The Bench Period Conundrum

 If you have ever worked in a multinational service-based company, you might be familiar with the phrase, "Benched". For those who aren't familiar with it, it's a phase where you are not allocated to any projects whatsoever and have to actively look for projects inside the company. I won't explain the whole "finding a project" and why this happens. But we will briefly talk about what happens psychologically and how you overcome it.

You face this when you are not allocated to any project and are unbilled during this time. You are potentially a liability to the firm, and thus you are encouraged to look for projects inside the firm under different departments that have a demand for your skillset. It's like finding a new job altogether, but you are being paid for it :P. But after a point of time,  it gets frustrating for people who are new in the company and are facing this issue. Imagine preparing hard to get a job and after you get it, doing the same in order to get allocated to a project. This is where it takes a toll on you psychologically. But as with every other problem in the world, this too can be tackled. 

Whenever a person is benched, they should never treat it as a paid vacation as most of us do. Instead, we should start upskilling in stuff that we were always interested in or stuff that has a demand in company projects. In this way, while looking for projects you can show how broad your perspective is and how flexible you are with different tech stacks. Sometimes being a "Jack of all, master of none" helps. It not only makes you knowledgeable but also gives you a sense of accomplishment during a period where you are potentially a "liability".

Secondly, during this period you network a lot inside the company. This helps in building rapport with a lot of people that you might have never met or talked with if you were part of a project in the first place. People often talk to other people, who you have not contacted yet, and thus a project itself finds a way to you. Also when you are involved in discussions your resume gets regularly reviewed by people who are a lot more experienced, and skilled and who have hands-on knowledge in the tech stack you just started in, this way you either get a good review or in the best case, a project.

The point is, the bench period might not be as bad as it sounds if you look at it with a righteous and positive perspective.