I have to prepare for a lay off – months in advance.When I get the hint of it coming, I panic.

I spend sleepless nights and agonize over presenting the news to the concerned employee.

My family senses trouble and leaves me alone to mull and munch over ways to deal with the situation.

At the office, the HR prepares me for the daunting task and arms me with a script and I , if you know me well, am blessed to have the gift of the gab , but here I stand tongue tied.

I find it difficult every time I have to say the unspeakable. It breaks my heart to say those traumatic words and shake the very foundation of a family. It is also true that I have no escape.

Having memorized the script, I proceed with a straight face but as soon as I reach the third line, the employee in front of me breaks down and I have no words of consolation to offer him.

Do I think of myself as the ‘Hangman’ in the famous Carl Sandburg poem? No, not really.But I do know that the wheel of fortune is turning continuously and soon it will be my turn to be the hapless listener who has to pack my bags!

IT is today a not-so-great-a-place to be in.

And then I think about the young graduates and post graduates who are entering the job market or preparing to enter the same wondering what awaits them.

Sometimes I think it is time to consider your career in the IT sector as short-lived or as unpredictable as that, say, in the film industry.

I mean each one of us need to be prepare ourselves for an alternative career as well.

Those days of one job, one life is over. A well thought out  Plan B or C is our only life saver.

What do I tell the youngsters then?

Invest time and energy in your passions and your hobbies. If you don’t have one, develop it now.

Try to marry your interests and learning in the IT sector with other subjects or areas of study.

Find out more about what is happening around you.

The chances of your migrating to a developed nation with your IT credentials to live a good life and be happy for ever after, is, perhaps, not happening anymore.

So, look around, read more, stay abreast with current affairs. Use technology to solve the day to day problems faced by the common man. Forget being the tech geek, go ahead and be the all rounder.