Sign in to follow 's advice will appear in your account when you log in. Follow specific Community Members and never miss out on their views and insights. Build a group of Members who you want to listen to.

Email: Password:

Don't have SiliconIndia account? Sign up Forgot your password? Reset

Ask Swetha Iyengar for Advice

If your advice request is relevant to other Community members, our Editorial team may choose to send this request to all Experts to attract a wider range of answers and share them with the Community. Rest Assured, we will protect your privacy (unless you recommend otherwise).

Advice Request

Submit Cancel

Swetha Iyengar

Next Member >>

Swetha Iyengar

Software Engineer

Infosys

Brief Description

I am Swetha and I am from Bangalore.I work as technology analyst at Infosys Technologies Ltd.I was campus recruited from my college and eventually joined Infosys in 2007 as a fresher.I have been in different roles in these 5 yrs.I worked at offshore as developer and then worked in london for around 9 months as a lead developer/support analyst and coordinated with three other team mates of mine at offshore.Currently I am working in a project in scrum methodology I work as a developer currently in the team but I do provide the needed technical help to my team mates when required.

Challenges in job

I work in an agile environment which demands high impact communication and close coordination between team mates at offshore and at the same time coordination with the clients as well.While it is easier to coordinate closely with teammates at offshore,it becomes challenging to coordinate tasks between onsite and offshore.It becomes more difficult with the time zone difference and different backgrounds of people involved in the team.However,we have regular VCs for planning and estimation of tasks which helps foster a certain trust between clients at onsite location and the team.I think this has brought in lot of confidence in me in terms of communication, interpersonal skills and more importantly to proactively raise/escalate and speak up about concerns/issues.I think this is where most of us Indians lack because our culture teaches us obedience.But this should not be extrapolated to our professional lives because it becomes very important for us to escalate issues,problems on time and forsee them which if not done can lead to loss in terms of time,money and trust of clients.This becomes all the more important as the concept of agile revolves more around people than the product.

Job made easy

My colleagues are very friendly and supportive and thankfully I have had some managers who have mentored me and helped me grow as a professional.So basically,it boils down to people who make my job interesting and easier.

My point of view

Yes we have loads of tech talent here.As a matter of fact,we are have so much talent that we spill it out to other countries.In my view,the most talented people are busy outsourcing their talent.We must instead find ways to attract the most innovative and creative people back to their roots and provide them opportunities to grow here in India and unless we provide the right infrastructure to nurture creativity,I don't think we can see any Indian tech product in the global market any sooner. Another problem is with the mindset.We undermine ourselves as Indians.We as a country have great potential but still somehow we are intimidated by the west.Our penchant for everything foreign and our disdain for the indigenous ones is in some way preventing Indian tech products from making their way to the world markets.

My goals

Well,after having worked for 5 long years in the IT industry,I wish to go back to school and pursue my masters in computer science.And then move into research field.I have come a long way from being a naive fresher to a software professional.And I wish to blend this with better insight of the science behind what I do,

Advice to professionals

My suggestion would be to NOT take things for granted.This is the time when one needs to work hard and learn new things especially because there is so much difference between college and work environment. One should ask a lot of questions and be proactive.This will help an individual go a long way in the IT industry.You stop learning when you stop asking questions.This does come not easy to us for we fear that we would make a fool of ourselves by asking stupid questions.But I would pass on one advice which I was given when I started work as a fresher.Ask lot of questions,it does not matter if they are silliest of all but one day you will come to a point when you would ask questions and they would be sensible.It will become your second nature.

Advice to students

My advice for the students would be to improve on communication skills and interpersonal skills because in IT it is all about team work.We need to succeed as a team in order to succeed individually. I would also advice to always be inquisitive,to learn to ask questions and challenge what is given in our textbooks.And try out things in practice rather than just sticking to theoretical knowledge.