My Beta Does Computer Things: Your guide to Success, Love and Rock-n-Roll in the IT Industry

By Sanjay Manaktala

Father: 'Beta, what do you want to be when you grow up? Wonder Woman? Spider-Man? Superman?'

Child: 'Papa, when I grow up I want to be a senior database administrator at Wipro.'

If you've picked up this book, you and I are probably pretty darn similar. We grew up in humble circumstances, listened to our parents and the society, graduated and joined the IT industry. So, why read a book that's going to explain an industry you might already be a part of? Well, frankly, to work smarter and not harder. To make sure you know what you're getting into and what lies ahead. You want to make money and travel the world. You want to date and enjoy your twenties and thirties. Your work does not need your youth as a sacrificial offering. My goal here is to get you to realize that. Corporations can suck but they can also be awesome. Many of us make money. Many of us enjoy our lives. Few do both. Let's try and join the latter, shall we?

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins India
• Release date: Aug 25, 2018
• ISBN: 9789353022785

Sanjay Manaktala

Sanjay Manaktala is a former IT executive-turned-standup comedian who has been instrumental in shaping India's current comedy boom. His videos have amassed over 30 million views online and have been featured on CNN, the BBC, Huffington Post, Forbes India, BuzzFeed and a host of other major publications. Growing up in New York and Los Angeles, Sanjay moved to India in 2010 where he rose the ranks of a major IT consulting firm before switching to comedy and filmmaking. He performs comedy across the world and currently resides in Bengaluru, India.

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INTRODUCTION

SDLC (Software Developer’s Life Cycle)

If you’ve picked up this book, you and I are, more likely than not, the exact same person. We grew up under humble circumstances, listened to our parents and society on how to plan our lives and are terrible at dating even though we have no idea why. We also probably had that awkward romantic encounter in college that scarred us for life. (To the girl whom I first kissed, Roja, I’d like to apologize for the defect-riddled version of me you had to deal with. Thank you for being a beta tester, the finished product is now much better). As a result of all the aforementioned missteps, our focus has always been on pushing the accomplishments of our lives forward. Good grades meant good job, good job meant good money, good money meant good wife (or good husband) and so on. While the book of our life remains to be read you can be damn sure it has already been written. This book, however, is not that book, although it is going to help you find the pen to change the way that book finishes. Game of Thrones became a hit TV show that now lives well beyond what was written in the novels, carving its own path with increasing popularity. Your life and career will hopefully do the same. I can’t promise you TRP ratings but I hope to deliver some personal satisfaction.

So, why read a book that’s going to explain an industry you might already be a part of? Well, to be frank: To work smarter and not harder. Or to explain it better, since I also value hard work: To make sure you know what you’re getting into and to ensure that you succeed for the right reasons in the software industry and beyond. I’m not going to tell you how to cut corners and ace just the job interviews the way Kota might seem for many students trying to ace exams. Instead, my goal is to help you process the people (clients, colleagues, bad managers), the places (onshore, training), and the things (money, startups, education) you have and will experience in the years to come. Just like you prepared for college and experienced something different when all was said and done (was anybody’s college experience like 3 Idiots?), jumping into the IT industry will have its own set of misaligned expectations and pleasant surprises. So many people don’t do well in interviews because the ironic thing is that many of them haven’t even asked themselves, ‘Where do I see myself in 5 years?’ (I was one of them). If you want to develop for others, you must first develop for yourself. See, I’m like a coding Confucius.

We’re going to look at what skills you want to learn, what things ACTUALLY interest you instead of the junk you tell people (e.g. developing tools in Java or C++, making games for mobile, finding users for your new app or travelling around the country giving PowerPoint presentations), and perhaps laugh a little bit in the process. These are all things you need to think about and not just because you need something that’s good for your resume or your parents.

You want to make money and travel the world. You want to date girls (or guys) and enjoy your twenties and thirties. Work does not need to sacrifice a truly rewarding youth and a youth with no regrets does not need to sacrifice your career. My goal here is to get you to realize that. Corporations can suck but they can also be awesome. Many of us make money. Many of us enjoy our lives. Few do both. And I’m not talking about movie stars or singers. I’m talking about the people who work in IT.

Try saying this to a headhunter

India produces roughly 1.5 million engineers per year across nearly 4,000 engineering colleges. The industry is valued at $150 billion and growing faster than your mom’s anger when you say you want to quit. Even though the graduates include all disciplines under the term ‘engineering’, it’s fair to assume a good chunk of these kids (as well as your own colleagues if you’re already working) have ended up in the IT industry. I’ve had hundreds of conversations where I ask somebody:

In the 1960s, the American Dream meant a stable manufacturing job, a beautiful family and a four-bedroom house on a nice plot with all your friends as neighbours. For India, in modern times, the IT industry has helped fuel a similar dream. The industry promises a good paycheck and job security, admiration amongst friends and family and, of course, added benefits like overseas travel, a few days of partying in the night clubs of America (let’s be honest guys, I know you’ve already Googled them) and a host of other cool things you may or may not want to post on Facebook.

