Choosing Offers in IT
Some tips and suggestions to freshers
When I was leaving the college I didn't know much about the IT, and I took up things that came onto my career without knowing how they could shape my career into. At that point I was not very informative to make decisions about my career.
I feel focusing on to our career plans/problems at an earlier stage gives us an edge on the longer run.
I should put up some words over here to let ppl know especially freshers so they could make decisions based on as much information they hold.
This info also let�s you how one could one get drifted in search of good and quality career.
I believe each person has his own perspective on the importance for his career goals and may differ from one another.
One may want to pursue higher studies or work in his core competency area,
For me it was a balanced need of quality work in terms of technology and good compensation.
That�s what I aimed before I thought I should make a move.
There are many problems, which a person can face in the IT run, probably the freshers must know and choose the priorities accordingly
(i) [Bench]
In companies like TCS/Infy/HCL where the employer does the bulk campus recruitment, Ppl are more prone to be in bench for at least 3-4 months (I was in bench for 6 months in HCL).
This should be compared to the smaller companies (not in revenue and not in business) but in resources!!! Eventually the truth is, in companies that has less resources are utilizing their manpower efficiently over time and projects.
(ii) [Work]
Indeed this would be top on the priorities for most of the ppl., but not very true with some of my lady colleagues who are married( priorities change with your life).
Well ppl may have varied interests in their career. Though being a CSE student I wanted to work in hardware projects. But currently working in ERP development at Oracle.
The opportunity here ranges from type of work and Technologies.
Development: u could land up in 2 different fields here
Project development , Service oriented companies (Mostly ppl land up here).
Project based s/w development involves projects in various domains like telecom, banking, networking for various clients like Cisco, American Bank, Which are carried out by MNCs like TCS, Infy ....and the project scope varies from 3 months-3 years in Indian location or at onsite.
For fresher from Bulk recruitment I guess u don�t have the option to choose the domain or technology u want to work. Mostly it�s random in such companies.
But there are very few companies, which do consider your college projects and area of interest and place you into projects accordingly.
Thereby if you apply directly, for a particular post/opening in a company you get to choose your area of interest.
After getting placed via campus do not forgot to try applying for such openings and find yourselves a better career that u like.
The Most Prevalent Technology in IT is:
Java/J2EE/Dotnet/Mainframes/C/C++/VC++/Oracle/PLSQL/DBA/....
Product development. Product Oriented Companies
Companies like SAP, Microsoft, Huwaei Tech., develop product and market themselves to a wide range of customers from common pc-users to Retailers, bankers, manufactures etc....
The products can be applications (ERP) or systems (rtos/protocols). Apart from product development they do have their R&D projects lab, A good choice to seek challenging work. Some Companies do both product/project developments. SetLabs is an R&D enterprise of Infy. Oracle (Server Tech) B'lore is a Technology development enterprise.
Testing (most of the non-cse background ppl land here)
There are two categories automation and manual. In automated testing you tend to learn tools like WinRunner and mostly write scripts to test your modules.
Working in this category makes easy for u to switch jobs in testing field later.
But if you have landed in manual testing then its hard to find the same kind of work that you perform here over different companies.The experience you gain here is limited within to the project itself. You can cheer only if the project is functionally important and bigger.
(iii) [Pay]
The compensation policies and the split-ups are necessary to be screened before you choose the company, most employees including me complain about the difference in CTC quoted and the monthly take-home pay we draw.
On taking a look at the offer split-ups could give us a proper estimate on first hand and avoid disappointments.
In some companies the Annual components form a greater pie which u do not get in case u quit the company within a year.
There could be Superannuation components in packages which ppl become eligible only after being in company for 2 years or more.
Income tax is a significant deduction from your earnings. Seek advice from ppl who know about IT slabs and expect the pay accordingly.
ESOP Employee Stock Option Policies are indeed a good offer from companies like TCS, Infy, Satyam. Many of my friends made fortune by utilizing this option in these companies, where the dividends and profits are relatively higher than other companies.
Appraisals!!! Some company does it annually and some bi-annually. Switching jobs is the best increment you can get.
