In Pursuit of Excellence in Technology Date:   Friday , April 01, 2011 Technology leaders the world over maintain a high standard of technical competence along with diversity in their manpower. Organizations today require managers with sound technical and managerial capabilities in IT, to keep pace with the evolving industry. Balancing the scales between leadership and technology is a daunting task for those aspiring to climb the senior management ladder. Leadership usually takes precedence, partly because technical insights become less critical as one advances in their career. In India, the IT industry needs a fresh brigade of technically sound people, now more than ever. One of the biggest challenges the industry faces is the dire shortage of skilled professionals with vertical domain expertise. And for us to stay ahead of the value chain, we need to groom experts who are versatile with emerging technologies in this evolving segment. On the bright side, India can boast of a large pool of potential workforce in software development, testing, technical support, etc. However, India is found wanting when it comes strategic and innovation led solutions that drive the sector and this is mostly controlled by the West. Technical Ladder vs. Managerial Ladder Engineers face a dilemma as they forge a path in their careers and are up against a fork. One road leads up the technical ladder and the other is the managerial ladder. The rationale for choosing an option is often influenced significantly by myths and perceptions of the opportunities available in both paths. Technical and managerial ladders are indeed very different career choices. The managerial ladder comes with a status symbol, job responsibilities, and role expectations which are much better understood and recognized by the society than the technical ladder. By definition, technical depth implies that one has spent years developing expertise in a domain and the skills may not be easily transferable from one technical job to another. Also, the perception among IT professionals is that a smaller number of jobs are only available in the technical arena. This could be a factor for fewer professionals pursuing the technical path. Nevertheless, there is a dearth of technical experts in the industry who have chosen to remain individual contributors and can perform critical and high value chain tasks, like new product innovation and product architecture. Additionally, IT professionals are typically impatient and job hopping has become an industry norm. This, with career mobility and its related expectations among engineers are escalating at an alarming rate. Young engineers are generally interested in acquiring skills, learning about the products they are working on, aspiring to take on greater responsibilities, and in the process improving their own marketability in the industry. But after just a few years, peer pressure, comparisons to “my college classmates”, questions from the family members and relatives, etc. drive many professionals to change jobs, often in a very different industry vertical than their incumbent role. IT companies also need to share responsibility for this trend in encouraging the job hopping culture in India. When companies want to grow quickly, they offer premium salaries to attract talent. More than 90 percent of IT professionals have probably changed jobs at least once in the last five years. It is hard to develop deep technical knowledge in such situations as engineers move from job to job acquiring a ‘jack of all trades, master of none’ reputation. Dual career ladders are present in many organizations. Although, in theory, people can move between both ladders, the switch is not as easy, and not an option that many can suit. As people move away from technology, their knowledge of a particular domain diminishes, and the higher they ascend in the ranks, the lesser it gets. Engineers’ Dilemma Assuming that an engineer has the capability (which is not true for all engineers) to pursue both paths, here is the dilemma in choosing an option: the money/prestige quotient vs. the pursuit of knowledge and vertical excellence. The money factor becomes a differentiator for the managerial ladder only if one keeps rising successfully to senior management roles. Many engineers believe, somewhat incorrectly, that there aren’t sufficient roles on the technical side for the more experienced professionals. Cultural Factors The role of parents and relatives in shaping the careers of their loved ones also needs to be examined. The Indian society tends to push people into more traditional and proven professions. In the West, if a young daughter is passionately interested in piano music or journalism, her parents will let her pursue her dreams, and hope that she will become a concert player or a star journalist. In India, parents typically discourage their daughters from pursuing the option of becoming a journalist or an entertainer and push her in to a “safe” career opportunity such as engineering or medicine. Generation after generation in our society has been raised to rationalize one’s choices in life by looking at the number of opportunities available in an area and then pursuing it. It is always recommended to avail of the options which present the largest and safest set of opportunities, rather than pursuing one’s passions and dreams. Looking at it from a balanced perspective, this may make sense, but innovation is not likely to materialize unless there is a passionate heart pursuing it. Leadership and Technology The IT industry today has a number of highly respected individuals who have excelled at leading their companies to the heights of glory. There are examples of successful business leaders who followed the technical stream, retaining their skills and yet moved along the managerial stream. Look at the career progression of Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Steve Ballmer, Eric Schmidt and the latest sensation, TIME magazine’s 2010 person of the year Marc Zuckerberg. These competent leaders had very strong technical ideals. Their expertise remained intact despite them embracing the managerial path. When a leader has really strong technical expertise, he/she can guide the organization in a new and visionary direction through their skills and conviction. The Way Forward The Indian IT industry will benefit with increased innovation, creativity, and technological advancement, only by individuals pursuing their passion and by building strong technical proficiency. Engineering excellence cannot be achieved without inspiring employees to truly follow their heart, which is the very reason why many of them choose to pursue engineering in the first place. The task for leaders of technology companies in India today is to encourage, develop, and groom technically competent people who remain committed to technology. At the same time, managers, especially younger managers, should continue to remain engaged and up-to-date with technological advances. This will increase the organization’s capacity to forge ahead in the technology race. Technology is evolving at a fast pace, and for a leader to envisage the future IT roadmap of the organization, demands honing strong technical skills while picking up several other soft skills such as people management, communication, leadership, etc. Engineers in turn need to rise to the challenge and pursue a career in technical competence. And needless to state, these specialists are bound to have many more opportunities with greater rewards being offered to them in the technical arena. The new era beckons people to step forward, to defy norms and bridge the gap in the IT industry. India can stop resting on its laurels of product development and execution and truly move into a new realm by building impetus towards product conceptualization and futuristic technologies.