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Software Parasite

"One who habitually takes advantage of the generosity of others without making any useful return." is the meaning of Parasite. I am actually referring to software parasite. It is very important subject where one needs to know if you are connected to software profession.
Software Parasite is a person who has following traits
  • Always tries to hide behind process, policy, group, team or some personal reasons.
  • Works less than 4 hours a day. Not to be seen on Fridays.
  • Is mostly occupied with other stuff than actual work.
  • Never ever bring any innovation or improvements to project/product/application/process.
  • Will either maintain a low profile and is never to noticed or maintains high profile and over promises
  • This person can own all high end gadgets or not own anything at all.
  • Never ever volunteers for any work.
  • Estimates provided by this person are always high and will be noncommittal.
  • Will have established network with in the company which protects this person from the job. Or can have a god father/god mother in the company.
  • Some of them don't stick to a single company because of low productivity. They frequently jump companies.
  • These people flourish when their managers are non-technical.
  • Their education background will be from non-software background with mediocre scores.
  • They don't respond to emails on time and or will be vague in all email communications.
  • Some take vacations and also will fall sick on crucial project phases.
  • Most of them say white lies or true lies to escape work.
  • Some arrive late to meetings and will not participate in meeting discussions. Most of them dodge to any questions when asked.
  • Will be working on maintenance projects of in unorganized development teams. And will be holding on to some old application or some new development module with no deadlines
  • Would have hardly written any production worthy software code in years.
  • Will never know anything about latest versions of software or current releases. This person always prefers older version. Would never upgrade or would create obstructions for any upgrades
  • Will be spending most of his time on personal phone calls/text messages/smart phone usage/browsing.
I have not covered all the traits but I am confident about covering major points. The above points will surely help managers to identify these parasites.
Parasites are everywhere in every profession, but it is the duty of managers to convert them into productive resources. Once you start converting them you will surely see good results.

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