4 and counting

We had a lab meeting earlier this week and i heard it went bad (ofcourse, since i dint attend it). "As usual", i thought.
But, what i heard was even worse. People who had completed 5 years and 10 years were given "Service Awards". Some managers did not know what to say, some engineers chose not to speak and others spoke in very vague terms...

Whatever!

4 years is a long time to be wasting with one company, some say. Theres even a mail thread doing the rounds that talk abt one guy who changes a company every Financial year (or FPR cycle). Intersting theories.
But somehow, its different around here (and thats where i lose it? :P). Everyday presents new problems. New approaches. Some mistakes. Some stress. Its definitely new. Maybe because i have changed a lot of teams in the last 4 years. The last one and a half years has been with one single team, though. With fresh problems and weird approaches, it was worthwhile.

Last year was more about communication skills, people management and a little bit of software design than core technical contribution to me. The (technical) contribution was already made. It was all about sustaining it. Figured there are a lot more dumb people around than necessary. Sooo dumb that they

a. Dont listen.
b. Hence they dont understand.
c. As a result of which, they dont remember.
b. And hence they never learn.

Their existence in my universe is to waste my time and efforts.
I've learnt to handle them after repeated 'beatings'. I'm not at all satisfied with the way the year went. Hopefully, i wont be wasting more time cos of their whims.

Given the economical conditions in the west, the impact of which has added absolutely no motivation to the job(if u know wat i mean), i failed to celebrate this occasion by buying a new phone. It was indeed very tempting.

MotoSurf A3100 (from among Samsung Omnia, BlackBerry Pearl Flip/Storm, iPhone 3G, Nokia E,N Series... and the late entry of Samsung Star 3G) will forever be known as the phone that allllllmost made it to my 4 year anniversary celebrations (of starting my career as a soft engineer). The drive to buy something new was so much so that, in a strange way, the 'tipping point' became clear to me.

Lets see how the 5th year goes.

PS: i had the ebay account created and ready, it was just a matter of few more clicks.