Billability – A BIG issue ???

It had been about 3 months since I joined the Pespi account, and I hadn’t been allotted to any real time – aka client - project yet. All I ever got to do was work on silly “Internal Projects”.

For the non-IT crowd, an Internal Project means – A silly project devised and conceptualized by some think tank (read as someone who is hired to “think” - how best can I screw the lives of developers in this organization!) in your team, no project managers, no clients, no “Go Live” date (because it is never used by anyone anyways), etc.

In short, it’s a thing that they put you into to make sure your brain doesn’t rust out whilst they hunt for a real-time client project.

So, yet another boring day at work, and yet another extended coffee break!

(These breaks were becoming longer and longer day-by-day. But, who the hell cares. We were jobless anyways!)

And today we were joined by Lakshmi (he had been with the account for over a year … I know – Poor soul eh!)

Lakshmi: “Wassup guys …”

Me: “The usual … fucked up work … fucked up project … fucked up life …”

(Everyone snickers)

Lakshmi: “Anyone billable yet?”

Prema: “I am …”

Ram: “So am I …”

Lakshmi: “What about the rest of you guys?”

Me: “Nopes … Not yet … Is billability that important bro?”

Lakshmi: “Oh yes it is … Only if you’re billable does Diapro make money!”

Me: “And if you’re not?”

Lakshmi: “Well … Lets put it this way – If there is a recession, like in 2001, the non-billable resources will be the first ones to be chucked off!!!”

Me: “Jesus fucking Christ!”

Lakshmi: “Got to run … I have a deliverable today …”

(All of us): “Bye man … Enjoy!”

Meen: “Dae mappi (slang for Yo Bro!) – What’re we going to do man? I didn’t know billability was such a big issue!”

Aadi: “Yeah … I don’t want to get kicked out!”

(Oh – Btw – Aadi was another one of the guys who was in the same training batch as mine. And the poor fellow – like the rest of us – had the ill fortune of getting assigned to the Pespi account)

Me: “No one does man … Lets talk to Srikanth. He should be able to help us!”

Meen: “Sounds like a plan!”

That said, we head back to our desks!