted by Jaya @ 1:47 PM del.icio.us  

7 Comments:

  • At Sat Mar 26, 08:40:00 PM 2005, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Ah!
    The routine work aka the "drill"... If only there was such a thing as a non-routine work.
    Even innovation and research becomes routine, ie, if you keep at it for a long time. The best way to avoid non-routine work is to keep changing directions (if only it was that easy).
    A

     

  • At Mon Mar 28, 02:09:00 PM 2005, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Good post.
    Well i agree with what u have said here. I was in this company (say 'O') and was doing pretty well, but not a very challenging amount/quality of work. But my work was appreciated. One fine day i decided enough is enough, "I NEED CHALLENGING WORK", I resigned.
    There is this wonderful company (say 'S') wich i have come to respect and love since the days of my internship their that happily decided to take me in. But they too did not promise "challenging" work.
    It was then that i made one of the worst mistakes of my life, i did not join that company, but asked them to delay my joining and went to this company (say 'M') and got myself a job (i am yet to fail an interview :D ). Giving very lame excuses to 'S'.
    I am happy here, the work is like 60% challenging and 40% routine, and my manager knows my expectations and always pacifies me when he knows that he is not meeting it, but he made a remark when i told him the full story. That remark might add some weight to this post.
    He said, "Ashish agreed u r a bright student, a learner but tell me what do i get by letting you learn for the next 2-3 years that u wud be looking to stay here. In college you pay to learn, here in industry you want to get paid to learn?" I understood what he meant. Work is challenging to us as long as we are learning, but the comapany gets its moneys worth when we are performing. So the 40-60 formulae was what was agreed upon by both of us for me.
    But trust me, when i try innovating in that 40%, its more fun than the other 60 :)
    Today i am happy, but this is happiness has a sore point that i can never ever go back to 'S' with a clear conscience :(

    I have dragged along much, but i want to know something from u. Why did u go for an MBA instead of an ME/MS?
    The reson i ask this is because i always wanted to know what can prompt a person to leave this field (CS&E) which i have come to love so much over the last 7 years (college (6) + industry (1))

    thnx
    Ashish

     

  • At Mon Mar 28, 03:53:00 PM 2005, Blogger Jaya said…

    Ashish: To answer your questions, I will take help of the quotes of two professors of mine.

    First one was specifically about me - "You are not cut-out to do a technical job"

    And the second one was about the research talent. "There may be many bright students in the class, who grasp the subject well. But it is when you have insight that it shows a research bend of mind."

    I was not 'cut out' for a technical job and I did not have an insight into the topics of computer science to go for research there.

    The industry would still be a favourite of mine. I can not do the technical job, however.

    Now, somebody will talk of blurring line between technical and managerial job in the industry. I feel helpless and clueless in that case. I will have to go in the industry and see what it is like.

     

  • At Wed Mar 30, 10:05:00 AM 2005, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    yeah, its a mad world out here. Hope and Wish that this industry gives you its very best.
    If you want to try in a good s/w company (out of campus, ofcourse) do mail me ur resume. (ashishmishra1@gmail.com)

     

  • At Wed Mar 30, 11:20:00 AM 2005, Blogger Jaya said…

    Ah! I hope you will be around here next year too. Have another year before I graduate! :-)

     

  • At Wed Mar 30, 06:37:00 PM 2005, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Donot worry i will be around :)
    BTW thanx for the previous response. It will help me appreciate my friends who have gone for an MBA better.

    Never seen a girl with as clear a thought process as you have. Feels nice to know you.

    -Ashish

     

  • At Wed Apr 13, 12:04:00 PM 2005, Blogger Ayan Bhattacharya said…

    So, 'Management' isn't a 'technical job' according to you ... is it?

     

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