Coder by Accident, Vehla by Choice.

All four years of my engineering studies, never could I imagine myself becoming a Software Engineer. And even when I thought what I expected myself to do after graduation, I thought of network management, linux administration or some non-technical jobs at an IT firm. But never could I imagine calling myself a 'coder'.
Now that I know that time has made me one (although average skills, not any expert), I wonder, how can I call myself a JAVA programmer? Have I really transformed into one?

It's 0056 Hours, I'm tired and have a fever of 101F. I had switched off the lights and prepared to sleep. But I couldn't. After spending about 12 hours of writing JAVA methods and JSP tags, I couldn't sleep before doing something else. Something which normal people do. Something that 'vehla-by-heart' people like me do everyday. Something like writing some 'bakwas' and then posting it on an online diary. Online diary, which by the way, no one reads, except myself, and hence becomes a very nice diary (accessible everywhere).

Yes, I was swimming, drowning, gulping buckets full of code the entire day today. And whatever break I took, was to update Design documents and Unit Test Plan documents. Never thought I would say this ever - coding, though tiring, is more interesting than updating the same damn documents again and again. Only someone who has worked as a software developer can understand what I am saying right now.

How did I become a coder? How did I land in a job profile, which is considered the most sought-after and most glamorous in IT industry. With most major clients already having their applications up and running, most of the work in IT industry relates to Maintenance projects, Production Support, maybe some Testing, and network configurations. Okay, maybe some migration projects. Most of the 'development' work is related to some new business functionality being implemented in the old application. How did I, Love Sharma, a guy who couldn't even spend 5 minutes with the 'coders' of my college class, get into that small percentage of Software Engineers who actually 'develop' software?

Answer is: By Accident. By Luck. By Co-incidence. Actually, by a series of co-incidences right from my first job interview up-till me getting my first project at my first company. Hell, even if I didn't had my good 'coder' friend Kanav help me understand Java fundamentals in my Induction training at my first company, I would have easily preferred a testing project.

Oh hell, I wanted to think something other than coding when I started writing this. But I have been blabbering on about the same bitch since last 10 minutes. Come on Love, snap out of it. You are a normal guy yaar!! :p

Yes yes yes! All those people who obsess about their work (any work that they do) are not normal!
I guess people having jobs like Farhan Akthar or Amir Khan can obsess about their work. Coz they end-up either having six-pack abs, or making Oscar-nominated movies. :D :D :D


So, the conclusion: If given a choice, I would happily be a 'Vehla'. Alas! In this 'zaalim' world, being a 'vehla' means being a 'nikamma'. If only I had some super-powers. :p
I need to find someone who can show me how to print fake currency (noting it right now in my to-do list).