A Techie survives - Hard work or Talent

A programmer who has survived a dot-com bust of 2001 and a severe recession that threatened to relapse into the The Great Depression of the 1920s during the past decade will tell you they have done reasonably well. But it was not easy at all - you had to keep pushing yourself to the limits and beyond with tenacity, iron-clad will and sheer hard work to keep pace with your naturally talented colleagues, hiring and spending freeze, mass layoffs and also in general with the technology in a state of constant flux. There were endless days with minimal sleep trying to scrape through those ever-elusive deadlines that even had greater impact on health and social engagements. And then there were days when it was a do or die situation when the client production system would be down impacting their business and all eyes from the CIO to your Direct Report fixated right on you and you under tremendous pressure to deliver.

It is one thing to be solving a complex problem on your own and totally opposite when that complex problem is under the constant hammer of surveillance. The neural synapses in a state of panic go into a huddle mustering all they can to troubleshoot the issue and save your client from losing millions. Barring an odd failure here and there, when you manage to bail them out on numerous occasions, you start to command their respect and become their go to guy. While this comes with the territory and there are so many techies out there who have have gone through the same rigors and probably did better, it surely has been a satisfying experience for me on a personal level. Recently I got an achievement letter for being the most billable consultant in my company last year by a stretch along with a $200 gift certificate. While this may not sound a big deal, these small tokens of appreciation keep you going.

A high-profile entrepreneur Jonathan Gheller (CEO Mixtent) asked me on Storylane - What is my greatest talent? How do you use it? - I would say I am not so sure (may be knack for problem solving) but I do know that I have bundles of sheer perseverance and grit, that never give-up attitude that has bailed me out on countless occasions. And on those occasions when I have sent emails out at 3 or 4 in the morning notifying your VPs and CIOs that you did it and their praising rejoinders on a Job well done - that sense of accomplishment has been unparalleled to date.

Even the most exciting talents in the world are invariably wasted sans hard work.