IT Survivors – Staying Alive In A Software Job
Before I started working for myself, I spent some years in some of the top IT companies in India and still have many friends working in various software companies. I wrote a blog Recruiting like crazy, about the same time last year about how Indian companies are recruiting like there’s no tomorrow and the possible consequences. However I was avoiding writing this particular piece as it seems like an unpatriotic thing to do, to tell the world how bad the working conditions in software companies in India have become. And there’s always the risk of excerpts being used out of context to bash up IT in India.
I am now writing this because I just keep hearing horror tales from the industry and it doesn’t seem like anything is being done in the matter, so I thought I will do my bit and write.
First and foremost, before stereotypes about India kick in, I would like to clarify that I am not saying that Indian software companies are sweat shops where employees aren’t being paid and made to
work in cramped uncomfortable places. The pay in software companies is very good as compared to other industries in India and the work places are generally well furnished and plush offices. India being a strong democracy, freedom of expression is alive and well and Indians are free to express their opinions and voice their concerns. Yet, I say that the software industry is exploiting its employees.
IT work culture in India is totally messed up and has now started harming the work culture of the nation as a whole. Working 12+ hours a day and 6 or even 7 days a week is more the rule than the exception.
Consequences:
- A majority of IT people suffer from health problems.As most of the IT workforce is still very young, the problem isn’t very obvious today but it will hit with unbearable ferocity when these youngsters get to their 40s.
- Stress levels are unbelievable high. Stress management is a cover topic in magazines and newspapers and workshops on the subject are regularly overbooked.
- Most IT people have hardly any social / family life to talk of.
- As IT folk are rich by Indian standards, they try to buy their way out of their troubles and have incurred huge debts by buying expensive houses, gizmos and fancy cars.
Plush offices, fat salaries and latest gizmos can give you happiness only if you have a life in the first place.
The reason I feel this culture has emerged, is the servile attitude of the companies. Here’s a tip for any company in the west planning to outsource to India. If you feel that a project can be completed in 6 weeks by 4 people, always demand that it be completed in 2 weeks by 3 people.
Guess what, most Indian companies will agree. The project will then be hyped up as an “extremely critical” one and the 3 unfortunate souls allocated to it will get very close to meeting the almighty by the time they deliver the project in 2 weeks. Surprisingly, they will deliver in 2-3 weeks, get bashed up for any delays and the company will soon boast about how they deliver good quality in reasonable time and cost. Has anyone in India ever worked on a project that wasn’t “extremely critical”?
I was once at a session where a top boss of one of India’s biggest IT firms was asked a question about what was so special about their company and his answer was that we are the “Yes” people with the “We Can Do It ” attitude.
It is all very well for the top boss to say “We Can Do It “.. what about the project teams who wish to say “Please….We Can’t Do It ” to the unreasonable timelines…I was tempted to ask “What death benefits does your company offer to the teams that get killed in the process?”. I sure was ashamed to see that a fellow Indian was openly boasting about the fact that he and his company had no backbone. The art of saying No or negotiating reasonable time frames for the team is very conspicuous by its absence. Outsourcing customers more often than not simply walk all over Indian software companies. The outsourcer surely cannot be blamed as it is right for him to demand good quality in the least cost and time.
Exhaustion = Zero Innovation
- How many Indians in India are thought leaders in their software segment? – Very few
- How much software innovation happens in India? – Minimal
- Considering that thousands of Indians in India use Open Source software, how many actually contribute? – Very few
Surprisingly, put the same Indian in a company “in” the US and he suddenly becomes innovative and a thought leader in his field.
The reason is simple, the only thing an exhausted body and mind can do well, is sleep. zzzzzz
I can pretty much bet on it that we will never see innovation from any of 10000+ person code factories in India.
If you are someone sitting in the US, UK… and wondering why the employees can’t stand up, that’s the most interesting part of the story. Read on…
The Problem
The software professional Indian is today making more money in a month than what his parents might have made in an year. Very often a 21 year old newbie software developer makes more money than his/her 55 year old father working in an old world business. Most of these youngsters are well aware of this gap and so work under an impression that they are being paid an unreasonable amount of money. They naturally equate unreasonable money with unreasonable amount of work.
Another important factor is this whole bubble that an IT person lives in.. An IT professional walks with a halo around his or her head. They are the Cool, Rich Gen Next .. the Intelligentsia of the New World… they travel all over the world, vacation at exotic locations abroad, talk “american”, are more familiar of the geography of the USA than that of India and yes of course, they are the hottest things in the Wedding Market!!!
This I feel is the core problem because if employees felt they were being exploited, things would change.
I speak about this to some of my friends and the answer is generally “Hey Harshad, what you say is correct and we sure are suffering, but why do you think we are being paid this much money? It’s not for 40 hours but for 80 hours a week. And anyway what choice do we have? It’s the same everywhere.”
So can we make things change? Is there a way to try and stop an entire generation of educated Indians from ending up with “no life”.
Solutions
1) Never complement someone for staying till midnight or working 7 days a week.
Recently, in an awards ceremony at a software company, the manager handing over the “employee of the month” award said something like “It’s unbelievable how hard he works. When I come to office early, I see him working, when I leave office late, I still see him working”.. These sort of comments can kill the morale of every employee trying to do good work in an 8hr day.
Companies need to stop hiding behind the excuse that the time difference between India and the west is the reason why people need to stay in office for 14 hours a day. Staying late should be a negative thing that should work against an employee in his appraisals. Never complement someone for staying till midnight or working 7 days a week .
