IT not the favourite of young grads anymore

1: I would like to see more entrepreneurs in India than Job seekers. I am working on platform to induce this from school days.. You only do what you like and we support you...Let me know your thoughts on this.. I would take it. Pls send to murtyatpreeminentgroup.com

Posted by: Moorthy - 13 Oct, 2010

2: Good that other sectors are having lucrative job offers, so that students are not forced into joining IT and can choose a line in which they can excel. But still IT is a good career option, if you are from CompSc background and "IT happens only in India" atleast for another decade to come.

Posted by: padhu - 24 Sep, 2010

3: Excellent and very useful article by siliconindia. I appreciate the valid comments given by the people who got sucked by IT. My request to young graduates is, if you want a bright and successful future don't come into IT.

IT sucks

Posted by: Software Virus - 27 Aug, 2010

4:well said...
IT really need healty and open minded people, i also suggest new grads to get a job in their core areas rather than blindly coming to it IT ,It will lead only to a frustration.
Choose your ways accordingly...
best of luck

 ranjeet kumar replied to: Software Virus 
 post - 21 Oct, 2010

5: hey buddies...here,in the Gulf ,there was a time when thre ws 5 1/2 day week till 10 years ago. No one complained...the bulk of indians here...as we hd no rights as such 4 all tat...this region has developd drasticaly since 25 years ...work timings from 8am till 5/6pm...no holidays from indian calendar...but the bettr part-currency, overtime in most companies...n no young groups as in IT..

Posted by: rahul - 27 Aug, 2010

6: This is bound to happen. I was working in an software development firm till 6 months back. This company is reputed one in city (NOIDA), a 400 people center. They use people only as "Resources". Employees are nothing more than a "headcount" on client billing list, no long term careers, no perks, no decent salary hikes, making employees work for at least 12 hours/day, that too in odd hours as clients are from US. In many of the cases, company's US based office members could attend the telephonic calls in Indian timings but they won't.why? big fat Ego? The whole company is like small town politicians ADDA. They come to work only for cigarettes and tea, they expect 200% dedication from "resources" (an ideal employee should work 16 hours/day, should not expect any salary hikes as it would affect manager's team profitability and reduce his bonus out of his 15 - 20 - 25 lakhs salary package!) BTW, managers work in such companies only because they can't get any bigger salaries than this anywhere else, so they enjoy their work by playing politics, thinking for ways to retire early, garnishing all the money they can from company as soon as possible and for this they need cheap resources (meaning new recruits who increases team profitability, old resources who get costlier year by year, should leave the company as they become over budget for team). It is same in almost all Indian IT companies with no exceptions.

All IT managers, put your hand on your heart and dare to say "I don't do that". No one would be from all over India, would be able to do that. I am 200% sure.

Overall IT industry has become a bullshit business, IT companies are bulls, they chew and use their "resources" till they need and then throw them away as sheet the next morning they think employee is due for a salary hike, manager's attitude changes towards you the moment you ask for pay hike or discuss about timing/work issues.

I would advice young generation to not to get into this bullshit unless you really do not have any other choice, If you even have a lightest liking towards anything other than IT, guys/gals, go for it, you won't regret or by the time you would realize what am I talking about, it would be late.

IT companies need to realize the needs of a long term career for "their" employees. One simple fact about IT job is, company recruits a "resource" with only project based need. No one thinks, what if project is over/gone? They don't need to as they don't want to. They would simply fire the employee saying project is not with us anymore, we can't keep you on payroll. Guys that's the problem. Why does IT companies expect low attrition and loyalty from their employees when they themselves are not loyal to their employees. It is their need of business! Why does old economy businesses have employees working with them for 30 - 40 years? Why can't Indian IT companies do this? Because they don't want to. An IT educated "resource" joins the company at Rs. 15k -20k. Companies love him and retains him till he reaches salary levels of Rs. 30k - 40k (it takes approx. 3 - 4 years for this) and the moment any employee reaches these levels, the game of profitability begins. Company hardly needs anyone above this level as already old people are heating up the seats there. And these seat heaters are the decision makers. So the way for any employee at this levels to grow is only one and that is, find another job for his career growth. Company doesn't needs him anymore as he is becoming a costlier resource now. In fact company (managers) want him to leave so they can get a new Rs. 15K resource and maintain/increase their profitability. Till the time IT companies will not think about this situation, attrition rate is not going to go anywhere but increase.

continued below . . .

Posted by: It Job Kicker - 27 Aug, 2010

7:good that atleast new entrants make sure that they will not stick on to company for long time till company think about the profitability.

 prakash n replied to: It Job Kicker 
 post - 28 Aug, 2010

8:You r 100 percent corect.

