Indian IT Professional: The Myth and Reality
They are the poster boys in Matrimonial columns. Very high salaries at young age. Technology drivers. Blah blah blah and blah... Poof... Sigh...
Is this worth it? Or should I put it in this way. Did the whole damn thing make any sense to you? People with weak hearts who cannot digest this, please back off and visit some techie site to enhance your knowledge or an auction site to get that digital camera you always wanted.
First Myth: IT guys are very knowledgeable, work on cutting edge technologies.
Reality: Cut out all this crap. The Indian IT sector is all about services. Work, which the client's employees, probably somewhere in the US do not like to do. Involves a lot of Copy and Paste. Add to it a unfriendly client who needs it done in the next one hour.
Regarding cutting edge technologies, my foot. You would be given some shit 2 hours training and you would be ready to do the work. And if you drop out, don't think that you are scaring them. They can pick up from any of the guys on bench to do the job. So don't ever think you are doing great work. Any 10th grade guy with less than half the knowledge can do the same.
Second Myth: IT guys earn handsome salaries.
Reality: Hmmm. Somewhat true. Well that depends what the meaning of handsome is to you. Economy is booming, so are salaries. But don't get swayed by the breeze. Compare the salaries and the market scenario currently to that around 10 years ago. You would feel cheated and even poorer.
Another thing, while the salaries in the IT sector have risen by plenty (or whatsoever), think of the salaries in the other sectors. They are no where nearer. Just think of the old Government employee who still earns what he used to earn some 10 years back. How is he going to survive? For we, the biggest craps in the world have raised the standard of living by leaps and bounds. I still remember during my college days 4 guys used to rent out an entire floor for some 1500 bucks. Now that floor goes for around 5500. So much gap in about 2 years. Calculate the self-inflicted inflation.
Unless the guy leaves for onsite for an extended period of time, don't expect salary would be handsome. But with recent changes brought about in H1-B visas, chances are dwindling.
Third Myth: IT will define the future of the Nation
Reality: Now this is where I laugh and laugh till I fall of the chair. Economic studies say in about 10 years we will run out of quality, skilled labour. Reason, we would not have good teachers or professors to grrom the boys. Really, everyone is running towards the IT boom. So what, we would just run out of the basic builders, the professors, teachers in the schools and colleges.
What this means? The very reason why India was a favoured destination was its low cost labour and operational costs. But considering the current scenario with real estate prices at an all time high, appreciating rupee, lack of skilled labour in other sectors the situation won't hold true in future.
What would happen then? Well simple. The work has to be relocated somewhere else. Already we have seen examples. China was another favoured destination. But their English capabilities were a disaster. We already heard about Satyam Computers trying to move part of their operations to Vietnam. Now if that model works, then many would follow suit.
I frankly cannot tell what in reality would happen. Let's wait and see for ourselves. For we would be the ones who would be hit hard. I have already invested in Kevlar. ;-)
Is this worth it? Or should I put it in this way. Did the whole damn thing make any sense to you? People with weak hearts who cannot digest this, please back off and visit some techie site to enhance your knowledge or an auction site to get that digital camera you always wanted.
First Myth: IT guys are very knowledgeable, work on cutting edge technologies.
Reality: Cut out all this crap. The Indian IT sector is all about services. Work, which the client's employees, probably somewhere in the US do not like to do. Involves a lot of Copy and Paste. Add to it a unfriendly client who needs it done in the next one hour.
Regarding cutting edge technologies, my foot. You would be given some shit 2 hours training and you would be ready to do the work. And if you drop out, don't think that you are scaring them. They can pick up from any of the guys on bench to do the job. So don't ever think you are doing great work. Any 10th grade guy with less than half the knowledge can do the same.
Second Myth: IT guys earn handsome salaries.
Reality: Hmmm. Somewhat true. Well that depends what the meaning of handsome is to you. Economy is booming, so are salaries. But don't get swayed by the breeze. Compare the salaries and the market scenario currently to that around 10 years ago. You would feel cheated and even poorer.
Another thing, while the salaries in the IT sector have risen by plenty (or whatsoever), think of the salaries in the other sectors. They are no where nearer. Just think of the old Government employee who still earns what he used to earn some 10 years back. How is he going to survive? For we, the biggest craps in the world have raised the standard of living by leaps and bounds. I still remember during my college days 4 guys used to rent out an entire floor for some 1500 bucks. Now that floor goes for around 5500. So much gap in about 2 years. Calculate the self-inflicted inflation.
Unless the guy leaves for onsite for an extended period of time, don't expect salary would be handsome. But with recent changes brought about in H1-B visas, chances are dwindling.
Third Myth: IT will define the future of the Nation
Reality: Now this is where I laugh and laugh till I fall of the chair. Economic studies say in about 10 years we will run out of quality, skilled labour. Reason, we would not have good teachers or professors to grrom the boys. Really, everyone is running towards the IT boom. So what, we would just run out of the basic builders, the professors, teachers in the schools and colleges.
What this means? The very reason why India was a favoured destination was its low cost labour and operational costs. But considering the current scenario with real estate prices at an all time high, appreciating rupee, lack of skilled labour in other sectors the situation won't hold true in future.
What would happen then? Well simple. The work has to be relocated somewhere else. Already we have seen examples. China was another favoured destination. But their English capabilities were a disaster. We already heard about Satyam Computers trying to move part of their operations to Vietnam. Now if that model works, then many would follow suit.
I frankly cannot tell what in reality would happen. Let's wait and see for ourselves. For we would be the ones who would be hit hard. I have already invested in Kevlar. ;-)
Comments
This is something, a lot of so called IT professionals, have been ignoring for a long time.