After lots of meet ups with non-IT friends, relatives, strangers etc, you will notice that the moment you say that you are an IT guy, they have already made some assumptions about you.
Myth #1:
If you haven't been onsite ...u are a loser
Uncle: "Tum 3 saal se IT company mein kaam kar rahe ho na?"
Me: "Haan uncle ......bas ....."
Uncle: "Tum videsh nahi gaye?"
Me: "Nahi uncle project mein requirement nahi hai onsite kaa"
Uncle: "Lekin woh deepak ko toh maanna padegaa.... vo chote sheher se hai.....bade college se nahi hai ...fir bhi usne jamke mehnat ki aur usse company ne USA bheja!"
Aaaha! That’s the problem. People think that the smarty pants are sent on site while the loser ones are the people left behind in India. So the assumption is that if you haven't been on site then you don't work hard nor you have any sincerity and... ok that's enough for now.
Myth #2:
If you are not in the biggies... u are a loser
Auntyji : "Beta, kaunsa company?"......"Kabhi suna nahi"....."Kaha hai ye?"
Aunty: "Tumko Infosys mein nahi mila kya?" (in short: "tum second grade gadha lagte ho")
Then I have to make efforts to tell them how I actually work in a much niche technology.
In case the opposite person is technologically sane then I give him some product development 'funda' (arrogance).
Myth #3:
"You can fix any computer…and calculator and may be clocks too"
Most of the computer engineers around must have at least once gone to a friend's place only to fix his / her comp.
The task can be from installing a software (next..next.. finish) to fixing a computer which gives electric shocks when its metal areas are touched.
Myth #4:
"You have lots of money"
Once I met up with my friends from school ...from various fields. I just mentioned that it is such a pain to go to office nowadays and said that I wanted to buy a car.
Friend1: "what problem do u have man .. u are an IT waala"
Friend2: "Tu toh Honda CRV le saktaa hai"
Me: "CRV!! aabey CRV kyaa mere pass VCR lene ka paisa nahi hai"
Even after 5 minutes of convincing them weren't getting convinced.
Myth #5:
"Coding means sitting in front of the computer"
During my college days , my classmate had an encounter with a guy from mechanical dept:
Mech guy: "Your Computer engineering is a big nautanki.... four years You learn the same grey dabba... and all you ppl do is sit nicely in front Of that dabba and punch the keys"
Myth #6:
One more thing which oldies say : "Now you work in such a big company , you are settled , you should marry now !! " OMG this salary is not enough for one poor soul.. how to handle two ???
Myth #7:
In Diwali...u get questions like......"Are you gonna get a bonus this Diwali.....??" And when we reply in the negative.....they seem so surprised...!!!!!!!
Myth #8:
A common issue that I have seen:
When I tell anybody that I work with Infosys company , many times I get a reply "My son/daughter/relative Mr/Ms XXX also works in Infosys. You must be knowing him/her" and if I answer in the negative, they feel disappointed (they think.....may b nobody wants to know me).
How to explain to them that there are around thousands of employees in my company, and I cannot know everybody in my ODC, forget about knowing everybody in the company. L LoLzzzzzzzzzzzzz.....
Add ons:
#How many times do you face this question "What does your company make...???"
Very logical question but.....How do you answer this one?