(iv) [Onsite opportunities]
This is the other important factor u might consider to prioritize,, in most of the Indian MNC like TCS,CTS,WIPRO,Infy most of the ppl get onsite opportunity if your project has one and your stars are bright. This could happen with in 1 year or more.
Foriegn MNCs like GOOGLE, Deloite, Oracle, HP, Microsoft hardly have any onsite opportunity so think a while before you fall into to the handsome packages that they offer and you get to loose a chance of making quick money via onsite opportunity.
You could also get a H1B visa through H1B consultants (bodyshopers) and find jobs in US, but u need solid 2yrs exp here before u think u could sustain and market your resume in US of your own. Ppl if you�re interested in this, please research a lot on this to avoid falling into some fake H1B consultants.
(v) [Learning Curve]
I prefer defining learning in two 3 aspects Technology, Functional (domain) and Process (can also include Management with process)
Well the learning within a company depends solemnly on the projects you are into, though being in a CMM-5 or CMM-i company u ought to learn all the SDLC processes only if your project spans across all the stages.
In some product development company where there is no new development, you get stuck with the support/maintenance cycle and never meet the other aspects of SDLC.
Where as in smaller projects there are more chances to meet all the processes (only if your company follows them). The more u learn out of the process the more the chances to climb on towards the organization hierarchy. Try learning and doing project metrics too.
The project in which you work may belong to a specific domain say banking, if you are working in such domain then gaining domain knowledge is an assets to your career and shapes your future as a functional consultant.
Ppl with non-cse background can choose this path to overcome the technology.
Let me give an e.g. Say you are working for a banking solution project from TCS using Oracle Apps, though u may not be contributing significantly to its development, but if u learn the modules functionality, its installations etc... Then you become a functional consultant in banking domain.
Banking, Networking, Telecom are some of the highly paid functional fields. (Also an limited amount of technology knowledge is required).
Get to know the Technology in which u would be working with. Java/j2ee/oracle/microsoft technologies etc are greatly used technologies that u can choose to work with.
A catch here is how open is the tech u working on. Say if a person works in a java framework customized for the project requirements and environment then that�s no longer an open tech its becomes a proprietary tech.
Well & good if that tech is followed/adopted in many companies but if not, then your tech skills are limited to your project alone.
Ppl are more successful if they work and learn with more tech and not focusing on just one. It increases your skill sets and availability of jobs to you.
Well these 5 priorities were what I felt important to most of us.
Giving 3Dimension to your priorities, priorities change over time. I didn't give more importance to onsite opportunity when I made my move. But now I feel onsite opportunity being more important to me. So also give a thought to the priorities that ought to change over time and decided upon them accordingly.
Let me give some interesting facts about companies that might interest you.
TCS - Enjoyable training does lot many projects mostly short-term. Excellent onsite opportunity
HCL - CODC, a good place for ppl seeking interest in networks.
WIPRO - (hyd) has many good projects in mobile embedded sys.
Good package for experienced and good onsite opportunity.
SATYAM - (hyd) mostly mainframes (chn) varied projects
freshers watch out for the 2 yr bond, and lesser pay.
INFOSYS - Good increment and growth.
CTS - Long-term onsite opportunity, (guys good sex ratio ;-))
Mind Tree - an Excellent HR policy, where they find projects for you according to your interests.
Microsoft - Best in Package, though couple of known ppl are working idle in some projects there
SAP - German based company, owns the largest customer base in ERP
Google - Excellent Pay
Delloite - Good Pay, ERP
Oracle - (should refrain myself from commenting)
CSC - Mostly ERP.
HP - Good for ppl seeking work in c/c++.
BOSCH - embedded projects in java & c
TATAElxsi- a good company to develop your skills in core embedded programming, projects in video codec�s.
Don't expect programming is the only work in IT, it contributes only 30% of the work out here.
Finally the best of all suggestion that I can give is "Get to know as much as information about the company/project and correlate the data according to your interests". Please ask the HR, ask your project manager, your interviewers, get info from friends working there.
Choose and aim for the company that better suits your needs.
There�s lot fun and funny in this IT industry, explore it to enjoy it.
Note: All the data and information stated above differs from company to company and are mere speculations, no statistics and standard disclaimers apply. Apologies if the ideas are misleading.
Suggestion are welcome at [email protected]