“This year again,
promotion denied! Shit…” John was screaming in grief on the mic.
“Chill yaar. It’s
COVID this time. No company is promoting its employees." Veeru tried to
console him.
“Last year also,
the same reason was given. What the heck!”
“2021 is the
sequel of the year 2020, you know…Season 1, Season 2,” I tried to pacify John.
“You won’t
understand the pain man. You are lucky. Government employees don’t have to
worry about promotion.” John was unstoppable.
“Maybe, because
they don’t get promoted every alternate year like you guys in IT companies.” I
high-fived Veeru on the screen.
“Kuchh Bhi”
John shouted akin to Arnab Goswami.
“Seriously yaar,
even though I am not in government, but we do not get promotions like IT
industry” Veeru expressed.
“Oh, is it? But
tell me frankly Ajay, do government employees have to worry about performance?
They perform or do not perform, they will get a raise every year. Am I right or
wrong?”
“Actually, you are
right, but partially. Because government employees get a raise every year, they
do not bother about performance, but so does the government. Donkeys and horses
are treated equally here, so whether you just do your job or outperform, the
promotion will be given only as per the time scale.” I replied.
“That’s because
the government gives more emphasis to experience, I believe.” Veeru opined.
“Experience? But
what kind of experience? Just doing what the Boss says, right? Is that an
experience? And what about upgrading skills as per the New Normal? Does the
government firms even encourage that?” John continued his questioning spree.
“You are bang on
the point. Just as the quality of experience doesn't matter for promotion in
government, there is no metric to gauge it except reviews and interviews, even
in private firms. ”Veeru elucidated.
“You are right
Veeru, but nothing can substitute experience, when I say experience, I mean a
rich experience of handling various tasks and people and learning from that.” I
expressed myself.
“Hmmm. Initially,
I also thought so, but then I realized that rather than taking a long route of
gaining experience to climb the corporate ladder, why not go for some
professional educational programmes to upgrade myself.” Veeru shared his
personal experience.
“Oh! So you did a
PhD from IIT, right? In fact, I am also planning to join a course in Management
from ISB, what do you suggest?” John asked.
“It’s a good plan.
But…”
“But? Is there a
but to ISB also?”
“Yeah. In fact,
there is a but to everything in the new normal.”Veeru winked.
“Like our
government is doing well BUT not well enough to battle COVID, right?”I quipped.
“Hahaha. Not
exactly. But you need to calculate if the amount of time, energy and money you
are investing for your education gives you at least 100% returns. Otherwise,
it’s a ghaate ka sauda. Suppose you spend 20 Lakh for a year at
ISB, after a year you must get at least 40 lakhs package”
“But 40 lakhs is
200% returns dude!” Screamed John.
“That’s the
problem with IT guys, you jump to the conclusion very fast, you are also
forgoing your existing 20 lakhs annual salary for the course, right?”
“Oh yes! You are
right.”
“But what’s your
experience of doing a PhD? Did it help you in your career?” I asked curiously.
“Frankly speaking,
not much initially. In the beginning, I was placed in the same band as I would
have been with the years of experience spent doing the doctorate. I also used to
get frustrated with that. But I realized the value of my education when I
switched the job. My colleagues who were not PhD couldn’t get that far. So
education alone may not help you need to have the experience also.”
“But IIT is known
for its BTech and not PhD or MTech, is that true bro?” Asked John.
“If you look at
the package, you may well conclude it to be true, but..” Veeru paused.
“One more but...”
I quipped, “Had Tarun been here, he would have thrashed you for pretending
to be so intellectual.”
“Hahaha.” John
started laughing.
“To answer your
question, Ajay, IITs already get the best students for BTech, whereas for MTech
or PhD, the students who get admitted are the ones interested in research and
academics. When I started working it was very difficult for me to get
acceptance in Corporate. Some of them even expressed that I am overqualified
for the job. So I had to start from small firms even though I was a PhD from
IIT.”
“Oh! So do
you think that going for MBA from ISB is a bad decision?”
“No. But it depends and only time can tell whether you’ve made the correct decision. In the end, trust your instincts and try to learn from other people’s mistakes. That is the best way to save you time, money and effort.”
“Kya baat hai! You must join academics, Veeru. You can rock there.” I expressed.
“May be at a later stage, Ajay.”
“But why? Universities are good paymasters, I believe.”
“Arey
yaar, once you work in academics for a longer time, the industry won’t consider
you for a job, that’s a harsh reality in India. Success in hands-on work is more valuable to them than success in
higher education.”
“I
agree,” I said, “Industry still consider experience superior to the educational
degrees”
“But if the industry won’t consider candidates, how would they gain experience?”
“Good argument.” I said.
“Yeah, but that
debate is going on for ages in the name of Industry-Academia Gap. You can join
a webinar to be a part of that discussion” Veeru suggested.
“One more webinar?
No way.” John nodded his head and we bid a bye to each other virtually.
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