Dad, In an Era Where We Change Jobs a Day, How Did You Hold On?

When things got bad, dad hung onto his job for 10-15 years until he couldn’t do it anymore. I held on for a year.

My dad changed, probably, three jobs in four decades.

I have changed three in less than a decade (still more conservative than the average).

I work whenever needed – I have taken client calls at 1 am, worked all night on presentations or prototypes, and had client meetings on Sundays.

My dad worked a 10-hour shift on the floor, which rarely extended beyond that and when it did, he was duly compensated. My dad never spoke about work at home, to the point that for sometime, I thought the office was a place where adults congregated to provide for their families. And that is all.

My conversations invariably veer towards understanding what people do and how they work – an old habit that I picked up to keep pace with the corporate life.

My Dad’s Boss Was a Mythical Creature, I Meet Bosses Everyday

Speaking of, my dad worked in a factory. Having later visited factories, I came to appreciate such things as clean air and sounds less than 90db.

I work wherever. There aren’t defined boundaries, although there is a designated office. But I am seldom there on work.

My dad did one thing and ONE thing alone for all of his life – spark plugs, that thing that produces electric current to start your automobile. (Incidentally, we never had to buy one of those for as long as he was employed.)

To someone not well versed with digital or the new economy, I still struggle to explain what it is I exactly do. Some days, I have a hard time putting a finger on that, myself. (And unfortunately, I do have to pay for my spark plugs.)

My dad was passionate about his work and knew everything there was to know about it, but if you asked him why he worked, he’d say: “To provide for my family.”

It doesn’t take long for someone seeking a job to ask about ‘work satisfaction’. The concept of working for working’s sake is unbeknownst to folks of my generation.

My dad had a boss. His boss had a boss. And so it went on upwards till it reached some mythical German character who was only whispered about and whose stories were legend. In four decades, he never got to meet this man let alone talk to him.

I often meet CEOs and founders, and even when I wasn’t running a company myself, sat down with senior folks who were hands-on. We work in ‘flat offices’.

If my dad wanted a raise, he’d wait for the annual hike.

It’s not uncommon for people now to move jobs for a better pay. Sometimes, right after an appraisal.

My dad worked with his hands – pulling levers, pushing switches, bending objects into shape, checking fluid levels, and greasing himself endlessly.

I type. I draw objects on a screen. And sometimes, I click. Also, I speak to people. All the time.

On the floor, if you needed a break, you went off discerningly to a corner and let out a sigh of relief. But, generally, when you worked, you really worked. I am still amazed by my dad’s strength of focus – like, how he still can spend hours on fixing the electricals at home.

When I need a break, I open a new tab. Like now, for instance.

My Dad Had a Pension (Me, What Pension?)

My dad got home sweets for Deepavali and New Year’s. They got what they called a bonus, too; some extra cash to spend for the family.

I recall getting a massage coupon when I closed my first sale. No sweets. No dried fruits. My bonuses were not getting a deduction on our performance based variables.

If you told my Dad that he would have to work on a festival day, he’d assume that there was some sort of crisis. Incidentally, I don’t think he was ever asked to.

I have routinely worked on festival days; sometimes, even when no one asked me to.

My dad relied on his pension to help with our major expenses: our educations, sister’s wedding and so on.

What pension?

When things took a turn for the worse, dad hung onto his job in zen-like fashion for 10 or 15 years until he couldn’t do it anymore.

When things took a turn for the worse, I held on for a year and then moved. Some of my friends, have quit in a weekend.

There was one time Dad seriously thought about venturing out on his own. Along with a friend, he wanted to open a footwear shop. They were constrained by capital and at the same time, he got promoted. It never happened.

I invented the job I wanted and bootstrapped my company to profitability. My seed investment was a Macbook Pro.

Dad’s friends pretty much followed the same path. Worked for work’s sake at offices that had no ping pong tables or vending machines.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

(Roshan Cariappa is a Bangalore-based tech entrepreneur, occasional writer, and musician. He finds inspiration in Bharat, dharma, economics, music, and startups. He tweets at @carygottheblues.)