Pressure is a Privilege

08.08.2026

Welcome to Karthi’s blah blah… This article is about a term called “Pressure is a Privilege.” I’ve heard this phrase used by many legends like Billie Jean King, Virat Kohli, and Novak Djokovic, and I finally understood why they say it. On 08.08.2026, I experienced the feeling of this phrase in my own life. Hey readers, come, let’s dive into that Saturday…

Before Pressure

On a chill-weather morning, my day started as usual waking up late, rushing into the bus, and somehow finishing my breakfast of that weird-looking idli. I reached the office at around 10:00 AM. The first half an hour was surprisingly smooth. The machine was running automatically, no disturbance, no drama. Of course, with the machine making all those sounds, calling it “peaceful” would be a little too much, but still, the day had started pleasantly.

And then, suddenly, a team walked in and asked us to STOP.

In Pressure

The head of the team came in with the first question: “Why is this feature still not completed? It should be running with that, right?” Then he suddenly looked at me and asked, “Why hasn’t this been done?” I just stood there like a rock — no reaction, no movement, nothing. That’s when I realized I was the only developer present from my team, which meant I had to take this responsibility on my shoulders.

The requirement was simple: if a part fails at the first station, the remaining stations should not perform the operation on that part. They should simply skip it.

Since my lead was absent, the manager asked me how much time I would need to complete it. It was around 11:00 AM, I said, “One hour for development and one hour for testing.”

Technical Handle and Struggles

By Technically it was not hard so much the station 1 should be must happen, since the data cannot be passed from station to station , we used to store the data in data base. by checking the data of before station the we can declare the station should perform or not

// Sample Draft
bool stationResult = await GetStationResult(partNumber);

if (stationResult)
{
    // Run the next task
}
else
{
    // Set station process completed and skip the tasks
}

Now the logic was correct , while running the stations , I get another bug the data of station 1 itself haven't updated in the database, its an issue of Null-coalescing operator (??), the real struggle is i want to reset all the stations and check with a new part and after checking with five cycles , I strongly believed everything was fine.

Another Stop, Another Problem, Another Pressure

After completing that, I went to have my lunch. When I came back and visited the next group of people, they stopped the machine again and started looking for a Software Developer.

They came with another question: “Why haven’t we handled MES and TRACE?”

I had absolutely no idea about MES or TRACE. In my mind, I was like, “What the hell are these, and who even needs this?”, So, I asked my senior for some help and slowly understood what they were actually talking about.

For those who are wondering what MES and Trace actually mean:

MES (Manufacturing Execution System): MES manages and records the assembly process by capturing production information such as part details, station status, process results, and production quantities.

Trace Data: Trace data records the detailed history of each assembled part, such as the part/serial number, component information, process parameters, test results, and timestamps. Basically, it helps us know exactly what happened to a part throughout the entire process.

And then I understood — if the machine was the player, MES and TRACE were the scorecard keeping track of every move.

Real Pressure

This was the real pressure I faced. I had no idea what exactly I should do or what the correct solution was to achieve this. But somehow, this pressure pushed me to think harder and come up with a promising solution. I asked my lead for 3 hours — including development and testing.

When I started the development, there were nearly 20 people standing around me and watching me. In my mind, I was like, “Why does it feel like I’m writing my exam paper with the entire class watching?”

Initially, I created a class and a global object for it. I maintained a queue structure for passing the data. I started recording the machine start time, process time, part value, and machine end time. I also started recording the gantry start and end times, so that we could calculate the cycle time in the future.

public Queue<Data> = new Queue<Data>();
public class Data{
// needed properties
}

The development was completed across all five stations. Now came the next part — I had to make sure both the database data upload and the MES/TRACE uploads were working properly.

Thank God! In the very first cycle, everything worked as expected. By the fifth cycle, everything was working fine, and the timing was also within the expected limit. And finally, the machine was running smoothly again.

What I Learnt

Just like,

decision-making is an art, handling pressure is also an art.

Pressure brings a great sense of responsibility and pushes you to think beyond what you normally would. So, when pressure comes your way, don’t try to run away from it. Face it, work through it, and let it push you forward. That’s when you truly discover what you are capable of.

Sometimes, pressure doesn’t come to break you — it comes to show you how strong you can actually be. And maybe that’s why they say, “Pressure is a Privilege.”

No Heroics, Just a Day at Work

I’m not here to talk about some heroic performance of mine. I just wanted to share that day with you — the things I faced, the pressure I went through, and how I managed to overcome it.

Anyway, that’s all for this one. Let’s meet again in the next technical blog.

Bye from Karthi’s blah blah…