We all want a comfortable life and everything that comes with it. We want to travel the world, show off online, date amazing people and earn a good living for ourselves and our families. I’m completely on board with this thought. I grew up in a 1BHK with my mother and brother. After busting my ass through high school and college, all I cared about was making a decent wage so I could have my own room and party along with my friends. Wanting a comfortable life is everyone’s right. But the older you get you will realize comfort does not equal happiness. In fact, comfort can often be your own worst enemy. When the business class trips get boring, when you’re on your seventh iPhone (or tenth customized Android, you know who you are) and fortieth Instagram photo of waters of some crystal-clear beach, or the slopes of some lush Himalayan trek you will realize what I mean. And I’m not saying you shouldn’t get those things. No matter what older people say, you’re only 22 or 25 or 30 once and I say, do it. Get them, experience them, enjoy them. Just remember that in today’s day and age, with cheaper flights, a billion photos a day, virtual reality video and whatever tomorrow’s trend will be, most people will also get those things and their value will diminish. There is a whole lotta life left to live after you accomplish what you’ve thought was so important.

So at the very least, while you’re on the track you most definitely should still be on, let’s accomplish a cooler adulthood earlier and help you understand how you really want your life to unfold. When I was thirteen, all I cared about was video games. When I was twenty-three, I had enough money to buy enough games, but realized I didn’t care as much. You’ll realize the same thing about parties, fancy offices, and hotels ten years from now. Don’t underestimate what actually makes you happy. It’s more than money and hotels and a title. You’ll be bored of these things in your thirties. You think you know what you like and what you hate today. But I also hated reading and simple multiplication tables when I was younger. Life has a lot of these phases, and they don’t stop.

As a comedian, people often ask me if those jokes I just said on stage were my own thoughts or had come from elsewhere. I obviously have to write my own material (which is why stand-up comedy is such a unique art form), but comedians often casually respond to this by saying, ‘Of course I wrote them. People who say funny things they didn’t write are called actors.’ In the same way, after ten years in seven different Fortune 500 organizations, and having met thousands upon thousands of developers, testers and other senior technology professionals across the globe, I can tell you a gigantic chunk of us are simply actors in an already scripted routine. We travel the world in droves. We stick to ourselves. We focus on our increasing savings and credit card points. We don’t develop our social skills properly, and later, many of us think the universe has cheated us and it owes us something. How the hell did that happen?

Big data is like your future job title. It will sound cool yet be confusing.

Engineers from India have made a distinctive impression on the world. Although globally companies benefit from India’s skilled professionals, an excessive ‘mass production’ of such engineers has led to a decrease in the quality of their skill set. They struggle in terms of technical proficiency, lack simple communication skills and make various personal mistakes as they progress through their careers. Some turn to alcohol, others to adultery, others to whatever hobbies and interests life denied them earlier. How do I know this? Well, I’ve met a bunch of them and I’m sure I was one myself at some point. While my grades weren’t terrible, I wouldn’t exactly call them respectable. If I could do it again would I study the arts or writing? HELL NO. I’m so thankful engineering taught me real world skills and made everything seem doable in retrospect. But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t difficult and made me question my sanity, personal satisfaction and happiness in the process. Sound familiar?

The night I graduated college I skipped the parties, went to bed and had the following conversation with the man above:

Me: ‘Hi God Sir, it’s me.’

God: ‘What is it now Sanjay?’

Me: ‘Sir if you get me into one of the large IT companies, it will make my life amazing. I’ll be able to help with money around the house, travel, make new friends and a bunch of other stuff. I’ve been poor most of my life while my friends all had rich Gujju parents. Please God, it’s my turn. And I don’t like Gujarati food, so please help?’

God: ‘Didn’t we have this same conversation when you were applying to colleges? And I got you into that good school, right? You said you would top the class and then you barely passed…’

Me: (Interrupts God in my brain) ‘Yeah but this is the last time, I promise. Come on God. I don’t need a BMW, but at least an Audi…’

God: ’Okay let’s chat in a few years when you’re trying to switch to Google. Or Facebook.’

God would later give me a used Hyundai instead of an Audi for interrupting him.

If you can relate to the points above, well, I welcome you to keep reading. If you can’t or are truly happy with your yacht and your 50 supermodels, please email me how you did it.

Having a successful and fruitful career in the IT industry requires more than just picking up skills, an area that is still extremely important. We will discuss that in this book, so don’t think you can skip studying the boring stuff. But it also a requires a fresh perspective on how to move up in your new college, aka, the corporation. In the corporation, there are no exams, no friends to cheat with and less bonding over movies and smokes with batchmates. There are many rules you can no longer bend and many new ones you can.

I struggled my way through the artificial intelligence and programming courses in college only to barely squeeze into the corporate world. Eventually I made a small name for myself and shifted from America to India to continue doing that. I’ve spoken to thousands of engineers in America and India and learned what motivates them, promotes them and makes them desirable for professional and personal reasons. I’ve stayed up all night trying to make some random piece of code function, presented software demos and PowerPoints to executives from some of the largest firms across the US and India, all the while spending my nights chatting with friends and playing around with dating sites. I’ve travelled, consulted, mentored, trained, coded, tested, presented and done pretty much anything in the industry you can imagine. Even though I was never the brightest, I always tried to be the best I could be with a smile on my face. Any programming language, any software tool, any city or country I was ready to go. And you know what? I had a lot of fun doing it.

You’re a smart person. You’ve made it this far by working hard. While you may