It is tough to be a consultant. You might not do an exact business consulting but going to different countries and adjusting to the client's work culture and even to the work culture of some of the people in your own group(apparently from different parts of the world) can become tough. I faced it in Finland and i face it here in South Africa.
It was a bit better in Finland , given that i didnt need to drive a car and didnt need to start at 6:30 AM. I really wonder how these people wake up and prepare for work so early in the morning. I see long lines of vehicles on the roads at 6:30 in the morning. This however is just one of the many things that i have to get adjusted to.
Working with people from other countries , though they belong to your company can also be a bit challenging. People can be pretty straight and tough, might say certain things that are not all that pleasing right on your face. However , i realized today that it is a part and parcel of the job and shouldnt be taken offensively.
Had a tough morning session with a lot of installations, some heated discussions with people on the projects (which might have had gone a bit out of control) and then meetings with the client about some crap data mapping exercise. A good lunch with a quiche ofcourse helped to get out of the stress. A call and some more testing made up for the rest of the session after which we left the office to have some drinks by the beach and then summed it up with a nice dinner at a Malayan restaurant (which apparently served Indian food). Driving the car at night (which i did for the first time) was sort of the icing on the cake. Relaxing a bit with songs in the background and writing this post sums up the day.
I named the post realizations as my day was topsy turvy and taught me never to take things too seriously in professional life. :)
