As now I have obviously become a part of the biggest myth in
the Indian Job Scenario, the Indian IT Industry, the million dollar job(or
rather the dollar wala job as the Indian Non IT Middle Class assumes it), I have deemed myself qualified enough to comment and appraise on the system, tell
society what we actually do and quench the thirst among masses that have no
clue what this I and the T does to people like us
Beginning with the hoopla that surrounds the IT Industry, obviously
I won’t rate it over hyped to what it does and did to our economy. The growth
in the service sector in India has been led by the
IT–ITES sector, contributing substantially to increase in GDP, employment, and
exports. The sector has increased its contribution to India's GDP from 1.2% in
FY1998 to 7.5% in FY2012. According to NASSCOM,
the IT–BPO sector in India aggregated revenues of US$100 billion in FY2012,
where export and domestic revenue stood at US$69.1 billion and US$31.7 billion
respectively, growing by over 9%.
Well let me clarify, the genesis of this post is neither to
debate this statistical growth nor to talk about the pros and cons that this
field has and will offer. This post is just my personal opinion and what I explain
people in what you call in lay mans term as to what I do, at its very essence.
This is the revealing of the character(in the non sensical
way) of the guy in the colored tag around his neck, it’s the mystery behind the
glass doors, beyond the access oriented smart gates, it is what lies in those
air conditioned sophisticated burrows, where the insomniacs the intellectuals
like us abode for the latter part of the day
So it all begins with one day my mom asking me, out of her
concern-sarcasm-angry mind, what the hell I do behind that 14inch LCD monitor
till 1am in the night. To a person, though equipped enough to handle a
desktop/laptop, who types her daughters leave letters on a system, justifying
spending close to 10 hrs with that soul less machine wasn’t a tough task, when I
took a reference point
I tell her, I make Jalebis. Yeah it’s that simple. Im a
halwai making jalebis. Yeah if your eyes popped out reading my last statement, I
reiterate I make jalebis, a traditional Indian sweet best enjoyed with samosas.
At my essence, as my manager designates me, I am a
developer. A software developer(sounds big aint it!!).So what do I do and how
do I do is a question concerning many. So here I am, making jalebis.
But let me tell u making jalebis is not that easy a job, when
you are making jalebis at an international standard. This will be tasted by a
lot and will be payed for again in a lot. So how do we do it?
Well it all begins in a 100square feet room(the meeting room),
where my manager tells me, Ansuman we have a new project called “Paneer jalebi”,
it would be served in the restaurants in US in July 2013,so you need to
complete the same two months in advance. Ok paneer jalebi has to be made, timings
are known, but how do I make the jalebi, what shape what color, how much
sweetness how do I know? After all its gonna be My paneer jalebis, that will be
served on exotic plates in some state in United States. So now the broth begins
First I receive a document from the people on the other side
of the world that tells me exactly what kind of jalebi I need to make, the
texture, the taste the look n feel. We the literate call it a Software
Requirement Specification(SRS).I read it carefully, consult my other halwai
colleagues take their suggestions and have a proper understanding of the jalebi
In the mean while, the client (the one who would be selling
my jalebis at his store) changes the configuration of the jalebis. He now
modifies the SRS and tells me, look buddy, we will try the paneer jalebi later
on, right now just make me an ordinary besan wala jalebi. Ok fine, you will eat,
you will sell it, you will pay us, ur jalebi concern is mine, so I change my
understanding accordingly.
Having understood the requirements first I make a document
of mine, where I tell them overall how I am gonna make the jalebi, I tell them
the containers I’m gonna use, the amount of sugar, besan oil etc, at what
temperature I will make it, how many I will make it. This glorious piece of
document is called a High Level Design(HLD). This is then reviewed by the
client and my other halwai friends letting me know if I understood the things
well and if I’m missing anything.
Once approved, it’s time to actually plan the sequence of
events, the exact way forward, and that is where comes the Application Design(AD)
or Low Level Design. Here I talk about how I am gonna mix the battor, how I am
gonna fry, what safety measures I’m gonna use, basically I am writing down my
own receipe before even entering the kitchen. As my halwai friends and the
clients are important they again review, comment and help me make it further
better
Now is the time to make it. It is where we grind our heads
together, put our hands down, and using all the skills and knowledge accrued
over the past 1 year (yeah I didn’t learn anything in college) we try to make
some of the finest jalebis in the world. Yes like even the best cooks, even we
burn a little bit of our fingertips, sometimes the oil is spilled, sometimes
the console shows errors, sometimes the code won’t run, sometimes the logic
fails, sometimes we do make broken soft jalebis ,but then gradually going deeper
into the jalebi we just make it right, the coding is done .
Phew hot jalebis are ready, and who eats them first,
obviously me. This is called Unit Testing (UT) where I check, I made what I was
supposed to make. Having done that, I deliver the jalebis to the environment
team, who make it available across all counters of my company. A special team
of testers whom I refer to as the tasters, do what is called an Assembly Testing
(AT). They are not the one who made the jalebis, but have an idea of what was
to be made and they validate my jalebis. Next comes IST another senior better
group of tasters. This way a lot of people right from my company to the client
tastes it, approves it or ask me to modify as and when needed.
Finally comes the day when the jalebis are out there on the
market for whom it was intended. We call it deployment/production. It is a
proud moment for us and we celebrate it over the night watching the progress of
its release, gorging on pizzas this time literally
So this is it, I’m a halwai and I am proud of it.
The conversation between my family and me over the office
lines are something like this
Mom- What you doing?
Me-frying jalebis(coding)/tasting my own jalebis(unit
testing)/explaining my clients how Im gonna make the jalebis(HLD review calls)
Mom-Why you so upset today?
Me- I’m not able to make the jalebis right(coding issues)/someone
else made rasgullas and didn’t make it right and I am asked to correct it(some
one elses defects and their resolution)/the client thinks jalebis will be too
sweet(conflicts in my AD with client specification)
As things are progressing, we are taking a very proactive
approach on making jalebis. The sane people call it Agile methodology. Where in
the client is one hell of a confused person, he doesn’t know what he wants and
we meet every day over the phone and make jalebis together. It is basically me
making jalebis everyday with client telling me what to do, what not to do, and
the tasters tasting and approving disapproving it right away.
I hope by now my readers are in a trance lost in the tweaks
and turns of a jalebi. Besides the halwais and the tasters there are others. The
ones who make it possible for everyone to taste my jalebi(build/environment
team),the support staff who takes complains and suggestions from the clients, the
managers who basically are ostensibly there to see that the jalebis are made
right. The training department which trains us on different jalebi making
techniques and a hell lot
Having spend closed to a year in the jalebi making industry,
though I haven’t made much, I can tell, jalebi making is fun. But then life is
not all about making jalebis and the eventuality of boredom will finally seep
in
Happy eating!!
I am hungry now!!!
