Self-Teaching was a Way to Attain My Moksha

Continued from Part 1: Was your manager competent enough to guide you in building your career?

Self-Teaching was a Way to Attain My Moksha

Being a student of Eco-Stats-Maths and creative in nature I always wanted to work in a data-driven field related to advertising. Unfortunately, I never got any guru to guide me on my career path. I am a self-taught person who believed in rigorous self-teaching as a way to attain my moksha. I rigorously self-trained myself in these so that I could get a suitable job in the digital marketing field.

I took a four-year course in commercial and visual art from an Art College and then trained myself in Web designing and Multimedia. All these to make me understand the trade and how the whole thing works.

I completed my certification in digital marketing from an Academy, the study wing of a reputed IT firm in my city. After getting a job offer, I joined the same reputed IT firm with the dream of building my career in digital marketing only to find that I was befooled. I watched my dreams getting shattered day after day, month after month while working there. 

My Salary was the Cheapest

My salary at this reputed IT firm was only 8K in hand. Prior to that when I was in the advertising field for 4 years and drew a salary of 12K in hand.

I agreed to join the reputed IT firm at that cheap salary rate believing I will get exposure to the several new fields of digital marketing as I was not getting that in my then-current company, who used my designing skills at a cheap rate to benefit themselves. But alas! I found the same intention here also.

I was purposefully made to work in the areas of designing, visualization, and copywriting which I used to do in the advertising agencies before. I did not join the reputed IT firm for this purpose! I mean why should I be made to work in the same fields in which I had more than 4 years of experience and that too at a higher salary rate and not that meager amount of 8K in hand at the reputed IT firm I served. This though rose to 11K eventually but at a greater cost, I could imagine.

A Trainee Digital Marketer was Made to Work as a Substitute Designer

I just could not imagine how a DM department can use a trained digital marketer as a substitute designer? I spent so much time and money to get trained by them and that to get exploited by the same people!

A substantial amount of my time was wasted searching for images for my senior graphic designer. Isn't it weird work?

Instead, I would have spent the time more in getting practical exposure in the technical areas of digital marketing comprising the whole of SEO-SMM-PPC.

I often took the risk of overworking as my senior designer was found either overburdened with his assignments or absent due to illness or travel or spending time gossiping with other colleagues.

I felt some kind of a joke being played with me. Almost every time some designer was absent in the department I was asked to do his pending works. This way I started losing focus. Or rather, I would say the management purposefully did this to keep me away from the main focus areas.

Domain Changing was Strictly Prohibited

Domain shifting was strictly not allowed to anyone in that department. A candidate chosen for a particular job had to carry on with his/her duties even though the person has got skills in others. Such practices may lead to creating specialized persons in specific fields but to a newcomer like me who wants to learn the whole trade, it is of no good.

A few senior colleagues of mine complained the same and I understood that such things are done purposefully to keep certain enthusiastic and able employees out of reach from the techniques of the trade lest they become more skilled and powerful and take away the seats of the less competent ones.

Since this domain shift was not allowed there in this reputed IT firm it kept me out of practical knowledge regarding SEO and PPC and paid advertising in SMM.

Several requests to change my domain went in vain. I went on giving services dedicatedly with a hopeful mind that one day my fate will change which unfortunately never did.

Too Much Work Pressure to Keep Things away from Reach

I toiled day and night to make my manager and team leader happy with my services with the hope that maybe one day I will get the required exposure or some kind encouraging words from them. But no, there was practically nothing for me even after one and a half year of non-stop exhaustive service that took a heavy toll on my physical and my mental health.

When I requested once again for the exposure they started putting more work pressure to keep me engaged in more design-related works.

It was an indication to me that they are trying to show me the door in this way.

Continued to Part 3: Claustrophobic Environment can take a Toll on the Health of an Employee