aditya kumar's weblog

To move from one of the many small/medium organizations to one of the biggest Information Technology recruiters in the world is quite a transition. The problem I am facing is not of following the new rules and procedures that creep into the small things (that we take for granted while we work in a small company) but of facing the human sea that overwhelms me every day, every minute I spend my time there.

According to one estimate, there are 6000 people that work in the 4 blocks of my office. So when I take the lift (call it elevator, if you may) everyday, the probability of someone who has been in the lift with me before is largely diminished. And it shall remain so until I have spent some time there. Coupled with the fact that there are new faces coming in three times a week, the point of my time spent there’d barely make a difference.

So it does not matter how long have you been in the organization. You could be a week old, a month old or a decade old working here and still walking around as if this is your first day. 95 of the 100 people you walk across everyday won’t even notice you. Chances of looking at a person and making a mental note like “Oh, I see her around everyday” are remote unless you happen to be working in the same project/application etc (in case that happens you’d need a slap on your back because since she works with you, in the same department, you ought to know her).

So you, kind of, start feeling alone in this whole sea of human beings. There is no connection, apart from, of course, that all are working for the same company. That does not matter much, I dare say, because its not a big deal. Everyone is.

Of the thousands of cubicles that you see, one of them is yours. Of the thousands that park their vehicle everyday in the parking lobby, one of them is yours. And You realize that you’ve become, and how, a part of the system.

Rationally speaking, one shouldn’t be concerned with all this, simply because thats the way things happen all over the world. There is absolutely no other way of accomplishing the goals that world class companies chalk out for themselves. It’s raw manpower that drives the system (notice how ironical it seems, to use the word ‘system’ again, compared to the usage of the same word in the last paragraph). No number of machines, tools, hardware or software can replace the effect a bunch of minds, working together, can create).

Maybe one day I’ll be able to recognize faces in the elevator (or call it lift, if you may) and better still, someday people would know people three cubicles apart but for now, I appear lost and trust me, many, just like me, are.