Wednesday 8 February 2012

Learn and grow


January had been a frantic month work wise. We had to close the previous year, setup the new year and create a couple new applications for our teams in the meantime. It’s already almost mid-February and I haven’t been able to catch my breath. Almost all my week days have been filled with some stress and lots of things to do.

In a weird, sadistic way I’m enjoying this. Each day flies by quickly, I’m managing to stabilise my position and make myself known to people higher in the company’s hierarchy. I’m even caught in an intercompany dispute. It’s my team versus another on which technology is better/cheaper etc to use. We’re both working on delivering a similar product that will be offered to a client. The race is not particularly fair against us and there are lots of politics involved but for me it’s a huge learning curve. Never before had I been in a similar situation. My previous company was so small these things would never happen.


Now I can see teams fighting other teams over budgets, betrayals and gossips going around. It’s a bit scary but interesting at the same time. I just hope I grow a thicker skin and don’t lose my integrity. I’m still in a junior position to be of threat to anyone so for the time being I’m not worried about being backstabbed. On a documentary I was watching the other day, a member of staff from the ‘London Underground’ was saying that the most difficult, rude and demanding clients are white, in mid-thirties, wearing an expensive suit.

On a different note, the situation in Greece is getting worse. There are new austerity measures that diminish salaries, minimize pensions and cut budgets for things like the health care and social benefits. There are horror stories on the news of parents abandoning their children at schools because they can’t afford to raise them anymore. There’s a massive wave of neo-homeless people with no substance abuse or psychological problems and well-educated that became homeless only due to financial reasons. Overall the number of homeless people in the country was increased by 25% the last two years. I personally know so many people whose salaries were diminished by 40 – 60% when utility bills, petrol, taxes and transport fairs are higher. I hope for the best, although I can’t be too optimistic.


Have a nice Hump day. The weekend is not too far away. Sorry for the sad news

3 comments:

  1. The Greeks have lasted thousands of years; they are like the rocks of Stonehenge ; nothing knocks them down!

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  2. Although this doesn't pertain to your most current post, I wanted to wish you a Happy Valentine's Day.

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  3. @Ur-spo Thank you. That's nicely said. :-)

    @BosGuy Happy Valentine to you too!

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