No, i'm not one of those guys..

I met this doctor from AIIMS who is in Goa for a Physicians Conference and we got chatting as the bus rattled along to Panaji.

Originally from Manipur, Doc and I had lots to chat about. We spoke about football and Goa and medicine and the power of the internet and the conflicts in North East India and then....

Doc - So what do you do?

Me - I write software

Doc - (giving me that omniscient look) So you are a software engineer?

Me - (hesitantly) uhmmmmmm.... yeah..

And then we were back to normal conversation till he had to get off at the Goa Medical College.

And then the thought process started. Why do i hate to admit i am a software engineer? Being categorised as a software engineer is only fair. By qualification, i am a computer engineer (i checked the degree certificate and thats what it says) and by occupation, i write software. By passion, i am a lot many things which should matter and which one day will. But for now, getting back to the point, I am not a typical software engineer! The kind you will bump into in Bangalore or Pune or wherever. I am not one of those guys. I hate the banality, sounds so cliche. Thankfully, I dont have to wear a tie or even formal clothes to work. I wear jeans. I dont oil my hair. I dont dream about debugging errors (its been a long time since i have had such a dream, or nightmare), and i dont discuss the nitty-gritties of coding with friends after work. Coding is fun, and very interesting. But, its not what i live for!

I am a sore thumb, I stick out. Maybe i should ask the doc if there is a cure. But then, he is a nephrologist.