When the going Gets tough the tough get going (to our wonderful workforce)
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Over time there has been a lot of posts which lament the quality of work force available ethics and professionalism, I myself have written posts about these issues facing tech companies in Pakistan.
However, there are people who have proved me wrong. They have shown my why even after so much trouble we still have a country running towards prosperity.
The last whole month has been one of the toughest for a small product-focused company that could be – rioting occured on the streets with recent events, electricity started going for unknown durations and long hours of darkness, gas shedding started for the first time (the lowest temperature while I write this is -2 in Islamabad). During these darkest hours I found the people of our industry inspiring, and these are not only people I work with at CDF, but the stories of persistence against all odds could be heard across the country,. Following are some of the many incidents I heard about or experienced which highlight to what extent our people will go so that the work goes on and this country moves forward.
The engineers who were unable to work during day time because of load shedding shifted their hours to night time and stayed awake all night to meet deadlines; to avoid the risk of not reaching office next day they slept at office premises; used their cell phones for long calls to give status when internet was not working; went out of their homes to places where electricity was available to have the work done; worked through police blockades through small streets to make it to office; denied family pressures to make it to office and worked insane hours to ensure work doesn’t get disrupted even when there was no electricity no gas, no public transport and on some days even getting out of house was considered dangerous; they worked nights, they used their own resources to make up for any loss of time or productivity that would have happened. And all this when it was understood that staying at home was not a problem – they could easily have said that the situation is tough so lets let the deadline slip, their companies and the clients would have understood; they voluntarily proved that no matter what goes wrong they will continue to shine.
And they made me believe that we still are the best nation in the world we still have the most brilliant minds who perform against all odds, So no matter what comes in their way they will succeed.
Here’s to these shining stars of our industry. Here’s to our workforce.
12:05 am
it’s all very nice and everything but it also leads to companies abusing individuals – i have worked in places where they expected young programmers to work 14/8 hour workdays very often and dissent was strongly frowned upon
this dedication is a double edged sword – both the employee and employer need to realize this and the employees specially need to know when they can put their foot down
6:59 pm
True. The best time is when everyone volunteers to put in extra effort because they feel something is important.
Taking initiative has high rewards — particularly in terms of the relationship that is developed between the employees and employers, which is priceless over the long term.
1:26 pm
What we do, we do for ourselves. If someone works hard, they should understand in NO UNCLEAR terms that they do it for themselves. Working hard is a virtue. Although bragging that you earn a livelihood by being a lazy bum sounds better in most social circles here.
Free advise …take it and it’ll help you avoid a likely mid life crisis.
2:20 pm
yes my website is srt