I used to play more cricket in the U.S. than now in India,” Ananth Nagarajan, Senior Engineer, Juniper Networks complains. But Nagarajan, a U.S. returnee has no complaints on the work front in the network territory here in India, which he rightly terms as pure excitement.

What awaits returnees in India?
There are a variety of openings in the network domain in India ranging from network architects, design engineers, network consultants to test engineers. Opportunities exist with both service providers and the enterprise networks. Mobile operators have demand for professionals dealing in VoIP.

Carriers in India like Reliance are constantly looking for professionals with expertise in networks. On the vendor side companies like Juniper and Cisco are stretching themselves backward to find the right people with hands-on experience to fit the bill. Lot of opportunities exists in the customer and vendor space within the network arena in India for returnees. “From a technologist’s viewpoint India is more exciting than the stagnated and stabilized U.S. network market,” reveals Nagarajan.

The window of opportunity in the network space is wide open with growth in IP, Internet, services on IP, broadband, wireless application and 3G wireless. Compared to the software component of networks, currently done in India, hardware is yet to take-off. “Returnees with good business knowledge in marketing and sales coupled with knowledge of Oracle 11i–in ERP, PeopleSoft, Data Warehousing technologies and Java J2E platforms are suitable for network positions at Cisco,” points out Venky Rao, Senior Leader, Cisco Development Center, Bangalore.

Functional specialists are required in network management, IP telephony, database administration, system administration among others in the network domain.

Advantage Returnee
Working abroad and returning to India is an advantage within the network region as it enables overall experience in network design and architecture whereas being only in India from the start maybe a niche experience, got for the same number of years. In India, tech-professionals may not possess first-hand knowledge of building networks but have predominantly gained knowledge through second-hand sources like presentations, books or through building circuit switch networks.

Returnees find favor in India because they not only possess technical expertise but also business knowledge. There is talent in India but only at the entry level in the network space with senior talent being far and between. Hence returnees can fill the gap in India in leadership positions.

Challenges in India
One of the challenges to work in India is that the country being a very price sensitive market, one has to deliver results within limits of the budget of the customer. If one is catering to a global market from India then there are no restricting issues at least from the development side. The global nature of the work requires traveling at least in the Asia-Pacific region if not to the U.S., to be closer to the customer to build product definitions.

In reality not much development work is executed in the U.S. “To work in India is hence much more valuable to me as a native as I get to be a part of the network revolution to build up communication in the country. It gives me a patriotic fervor,” states Nagarajan.

Apprehensions and Answers
The first two months after transition from the U.S. would be difficult for anybody but it has to be realized that all situations have an end. Bring an open mind to India and be prepared to face the hiccups in a developing nation like power cuts and congested roads.
Mentoring colleagues who are still down the learning curve compared to the U.S. returnees who are way up thanks to their stay abroad earlier, where the technology was more advanced, (India matches right now) need not be taken as forcible exertion. According to Nagarajan, career growth happens when you have replicated yourself in somebody.

One way to replicate yourself in others, not just in your organization, is to contribute to others and your growth by participating in educational seminars and industry forums.

India should not be taken as an easy place to work just because the network place is opening up. Rao cautions, “It is not that India does not have talent. Talent is here but the returnees bring a culture from the U.S. that accelerates the growth in India. Hence one should not take one’s position for granted.”

With a sense of alertness and responsibility returnees can go far in their career in India and as in Rao’s words, India is the happening place for networks as the market is young here.

Yes, India is certainly the place for network returnees to realize their net worth.