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Today’s story is about 2 people - one who decided to stick with the company over the long term, whereas the other switched to another company.
The story is inspired by what Bill Gates said once -
We overestimate what we can do in 1 year, but hugely underestimate what we can do in 10.
Read on to find out what happened with these 2 people!
⌚ Reading time = 6 minutes
🔎Long term gains
“Arre, chacha!” Avinash said as he walked to the new office building of Artha Private Limited. Wearing a checked blue-white shirt over a jeans pant, he looked interview-ready, even though his antiquated wristwatch didn’t match the attire.
“Yes! How are you?” Chandan replied.
“You remember, I used to…”
“Of course! How can I forget you? How are you these days? Where are you?” The peon’s eyes went wide on seeing Avinash.
Right after graduating from college, Avinash had joined Artha Private Limited ten years ago. As a young software engineer, he was enamored with startups. So many people around him were stating that startups were where the real fun was. Big companies were like elephants – where things moved slowly and the effort required to make the smallest change was huge. Most people at big companies, people told him, were not as passionate about their work as people at startups.
Avinash was influenced. He took the leap, deciding to join as the third employee of the company. Artha Private Limited was started as a tech-enabled micro-financing company, focusing on enabling women entrepreneurs in the country. The fifth member to join the team was Chandan, whose role at the company was to ensure the office was clean, people got their food and daily doses of tea and coffee.
“Oh, I was not in Bangalore all this time. Worked at three different companies, but I’m now looking to switch again.” Avinash replied.
“Oh, why so?”
“Chacha, these companies, you know,” he paused, “people say that you shouldn’t stay at a company for more than a few years. Otherwise, it is detrimental to your career. You don’t get enough salary raises, neither do they have reasons to promote you.”
“Oh, is it?” Chandan replied, as his eyebrows furrowed.
Avinash looked around the swanky office floor – it had about 200 desks lying in a zig-zag pattern, most of them occupied. The lights on the floor made for a warm and welcoming atmosphere. Employees were staring at their computer screens and making phone calls, just like Avinash and the others had made when the company started.
Instead of serving food in throw-away boxes, a cafeteria was now sitting in one corner of the floor, which had machines for fresh tea, coffee, juices, and a Coconut Water jar.
“The office has grown so much, right?” Avinash asked, changing the topic.
“Yes, it has. We now have 173 employees. Bhaskar Sir predicts that in a year or so, we would touch about 400 employees. We’re already looking for a new office space.”
“Oh, is it?”
“Yeah, and guess who’s leading the search for the new office?”
“Um… Who?”
“Yours truly. Bhaskar Babu has allowed me to grow so much with the company. He’s given me the title of Chief Happiness Officer. I have to make sure all the employees are…”
C.H.O - Chief Happiness Officer
“Oh, so you’re the head of HR?”
“Kind of. I manage a VP of HR, who handles the employees, payroll and paperwork, while I manage office spaces, perks, etc.”
From the peon of a company to be the head of HR, what a ride it had been for Chandan. Abhinav looked around himself – all the amenities, the desks and the sofas, the TV where a cricket match was playing, and all the people around him, Chandan had brought them in.
“And do you own signing off on all the HR policies…”
“Yes! Guess what? In order to promote me, Bhaskar Babu enrolled me in an online MBA program in Human Resources. I think the total cost was around ten lakh rupees. But…”
“Wow, that’s huge.”
They stayed silent for a few minutes.
“I’ll see you later. I’m interviewing for a new role today.”
“Good luck!” Chandan walked away. Harish noticed the change in his looks from the time he had started. Today, Chandan was wearing a company-branded T-shirt, a pair of Jeans, and canvas shoes.
When he had started, his clothes looked like he had been wearing them for years. His shirts loosened near the shoulders. It used to hang over a black pant, which stayed over a pair of chappals covering his feet full of cracks from behind. Today, his shoes covered all the cracks on his feet. He remembered the time when Chandan used to go around the office saying “Jee Sahab,” to any employee at the company.
While Chandan decided to stick to the company, Avinash had decided to leave the company as he for a better salary. Bigger companies were willing to pay him twenty-percent more than he got, so he quit three years after he started. By that time, the startup had found its ground and was starting to grow rapidly.
But changing his company did not go well. The first company he worked at after Artha – he was overworked to a point where his health started taking a toll. He decided to quit a year after joining. The second company – while he stayed longer at it, he didn’t have enough of a career progression. Avinash did not get promoted for three years, so his frustration kept increasing. He quit.
In the next job, he decided to join an early-stage startup again, this time as the sole engineer on the team. He worked there for the last three years, but the founders decided to fold the startup seeing that their product was not working.
He decided to take a two-month break before starting to interview again.
He had so far interviewed at three companies for a senior engineer position, but each company had rejected him for one reason or the other.
Interviewing after almost three years, he was struggling. Repeating the whole drill of preparing for technical challenges, then researching companies, applying to roles only to receive no responses was creating a hole inside him.
As he came out of his three-hour-long interview, he spotted Chandan again. Chandan asked him to accompany him for tea. They headed to the huge cafeteria, where about fifty people were gathering for lunch.
“Wow, this is an amazing café. When did you build this?” Avinash asked.
“We purchased this office space five years ago. This cafeteria was built around the same time, but has been evolving since then. Initially, we only had a couple of refrigerators and asked people to bring their own food. Since then, we’ve turned it into a full-fledged kitchen.” Chandan responded. He greeted a few people smiling at him.
“I am still amazed at how much the company has grown from the early days. I wish…” Avinash’s stopped.
“Don’t worry, man. No one knew we would be this big. It wasn’t your fault to leave the company.”
“No, but…”
“But at the same time, it is true that we underestimate what we can do in a longer span of time. Look at where I’ve come.” Chandan’s face had a gentle smile.
“True, true.”
Avinash remained pensive. While drinking tea, they cherished the memories from the time when they worked together. Avinash was certain he had missed the biggest chance of growth in his life, for a petty 20 percent salary hike. He wouldn’t have to come back for an interview like he had today. Who knew, he could have been the Chief Technological Officer of Artha.
But as Kurt Vonnegut once said:
“Of all the words of mice and men, the saddest are, "It might have been.”
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Thanks for reading :)
Hemant