Make hay while the sun shines

I am not sure how many folks are aware of the ERP boom. Well for many non IT folks, the IT boom is the time when dot com companies went bersek, and so did the bourses. It was the time when everything went up. Stock, Real estate, salaries, bonuses, girlfriends, marriage count, remittances, ego, personal worth, rent, and a host of other things! This was during the late nineties and till the big bad crash in 2001.

I work in the ERP space. ERP boom was part of the IT boom too at the same time. Organizations were desperate to find people who could implement ERP products like SAP and Oracle for them. They were ready to pay as high as 400 $ / hr, for a year !!

The senior folks that I work with now have been part of this boom. And the bust after that. But when the time was ripe, these folks have made millions. Forget 400 $, just take 150$ an hour, for 5 days a week, 52 weeks! Close to 300 grand!

I realize that I have been a late comer in this gold rush. When I graduated from engineering, it was 2001. Then as per the laws, everything that had gone up, was coming down, at breakneck speed. People were laid off, many gold miners were forced to return home, many survived (guess the genuine good ones).

But today, it seems the market has matured. Although its way better than the days of the bust, its nowhere close to the days of the boom. But the desperation for good folks to work on these multi million projects still exists. The fake CVs still float in the market and headhunters are still making merry.The only difference is that market has matured a bit. Organizations have become street smart after burning their fingers before.

End of the day, as organizations grow, as more entrepreneurs enter the market, as more engineers and business professionals get into the ERP space, it seems theres room for all. Genuine good resources will make merry, whether its the good or the bad times.

I am happy that I am in this space. Better late than never. Best part is that currently I am enjoying what I am into! Not for the money, but for the kind of work. And being employed to an Indian company means I only make pittance. Soon a day will come......................

Random musings

Phew! A weekend finally....Time to just relax and unwind....not for some of us!! Got up at 6 am to play cricket....yes amidst our huge Indian IT population here, there are few blokes who still want to play this game. So every weekend, Saturday morning, they play or rather make an attempt. I joined them, my first cricket game and boy it hurt! With an almost broken wrist, I set out to bat, bowl and field. Blame the craze or simply the carelessness. by 9 we had to wind up cause of the heat! Its really hot here and going out in the day is simply not recommended.

But, my desperation for a car is increasing day by day! Here, cant do basic things without it. But when I think of it, this is how the Car and the Oil Companies want it. They dont want the state to provide any basic public transportation. They want more and more people to buy their cars and burn out the fuel. They dont want to see any hybrid or electric cars on the road! If man can send man on the moon, definitely man can produce super efficient hybrid cars. Tell me, building efficient hybrid cars is not as difficult as building rockets. Not that they dont do it already, but we dont see people buying hybrid cars, do we? Only reason I can think of is that Vehicle Manufacturers and Fuel Companies have this big cartel and an even bigger scam. Right in front of our eyes, but nobody wants to see it!

If everyone starts using hybrid and/or electric cars...Imagine what would happen to the fuel cartel thats spread across the world and more so all folks who benefit from it. Imagine of gas prices fall, and fall so low,...............Newayz, untill anything changes, I will have to join the bandwagon. My search for used cars is on and hopefully I will be able to strike gold !!!

At work, it was a hectic week and next week is only going to be worse. We are supposed to 'GO LIVE' (which means the user community of our client organization would start using stuff that we have developed/implemented for them). And as any football game, there is high drama, last minute changes and heated debates. No, not always, but sometimes it can go to any extent!

But the main difference here compared to home (mumbai in my case), is that people can actually concentrate in excelling at work! They dont have to worry about the basic stuff in life, cause all that is taken care of. Dont have to wait for the maid, dont have to stand in the bus queue to office, dont have to wait in long traffic jams on crater filled roads, dont have to yell or honk wildly at the vehicle ahead of you, dont have to plan your way back home in the evening, dont have to worry about electricity going off, dont have to worry about water entering your home in every mumbai monsoon, ....................

I forgot to take my camera out this entire week. Next week, camera everywhere! :)

Well, its mid week of week 2 and I have hardly had the time to spend on my new blog!

Today too, it has been another long day at work!

Let me just post two photos. One of me waiting at Paris Airport and the other of my apartment here at Plano.

Untill this weekend, over and out!

~Prakash