India's Software Industry: Myth Vs Reality
I was going to give a background to the IT industry first but I think i'll do it sometimes later.Before that, let me delve on some of the myths about the Software industry, and try to use my first-hand experience to bring out the truth.
Myth : Its very difficult to get a job in the IT industry.
Reality: Now a days, any body who has passed his SSC can get an entry. Recruitment process is soon becoming a mockery, and people are even getting selected on the basis of a single English(yes. English) test.
Myth: The training given at the time of joining is damn tough, and only the good guys survive.
Reality : As it is said, entry level training is like the 9th semester for people. They teach u almost evry tech. under the sun, without making u good at one.
Its the time when people make their GF's, and spread the word of them becoming maharajas, basically doing boasting.
Myth: After training, people are allocated projects based on their performance during training.
Reality : Basically, project allocation is done blindfolded(this is mandatory), unless you have serious contacts.
Myth: One gets to code from day-one of the project.
Reality: Forget about coding, many people don't even get a machine for months. Coding comes to people with good fate lines, rest may be relegated to documentation or similar stuff.
Myth: It is mandatory in IT industry to work long hours.
Reality: Basically, there can be no. of reasons to it.
Many people have nothing else to do, or nowhere else to go except office, so they hang around there.most companies give dinner, so y take pains looking for it outside. People stay back to have dinner.
Then where will u get the free facility to chat , exchange mails all day along.
Then, there is this attitude of people feeling guilty if they not login more than 12 hrs. in office, its like u hv lost a point over ur frenz.
Now, the ones who really stay back due to work, do so because of mismanagement.
There is no work in IT industry that can't be completed within 9-5 , if planned properly.
Myth: Big companies pay well.
Reality: Just raise this issue with one of the guys in his initial years at Big-5, and they will tell u sthg. which will make u cry.Big-5 pay peanuts compared to tier-2 companies.
Myth: You get a chance for onsite based on ur performance offshore.
Reality: Again a misconception.Those who really get to go based on performance offshore are a drop in a ocean. Most of the guys go onsite becoz of contacts, or just that Lady Luck has shined.
Myth: Software Engineers who go onsite live like kings.
Reality: You got to see it 2 believe it. Firstly, the salary in most cases is not that huge.Then , people go with this attitude of saving like dogs. So , there are cases of people surviving on Diet Coke and $-Mc Burger throughout their trips. They are made to clean utensils, and at times the client even becomes ur nemesis.
Myth: This is the best managed industry right now in India.
Reality: Exactly the opposite.This is the best mismanaged Industry in the country. there is a dearth of managers, and those who are there have no idea of what they do, and how to manage.
It is total commotion, with the reault that their shit is to be cleaned by the junior guys who slog it out.
Myth: There is so much work in IT industry that companies recruit like nething.
Reality: The industry can do with 30% of the current lot. The numbers are stacked just to make them billable, or even just to show a good bench strength.
This is all I could think of as of now.
More talk on software industry later.
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posted by ASSET @ 5:50 PM
4 Comments:
Nice topic but I have loads to add here.
I agree to most of it except a few.
The training which is called the 9th semester is quite good. I mean it is nothing which u will get to learn in production work. I'm sure it does not beat the education in the IITs but its sure a must for other college grads. For them it surely gives more practical knowledge than what they would have mugged in their engg. And as one of your point says that the qualification bar is decreasing its all the more important to have such trainings before entering the corporate world. Also apart from the technical it tells you a lot about corporate etiquettes. There are somethings in Infosys which I appreciate and one of them is this finishing school which should become a norm in other companies also. I have heard from first hand sources that people in other companies do even mail in all caps to the teams. This is one of the examples and there exist many of those. Though I agree this training does not eliminate weaker students as it used to do long back. It’s lax and now its difficult to get kicked out as they give many fall backs, re-tests and interviews.
Another point I differ is the work point. There is enough work in this industry to hire many people. The major issue which is going on is that they understaff and get more work. I agree to the point that most of the things can be done in 9-5 but my experience says that almost 70% of the project run with less staff than required and atleast some people in the project cannot make it in 9 to 5. Working hours are also disturbed because of the time gap with the client locations. Though this cannot be helped but flexi timings are a good solution to a healthy work life balance.
May b true, but i hv not seen it happen.
In my case, I din hv much of a training at the start, n i don't think i lost out much, 'coz i hv seen the products of those training factories.
Regarding soft skills, I may agree a bit.But here also I say the learning that u hv hands-on, or which u r made 2 learn 'coz of circumstances will remain with u a longer time than when it is taught inside closed classrooms.
Business etiquettes are imbibed and can't b taught.
Secondly, I totally disagree about the work-people ratio. May b the case is different with the big tier-1 companies, but if it comes to others, its just overstaffing.
They make a fool of clients and thus are able to carry this baggage of huge employees who don't earn the company a penny.
I wud again say industry can still function well with 30-40% of current strength, subject to it being managed well.
On thinking a little harder on the point put up by you I realise that its because of the fact that there is a huge bench of people who do not do anything. But Thats again a big paradox in itself. To put it in one line. Those who work, work for atleast 1.5 persons and those who rest sit idle. Its now an accepted fact that 20-30% of big companies is just on a bench waiting to be put into coming pipeline of project.
So in a way I can agree that you could have done with 30% lesser people at given point in time. But then pipeline is the sanctum sanctorum of the IT industry and they live on that. The day this pipeline looks empty more than half of these would shed 50% of their workforce like they did in 2001.
Project margins and allocation make people try to do more with less. The greed in project managers makes them a little of a contractor who would like to keep as less people as possible and make as much done. And in the end its a sad story. We go many distances to preach that there should be a healthy work life balance but then its interesting to see these preachers only kneel and ask time off your personal life from you.
Who knows we'll be in same shoes someday. But I wish (of course trying is not enough) that I can strike that balance for myself.
aps,
I cud c the meaning in ur talk now. You are correct in saying this. But I feel this discrepancy comes in due to lack of maturity of this industry.There is a serious flaw in the processes, starting from allocating work to putting up deadlines.
I am pretty sure that there must be some serious work on in major univ., or might even be there, that uses quantitative methods to calculate an efficiency factor for each person.(say X-Factor)
That figure must be like a Social Security Number for that person. It should be given to him on joining the industry, and should be regularly updated as he grows.
This way one can judge that how much this person is capable to deliver in one man-day.So, in a way, the PM knows that what kind of persons are part of their team and what is their X-Factor.He can then use this to calculate the time required to complete his project, or a given module.
Another point I wish to suggest it that in this industry HR practices also need to evolve.They have to move ahead of just recruiting people and retaining. They have to look forward to managing a person in such a manner that he is at least able to justify his salary.
At times, there are cases when people sit the whole year on bench.
They have not earned company a penny. And in some others, some people have been made to work so much that they earn 10 times their salary for the company.
What does this leads to? Dissatisfaction. The person on bench may feel cheated and may lose motivation to stay back in the company, n the slogger may feel that he is underpaid.
All this due to poor management.
Just imagine that if the services of the person on bench could have been utilised to even some extent, the workload of slogger would have come down, n each would have gone back home pretty happy.This is the situation that this industry must strive towards.
I know its easier said than done.But one have to make a start to bring in more sanity to this industry, otherwise its going to disintegrate soon, and may just live up this boom period only.
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