It was recession time. Layoffs were the norm and even our company had made news by kicking out around 2000 employees. The term "job security" was wiped off from every company's dictionary and people used to get terrified whenever they see a HR person pass by. Everyone kept thinking the same thing.

This was around a year ago. Back then, I remember this forwarded mail circulating among me and my friends. It was about a post on one of the matrimonial websites. It was posted by the parents of a mallu girl who was looking for an alliance. The post had all the details of the girl, the parents' address, contact info etc. But the most interesting and disturbing (I'd think so at that point of time) thing about the post was the one line at the end. Written in a bright red font, the line read:

The immediate reaction of one would be WTF! I mean, nobody would even think of applying for that "Tenginkai"'s husband post . But for the last 10 years, Software Engineers have been regarded as some of the brightest minds in the world. And all of a sudden, we were the untouchables of the society. 

Its been more than a year now. I don't say that things are back to the way they were 2-3 years ago. But there is some improvement when compared to what the world was upto a year ago. Last week, I received another forwarded mail from a friend that was quite similar to the one I described above. Only difference was, the last line now read:

The cause and effect relationship here was astounding! Lehmann Brothers had a role to play even in the marriage of some 18 year old girl in some corner of the sub-continent. :D

So what makes us so unique? I am not talking about anything technical here. Its just the way IT transforms you into being what you currently are. Here is my list of the typical characteristics that a Software Engineer possesses/will possess in due course. :P But this doesn't make us uninteresting or zombie like or whatever you'd like to call us. Its just the way we are! If you are an SE, see how much you score against the below list. :P

1. Your 2 best friends are your i-pod and cell phone..

2. You don't know the name of the person sitting next to you in the office bus even though you've sat next to each there n number of times...

3. Girl friends / boy friends are like code releases for you.. You expect the next version to have better features. But often, you end up with more bugs..

4. Your PM is the target for all your curses and abuses..

5. You think that your job is the toughest job on earth and that you're doing the work of 2 or more people...

6. For you, everything that you learnt before your current job seems like a big waste of time now..

7. For you, a normal weekend is one where you've slept for atleast 20 hours...

8. You're a great worshipper of piracy.. aXXo and fXg are like gods to you...

9. You'd rather sit at home and finish watching downloaded sitcoms season by season than go out for a movie or catch up with friends..

10. Your prized possession is your 1 TB or 2 TB hard drive filled with movies..

11. You're hooked on to some multiplayer game like counter strike or DOTA and you haven't met 90% of the people with whom you play daily..

12. You keep in touch with your friends via facebook and orkut even though they live in the same city as yours..

13. You try your hand at cooking, some sport, some extra learning activity and then stop all of them after a week realising that playing online games is comparivitely easier..

14. You believe that the CEO of your company spends all his time on icicidirect trading all the company's funds..

15. Your perception is that as you go up the corporate ladder, all you need to know is Microsoft Excel. No wonder Bill Gates is rich.. Hmmm..

I don't know about you but I score atleast 10 on the above list of 15. :D

At the end of the day,