WHEN YOU AIM TO GO FAR, YOU ONLY HAVE YOURSELF TO GO ALONG

 So what if you sneak in your manager's laptop to see what he is actually working on?

So what if you take updates from other people in the office on your project because your manager never shares?

So what if you hide some mistakes done by your manager to let him/her face the consequences by himself/herself?

People may become very mean sometimes. They may hinder your way of success and they may hide opportunities from you because they feel in secured from your capabilities.

While in my career I faced this problem too and I think almost everyone face this issue except some who are born lucky. My line manager literally gave me tough time. It was like hell going to office everyday with zero motivation. After starting my first job, I thought to quit in just 3 months. I used to think that I am a girl and I can easily sit at home or get married and get away from this pathetic work environment but at the same time I used to think why should I waste all my money that I have put in to get this education? Why should I make my career suffer because of some people that don't even care? Will I get something better out of this job? Absolutely not! and lastly What will people say? (sometimes this sentence may benefit you but the probability would be only 20% :p). Its always easy to quit things, destroy them, avoid them etc. but its difficult to face them. I decided to face the situation and make my place in the office where I am the only woman in the project team of around 30 people. I always remember my one good colleague who had encouraged me to stay for two years at least. I spent two years at this job and while I was leaving, tables had been turned greatly.

So the first question arises here is what my manager actually did which led me to this much difficulty, stress and annoyance? Well as I describe, my manager no doubt was very good at his work but the problem was he was in secured that I or someone else may take his position away. I used to do extremely challenging work for him every week, that is cleaning his table, sorting his papers and putting them in place and while doing that I have to observe them and try to get some insights. Well I actually did get some insights and that were high utility bills that were actually very high and I wondered for a moment that how much he makes from this only job that he has so much expenses. I used to write few middle paragraphs of the letters which he leads but I have never been told the context  and I used to type a whole paragraph blindly and no matter if I had spend whole day to figure out what this letter is actually about and try to gather some information before writing and even if I succeed in writing the paragraph, he used to delete the whole and write it all over again because what I wrote doesn't go with the context. Even after asking over and over again I had never been briefed about the meeting he just attended although I made all the meeting preps and agenda but was not invited. I have been asked over and over again that do I actually know what civil engineering is? I have been questioned frequently about the authenticity of my professional degree. So I could have complained? then I didn't? Its easy to complain but after that not easy to survive in the same place because people will not let you.

It was so depressing coming home everyday with lots of disappointments, crying in front of your parents that you see no career progression, scolding your luck (Kismat) that you ended up with this job after all your efforts to become an Engineer where even a Clerk used to have more respect and salary than yours's. I have never misbehaved or argued or complaint about my manager. I remained silent because I didn't want to be called outspoken, most misbehaved person at the office who doesn't respect her seniors huh. First year of my employment was more or less like going to the hell on your own will everyday because you don't have any other option. 

So how did I find a solution? Well when nothing went in my favor, I started to find some other ways which many people may find bit unethical but like I said I was left with no options. I used to sneak in my manager's laptop screen when he is out of office to see on what projects he is working on. This helped me to get insight on what is going on in the office. I also started inquiring from other project teams about the updates though they found it weird that I don't take updates from my manager but I did not care what they think. Whenever I have been given any assignment half done by my manage I used to complete it but I leave some mistakes in it intentionally because I know at the front foot he will display this work with his name so he must bear some consequences of not letting me coming forward. When he used to give me a document for proofreading I simply ignore many mistakes. When I started finding details of project works from other ways I started growing and he was at full shock that how am I getting all this information BECAUSE now my mistakes in work were minimized. My Boss started noticing me, appreciating me, I started participating in the discussions because now I have some good knowledge about the discussion topic. 

The outcome of my way of dealing with my line manager came out when I resigned. He was the only one who persuaded me a lot to stay at this job because at the end of two years I was leading on many things and covering him up in many shortcomings in his work. At that time I simply said that I want to move on to face some more challenges and grow like I did in this job.

I know what I did was not morally right but that person put me in this situation to do such unethical things. It was very important for me to highlight my work, my skills and I was not given opportunity so I found one by adopting some unethical ways but I had no option. I am not encouraging you to do wrong for acquiring something but just telling you that how some people become so miserable to you that you start finding some evil ways to counter their aims. You will meet such people in your life anyway but you have to figure out how to deal with them. Never aim to harm someone but try to make your way through them because these people will let you come forward if you only rely on them. Make your own way and always fight for your goals. 

So lastly, if you ever have done unethical things similar to above in the past with the intention of just getting through from these kind of people then don't feel guilty about it. You did what people have put you in to do. Remember when people don't support you don't bring you up then they are just providing you ways to flourish yourself. Because when "YOU AIM TO GO FAR, YOU ONLY HAVE YOURSELF TO GO ALONG"

Keep shining and don't let others put you down!