Plateau

Adal was returning home after a long day at work. He was tired. He had had a conversation with his Manager that had left him emotionally and mentally drained. The discussion had centered around the annual compensation increase that was being given to him. It had gone on for a long time and he had ended up feeling undervalued in the organization. Once again, he had been overlooked for a key promotion that he had been working hard towards and he had been denied as the company policy had changed and promotions were few and hard to come by in this scenario. Adal was left feeling demotivated although the Manager was honest and praised the work that he was putting in. At the end of the day, the cost of living in a big city was always on the increase and he was looking forward to investing in a new house for his family. With this minimal increase, his dreams would always be out of his reach, at least for the next year.

Adal was already earning more than his father, who had retired recently from a job that he had held for 30 odd years, had ever earned in his entire life. Comparisons were moot - inflation in the country had touch double digits consistently in the past few years and while he had no trouble in making ends meet, he had seen his friends move ahead in their lives. Of course, for the sake of comparison, he would only consider those friends who actually owned their own houses and not those that were, like him, still on the hunt for one or had invested in one. He believed firmly in the tenet that one had to have a house of his/ her own to demonstrate to the society that he had "arrived". He had selected one of the new projects coming up on the outskirts of the city for investing his money in. There would be a spurt in expenses that he was expecting and he wanted to be prepared for that when it came about. 

Looking back at his career, he admitted to himself that he was fortunate to work in a company that valued many aspects of his life such as time away from work to spend vacations with his family. Support for him through periods when he was unwell or when his family members needed his attention was always forthcoming and his time away from work was well respected. He had risen quickly through the ranks and his promotions had meant that he was already at what he considered to be a good technical position. He was in his mid thirties and realistically, if he and others were promoted at the same rate as he had been in the past, he would probably be one of many CTO's in the company in 10 years time. He was one amongst many others in the city who were at similar junctions in their careers. What would become of these IT boomers? He had no idea what the future held for him. What he did know was that he wanted the best for his family and make sure that his kids would not be left behind in what he considered to be a race in this world. 

In a year or two, Adal would hit a plateau in his career. India was a market for young professionals and he would soon see young, energetic Engineers come in and do what he had been doing, faster and more effectively. He was only part of a larger trend in the industry. The way things were looking, he had ridden the wave well thus far, would he be able to see it through?