 Zulfikar Ali replied to: It Job Kicker 
 post - 28 Aug, 2010

9:I am a final year student of Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology, Dwarka, New Delhi.. in the branch Manufacturing Process and Automation Engineering. I am feeling heavinly happy after reading these entries. And I totally agree with the points here. Though I havnt yet faced much of the industrial environment, but had a rough idea in mind. Now m confirmed.
P.S. SiliconValley, great venture people. I love to read the articles here. Keep the good job up.
Cheers

 Appy replied to: It Job Kicker 
 post - 27 Aug, 2010

10: Add odd work timings, odd eating habits due to these timings, the effects (bad of course!) on health (and expenses you make towards the health problems), the real big health and stress issues due to project delivery deadlines) and you would find yourself always at the losing side of it. None of the IT companies would bother about your health issues as they are your personal issues. But you know by now where they came from.

I have gone through this entire cycle. (Including health problems. I had almost reached to the stage of Cervical spondylosis working on 2 different billable projects, hiding from one client that I am working on another too, with inefficient "resources" who were favorites of someone very senior in company and when I went to utilize my own earned leaves in my account to get some rest and get fit, the answer I got was, it is very difficult to give a long leave and senior management will need to think about it.)

I Started my IT career journey with computer engineering degree from a very reputed college in Mumbai (my parents wanted me to be a computer engineer as it was the hottest trend in 1990's.) I started with lots of enthusiasm. I worked with small and mid size IT companies (I changed 3 jobs in 5 years, I found same mentality of managers/senior company executives everywhere, they admire your hard-work and when it comes to salary hikes and growth, they simply dislike you). I have worked with some of the biggest companies as clients (fortune 5 and India's biggest companies too) through these IT service providers. I have really reached to the conclusion, if you need a long term career, think now. You are the only one to think for yourself. No one else would do it for you. Not at least HR of your IT company. IT job will not help you for this. It is a job for those who are okay with same job everyday and same salary every year (topped up with less than inflationary hike with lots of expressions from your seniors as if they are obligating you big time, people just can’t stay humble after getting into managerial positions !).

If you have a slightest ambition of making a good career and make progress, IT is not for you.

I have left my IT job from this IT service (rather a "resource") provider to not to waste any more time in bullshit. (I am not a good politician and don't want to be one) I am working with a US based manufacturing business for their business + IT needs. Although I am still associated with IT, I am more into business side of it, with the hope to find business ideas and long term career for me. I am no more a "resource" and work directly for a business where I can generate and utilize my ideas.

Posted by: IT Job Kicker - 27 Aug, 2010

11:IT Job Kicker:
You are 200% correct. I am IT manager too but I hate to do some things but no other choice. There are two sick things in IT now. First, politics with in organization and Second profit for the organization. As long as profit is there org is not caring. So HR and management playing politics to sustain/grow themselves. HR must need to be out from org and must need to be managed outside as an independent org to lower this bullshit to some extent. It is good that people are realizing now. There are number of other opportunities are there out and I am planning to create platform soon for the same.

 NMNP replied to: IT Job Kicker 
 post - 13 Oct, 2010

12:


This year the first preferred branch for those joining Engineering is Mechanical Engineering followed by Electronics and Communication Engineering,Civil Engineering,then Computer Science Engineering. There are few who are opting for Master of Computer Applications. On the other hand many are preferring to join MBA.

All said and done the job opportunities in the core sector are still limited. Those who finish Mechanical or Civil Engineering Degree also try for IT jobs. There is growing demand for M.Tech Courses as the revised AICTE pay scales are lucrative for those who join Teaching. Also many Graduates are opting to go for Masters Programs in countries like Germany,Sweden,UK,Australia etc.,

Dr.A.Jagadeesh Nellore(AP)

Posted by: Dr.A.Jagadeesh - 27 Aug, 2010

13: This was bound to happen. The IT boom happened in India while the economic liberalization had just taken off, and other fields were barren as far as jobs, careers and opportunities were concerned. This industry could then attract hundreds of thousands of engineering and other graduates, offering attractive salaries, on-site opportunities, employee-friendly policies etc.

Now, more than a decade later, the economic landscape has drastically changed. Other industries -especially in the manufacturing, export and service sectors - are booming and are able to provide salaries equal to or even far better than that offered by the IT companies. The IT business, in the meantime, has reached a level of saturation, with more than two million people working in India alone. Clients, having suffered recession, are increasingly tight-fisted and cutting costs ruthlessly. The IT companies are also becoming greedier and greedier, having tasted easy profits over the decades.

