ENGINEER’S DAY (SPEECH)
Many of us have a habit
of learning from anything or any incident happening around us. I believe that
at least some of those people, who have this habit, must have learned something
from their profession as well. In a similar way, I have also learned something
from my profession; something very basic to our profession.
The thing that I have
learned from being a software engineer is the value of process; the value of
providing correct inputs to get correct and appropriate output. We, being
software engineers, know that if the process or the system is designed correctly
then there are very less chances of having bugs.
So today, I am going to
talk about a bug, a defect; a severe defect in our system that we all must have
observed at some point of time.
I have two questions
for you:
1) How many of you
have faced that feeling which comes when a person with government job or any of
your relatives point out that you are just doing a private job and it is not as
worth as a government job?
-
I think many of
us have faced it.
2 2) How many of you
have experienced the actual miserable life which is mostly being rumored about software engineers, which includes staying late in the night, working
sluggishly with no output etc.
-
Again, many of
us.
So my point is, can’t we,
being software engineers, being the ones who develop and correct complex processes,
fix that bug in the system which has caused these problems?
Yes, we can. And in
fact we are the only ones who can solve these problems because we are the ones
who have introduced them.
Some of you may not
agree to what I just said but I can prove that we have caused these problems
and we can solve them.
a.
Problem 1: Overburden of work
I
know there are people who are actually over burdened. But we all know that the
percentage of overburdened people is not more that 30% and we use this 30% to
generalize industries’ work culture. I have seen rest 70% doing the usual 8-9
hours WHICH INCLUDES lunch, snacks, tea, coffee etc etc etc etccc; still they
behave like they are being put to the worst working conditions. Many of them
actually have TIME MANAGEMENT problem. I am not saying 8-9 hours is less but
it’s just fine. The problem is we compare it with govt job. Although, we know
that THEIR behavior (slacker, shirker) is wrong but still we don’t want to
correct THEM, instead we want to be like them.
Saying about the actual 30%
overburdened, the problem is with upper management. They create problems with incorrect
estimates, improper management of resources etc. They need to show empathy for
employees. We are working to live, not living to work. They can correct that problem.
They can fix that bug.
b.
Problem 2: Crying about having no work
Did you see the irony? We cry for having
more work and we cry for having no work. So basically, sometimes we just want
to cry, whatever be the reason. So it’s more of a habit than a reason. So
sometimes we should actually identify that we are crying for a real reason or
fake one. It’s again a question of time management. During less work, time can
be utilized in learning new technologies or other important work.
c.
Problem 3: Crying for salary.
This is a relative problem. It varies from
technology to technology, company to company, with person’s abilities etc. So
saying that everyone gets very less salary is injustice. So this problem should
not be generalized. Most of us get a decent pay. On the other hand, companies
should take care that at least talented people don’t feel underestimated/taken for
granted.
So basically, problems are
not as big as we make them and we cry about them in front of others and that’s
causing the defect I am talking about.
Some of you may still
not be convinced with my analysis for the cause of the problem. So now I am
going for one of the most important thing that I have learned from being a
software engineer and that thing is “Root Cause Analysis”. Yes, the analysis
that we do for defects so that they won’t repeat again; so that we can solve
problem from root. And here, the root cause is, “We are not proud of being a
Software Engineer”.
I will not apologize for what I have said right now but I am apologizing in advance for what I am
going to say now because it may hurt sentiments of some people and that is, “I AM
proud of being a Software Engineer”
In fact, I believe
every one of us should be proud. We are the ones who have transformed some of
the most tedious processes to very easy and quick ones, for example, railway
ticket booking, internet banking, online shopping etc. We are the ones who have
developed operating systems for very complex machines, like super computers,
robots, spaceships etc. We are the ones who are providing exciting features to
mobile users daily.
Yes, I am proud of
being engineers because we are making life of people easier. Yes, I am proud
because we are stopping corruption by converting manual systems to automated
ones like passport issuing process etc.
We have all the
capabilities to provide best processes to the world. I am connecting to the
point from which I started; the PROCESS. We can make the best processes of the
world.
Some of you might be
thinking that I have not developed IRCTC or internet banking or operating
systems or any process of stopping corruption then why should I be proud?
I have one question for
you, are you proud of being Indian? If yes... why?
Do you have all those
so called Indian qualities which are proud worthy? NO.
Then why are we proud
of being Indian? Because that’s what connect us. If any Indian does something
to be proud of, we feel proud. So why can’t we feel proud if any software
engineer does something. We can and we should. Because that’s what connect us.
We are the best brains
and we should be proud of that. We should present that picture to the world
that we deserve. We deserve to be seen with proud and respect because WE ARE
THE BEST BRAINS OF THE WORLD.
SO BE PROUD OF WHAT YOU ARE
- Avinash Tiwari
