The recent episode of an IT professional commiting suicide at one of the reputed software cos in India due to WORK STRESS really had me panting. Whatever the media, blogs or all will say I think that it was an act of absoulte immaturity i.e if only work stress is in question.
I understand that like any other sector the IT sector also has the capacity of throwing stress when there is 100% dependency on you, timelines are too stringent, the requirements are changing and must I say that when the management is not capable to handle the escalations which come from the client effectively. And then there is also a very big question about you setting very high standards for yourself.
Even in all of this, i dont think anybody can ever force you to do work atleast in the IT sector. With whatever experience I have here, the IT sector is the place where you can very easily put in your papers if you feel stressed and scout for a better pay scale (even in times of economic slowdown). I myself have taken day off when I felt that I was getting too bogged down by work.
And for a person who has won 3 star performer awards and who has handles a couple of onsite assignements, ending once like due to work stress sounds outright stupid. The moment he felt he was stressed he could have reported it to his line manager, if that was not of help he could have gone higher up in the chain. Almost all software firms have a open door policy when it comes to greivance redressal. All it requires is an e-mail. Or he could have been irresponsible and take a couple of days off to get your thoughts together. You can always report in sick. Its simple. Or you can resign, there are many software cos who would have accepted a visa ready, IIT educated IT pro. This option was both simple and highly lucrative.
No but he chose to end his life. An act of cowardice. The more I ponder on it, the more baffled I am. This just does not add up :(
I am tempted to quote a dialogue from a B grade Hindi movie of which I don't remember the name. All through the movie the VILLAIN has only one dialogue for everyone:
"CHOTTE, TENSION DENEKA; LENEKA NAHI!!!!"