Life in many, if not most, IT companies is very stressful. Tremendous workload, zero work-life balance. People are not even referred to as people anymore, they are "resources". "Resources" are stressed to the maximum, expected to work from home or office even on weekends and holidays, be available 24X7 on the phone, be resourceful, creative, client-focused, pro-active, etc, etc .. This virtually destroys family and social life. And the rewards, after paying all this price, isn't that great anymore, at least in comparison to other sectors. The increasingly greedy companies are cutting perks and reducing increments. People are fired at the drop of a hat -- at the slightest whiff of a downturn (while parroting that "Employees are our most valuable resources"). Also, a large part of the work is routine coding and application maintenance, nothing challenging or intellectually stimulating. The pyramid model of the IT industry means that a very large number of the "resources" at the bottom will have very little upward mobility, because a large number of people who joined the industry in the 90s and early 2000s would have reached high in the ladder and would have at least 2 decades to retirement, if not more. Most newly-joined "resources" are thus condemned to a faceless existence doing low-end work in a factory-like atmosphere.

If this trend continues, the IT industry will become the refuge of those who can't get jobs elsewhere.

Posted by: Gaurav - 26 Aug, 2010

14:You are absolutely right Gaurav. Its high-time when the young generation should think about other career opportunities other than IT. It is not helping our nation in any way either. The worst part is, Engineers even from non-IT branches join IT companies. Have we run out of jobs in all other sectors? This is something that our policy makers have to think about seriously. We need people in evry sectors, be it IT,manufacturing or R&D if we want to grow and compete with upcoming biggies like China, Brazil etc.

And as far as complains about IT sectors are concerned, I think if this trend(grads thinking of other career prospects) continues, IT companies have to really change their mindset and have to provide all the facilities,perks, work-life balance(the most important one)etc on par with their other industry peers or else they would be facing the immediate threat of downfall if not extinction.

As far as IT as a career is concerned, it is still a lucrative and gud career prospects. But again people should not join it blindly. They must keep in mind about their long-term career ambitions. Their is plenty of opportunities outside IT as well.

 Pabi replied to: Gaurav 
 post - 29 Aug, 2010

15:Since many info sharing happens on IT and it's lucarative benfits in IT, at the cost of employees social and family life, we feel now IT is no more a good career for upcoming graduates.What do you think about the life style of booming manufacturing companies...they are still challenging environment in raising their quality standards with various methodlogies like TQM, TPM, OSHAS, TS16949, JIT etc..all making employees raising their intellectual levels as IT and causing enormous work pressure, because all these methodologies are not that easy to implement and keep them sustain with period audits....many manufacturing companies are competing IT sectors and wants to raise their revenue levels equals to IT by forgetting quality standards...which is causing unnecessary build up of work pressures for various divisions like Operations, shopfloor, purchasing, material mgmgt..what not...and how extent they struggle...they can't meet the their target levels of revenue again making employees feeling the punch of routine, boring and unnecessary work rpessures...

If you see the benefits provided by mfg is noway compared to IT interms of work environment..onsite opportunities..high salaries...avergae of 3 lakhs at intial times...will increase double in short duration of yrs which will never happen in manufacturing...only initial packages are good but later...hikes..are very less...causing less motivation to employees and seen many turned from manufacturing to IT sector like me...

So still IT is good for some more years and has bright career for grduates...if again no IT recession alone comes....
so every where challenges are there..still IT is good and is able to overcome the work saturation by facility of shifting employees to altogether different job style as employee needs..

SO i feel young grduates..still can opt IT as their career

 Kumar Kancherla replied to: Gaurav 
 post - 27 Aug, 2010

16:You are correct. I agree with u gaurav

 Sreenu replied to: Gaurav 
 post - 26 Aug, 2010

17: One can't work in IT for more that 5-10yrs. Your body won't be able to take the stress with time. One has to stop thinking for IT as a long term career and just choose it for making some quick assets. So job hopping is the must or else time will run out.

 rahul replied to:  Sreenu 
 post - 27 Aug, 2010

18: This is good news. The current crop of freshers trying to make it into software have been less than mediocre anyway. Yeah, go to BPO's kids... that's real lucrative...

Posted by: Journey - 26 Aug, 2010

19: Lets hope this trend continues so that the concerned grad can Njoy his dream job instead of getting into IT jobs.

Posted by: vinod - 26 Aug, 2010

20: Tremendous work load is also another reason. Most of the IT firms expect their employees to work extra hours, even from their homes.

Posted by: Diya - 26 Aug, 2010

21:now a days people dont get off even on festivals like Rakhi, most of my friends in IT industries work even on sundays (at home)...

 deepanshu replied to: Diya 
 post - 26 Aug, 2010

22: ww

 art replied to:  deepanshu 
 post - 27 Aug, 2010

23: work work...no personnel life

 venkat  replied to: art 
 post - 27 Aug, 2010

24: Hello Guys.ya . It very very true. I m facing same situation. I got bored. No leave. only work.......work

 Maneesh Yadav replied to: venkat 
 post - 22 Oct, 2010