My Experiments with the IT Industry
“I am employed, I am employed” were the first words uttered by me, when I got campus placement for my first job. “Thank God I am free” were the words that I spoke when I quit my job after 2years. Rest assured, I worked with one of the top software firm in India and what happened in-between is history.
My first three months in the firm were training time. I studied and made projects in languages like: C/C++, UNIX, Java, MS-SQL etc. It was necessary to get a minimum of 50% marks in each subject and an overall of 60% to clear the training. Only I know how I could complete the humongous task.
Expectation after completion: The gates to the fantasy world of I.T. Industry would open up, rolling out the red carpet for me. On the contrary: I had to sit idle (on bench as they say) for 1 month before some dumb ass would give a damn. I went to office everyday with the hope that “today someone will introduce me to the enigmatic world”, but the world is a busy place (busy being idle) and I was the busiest, signing my attendance, going to the canteen and reading a newspaper/novel.
One fine morning someone gave a damn (not to me but to the salary they were paying me to sit ideal I mean idle). To err is human, and it was the beginning for me, not in life but in expectation of being a “professional”. I was introduced to some of the top people in the office and finally assigned a team WOSAT (Wholesale Order Service Activation Testing) with AT&T as the client. Happy and gay I joined the team, but it was another 2months of idealism (sitting free is a virtue in our industry) before I was given any constructive work or should I say just work. And suddenly the reality of the industry started dawning on me, they needed just my 10 fingers and two (may be one or not even that if I can type without looking on the keyboard) eyes. I ended up reading loads and load of documentation (trying to make sense of anything and everything that was written there), and in the process preparing excel sheets and word docs with information that made some sense. By time I completed the work more freshers had arrived and I forgiven for my audacity to join the industry, and the cycle when on. Redeemed of my sins and I was finally rewarded with work which at the end of two year became so monotonous that I finally though of realizing my dreams, so thanxx to the IT industry I am here in Pune to become a film maker.
Enough of bitching on IT industry, let me assure you it’s not that all bad. It pays well and really well for the kind of work that is demanded of you. Also it provides you with enough time to spend the hard(ly) earned money. Here let me point out that I am talking of the Indian I.T. firms (anyone you take Infosys, TCS etc. it’s all the same). Maximum work done in Indian I.T. firms is of maintenance, this means an application is already developed by someone and you just need to take care that it keeps working as desired. Adding more features and testing of the same, constitutes a bulk of work that the industry does. Hiring people in large numbers, without any regard to there engineering stream (Electronics, Computer Science, Telecom, even Mechanical, Civil and Production), giving a induction training program and putting them into a job fit for the aptitude of a 16 year old. Innovation, originality, uniqueness – are a strict no no and tabooed in the industry.
I would like to end with a though I have had in my mind for a long time “An engineer in IT Industry is analogues to a laborer who mixes cement and put bricks while building a house, without knowing what the final product will look. It is considered redundant work and hence outsourced to the third world countries like us (ya they still consider us third world where cheap labor is available). The architect sits in the West and doesn’t allow an Indian to even come near to the design job. And we still wonder about the high iteration rate in the industry.”
With the slow down in the world economy we seriously need to reconsider our option, and in my view doing quality work rather that large quantity work is the way forward.
My first three months in the firm were training time. I studied and made projects in languages like: C/C++, UNIX, Java, MS-SQL etc. It was necessary to get a minimum of 50% marks in each subject and an overall of 60% to clear the training. Only I know how I could complete the humongous task.
Expectation after completion: The gates to the fantasy world of I.T. Industry would open up, rolling out the red carpet for me. On the contrary: I had to sit idle (on bench as they say) for 1 month before some dumb ass would give a damn. I went to office everyday with the hope that “today someone will introduce me to the enigmatic world”, but the world is a busy place (busy being idle) and I was the busiest, signing my attendance, going to the canteen and reading a newspaper/novel.
One fine morning someone gave a damn (not to me but to the salary they were paying me to sit ideal I mean idle). To err is human, and it was the beginning for me, not in life but in expectation of being a “professional”. I was introduced to some of the top people in the office and finally assigned a team WOSAT (Wholesale Order Service Activation Testing) with AT&T as the client. Happy and gay I joined the team, but it was another 2months of idealism (sitting free is a virtue in our industry) before I was given any constructive work or should I say just work. And suddenly the reality of the industry started dawning on me, they needed just my 10 fingers and two (may be one or not even that if I can type without looking on the keyboard) eyes. I ended up reading loads and load of documentation (trying to make sense of anything and everything that was written there), and in the process preparing excel sheets and word docs with information that made some sense. By time I completed the work more freshers had arrived and I forgiven for my audacity to join the industry, and the cycle when on. Redeemed of my sins and I was finally rewarded with work which at the end of two year became so monotonous that I finally though of realizing my dreams, so thanxx to the IT industry I am here in Pune to become a film maker.
Enough of bitching on IT industry, let me assure you it’s not that all bad. It pays well and really well for the kind of work that is demanded of you. Also it provides you with enough time to spend the hard(ly) earned money. Here let me point out that I am talking of the Indian I.T. firms (anyone you take Infosys, TCS etc. it’s all the same). Maximum work done in Indian I.T. firms is of maintenance, this means an application is already developed by someone and you just need to take care that it keeps working as desired. Adding more features and testing of the same, constitutes a bulk of work that the industry does. Hiring people in large numbers, without any regard to there engineering stream (Electronics, Computer Science, Telecom, even Mechanical, Civil and Production), giving a induction training program and putting them into a job fit for the aptitude of a 16 year old. Innovation, originality, uniqueness – are a strict no no and tabooed in the industry.
I would like to end with a though I have had in my mind for a long time “An engineer in IT Industry is analogues to a laborer who mixes cement and put bricks while building a house, without knowing what the final product will look. It is considered redundant work and hence outsourced to the third world countries like us (ya they still consider us third world where cheap labor is available). The architect sits in the West and doesn’t allow an Indian to even come near to the design job. And we still wonder about the high iteration rate in the industry.”
With the slow down in the world economy we seriously need to reconsider our option, and in my view doing quality work rather that large quantity work is the way forward.
Comments
this was just just terrfic!!
but ViSh i never thought u would mention so explicitly that u were happy and ***!!!
kidding dude !!
it truly rocked.. please post more about ur idle experiments
i had a blast of time reading `em
but this is real picture of software industry.
:P
keep up d WoRk ...