2) Estimates:
If time estimates go wrong, the company should be willing to take a hit and not force the employee to work crazy hours to bail projects out of trouble. This will ensure that the estimates made for the next project are more real and not just what the customer has asked for.
3) Employee organizations / forums
NASSCOM (National Association for Software and Services Companies) and CSI (Computer Society Of India) are perhaps the only two well known software associations in India and both I feel have failed the software employee. I do not recall any action from these organizations to try and improve the working conditions of software employees. This has to change.
I am not in favor of forming trade unions for software people, as trade unions in India have traditionally been more effective at ruining businesses and making employees inefficient than getting employees their rights and helping business do well. So existing bodies like NASSCOM should create and popularize employee welfare cells at a state / regional level and these cells should work only for employee welfare and not be puppets in the hands of the companies.
If the industry does not itself create proper forums for employee welfare, it’s likely that the government / trade unions will interfere and mess up India’s sunshine industry.
4) Narayan Murthys please stand up
Top bosses of companies like Infosys, TCS, Wipro, etc. need to send the message loud and clear to their company and to other companies listening at national IT events that employee welfare is really their top concern and having good working culture and conditions is a priority. Employee welfare here does not mean giving the employee the salary he/she dreams of.
Last word
I am sure some of my thoughts come from the fact that I too worked in such an environment for a few years and perhaps I haven’t got over the frustrations I experienced back then.
So think about my views with a pinch of salt but do think about them. And if you have an opinion on this issue, don’t forget to add a comment to this article.
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I was just forwarded this link by a friend and am excited to see someone write and people comment on such an issue . As for me i came to US completed my MS and as a typical Indian started working though Indian consulting firms which as such THE SO CALLED BODYSHOPS place us in projects. These so called firms try to put us in the same environment that you guys have talked about. I am fortunate enough not to fall in such environments but some of my friends are slogging 10 /14 hrs a day even weekends working for some Indian Manager who says yes to unreasonable deadlines. I just wish they try to analyze the project ,the manpower – throughput and give reasonable deadlines AND UNDERSTAND THAT A PERSON WORKING FOR SUCH HRS CANNOT HAVE THE SAME PERFORMANCE as our grey cells stop working even if our body is present in front of the computer. I also commend 2 of my friends who said no to such a boss and the boss had to compromise.
Three cheers to such people!!!!
To add on i just wish the Indian firms in US or India trying to hire people to work in US should stop calling or have phone interviews at odd hours during weekdays and weekends just so that they can meet the deadlines or replace someone to complete a project. This is the most stressfull environment looking into someones code and trying to figure it out and complete it on time so that the manager can boast about his managerial skills .
I was just forwarded this link by a friend and am excited to see someone write and people comment on such an issue . As for me i came to US completed my MS and as a typical Indian started working though Indian consulting firms which as such THE SO CALLED BODYSHOPS place us in projects. These so called firms try to put us in the same environment that you guys have talked about. I am fortunate enough not to fall in such environments but some of my friends are slogging 10 /14 hrs a day even weekends working for some Indian Manager who says yes to unreasonable deadlines. I just wish they try to analyze the project ,the manpower – throughput and give reasonable deadlines AND UNDERSTAND THAT A PERSON WORKING FOR SUCH HRS CANNOT HAVE THE SAME PERFORMANCE as our grey cells stop working even if our body is present in front of the computer. I also commend 2 of my friends who said no to such a boss and the boss had to compromise.
Three cheers to such people!!!!
To add on i just wish the Indian firms in US or India trying to hire people to work in US should stop calling or have phone interviews at odd hours during weekdays and weekends just so that they can meet the deadlines or replace someone to complete a project. This is the most stressfull environment looking into someones code and trying to figure it out and complete it on time so that the manager can boast about his managerial skills .
Hi there.Bharat here.I don’t want 2 b an anonymous guy.So I gave the name.
The article seems 2 b a true remniscient of the india IT industry.
To b very frank,I m new 2 this field n m workin on my 1st project but m aware enough,abt the perks,appraisals,’ a pat on the back’ etc given by these companies as well as the way they exploit us to get the job done n meet the damn deadlines which were estimated by god knows who n on what basis.
Kudos 2 u 2 have atleast vented out ur views.But let me tell u,actions n not words,no matter how sweet n influencin they may be,speak more.
And I believe every such frustrated employee should go bold enough 2 confront his MANAGER.But that doesn’t mean u invite trouble by being aggresive.Try 2 be assertive
n convince abt that feasibilty of d same.
Let me tell u,being servile does never hold the key to the top.U need to b a maverick.Just give it a try.If it changes,well n good 4 u n possibly the IT industry n if not as the saying goes
LIFE GOES ON!!!!!!!!
I don know if I said too much n if I can implement d same,but as I said let’s all make an effort.And I assure u all I m surely gonna take an OBTUSE PATH.
Hi there.Bharat here.I don’t want 2 b an anonymous guy.So I gave the name.
The article seems 2 b a true remniscient of the india IT industry.
To b very frank,I m new 2 this field n m workin on my 1st project but m aware enough,abt the perks,appraisals,’ a pat on the back’ etc given by these companies as well as the way they exploit us to get the job done n meet the damn deadlines which were estimated by god knows who n on what basis.
Kudos 2 u 2 have atleast vented out ur views.But let me tell u,actions n not words,no matter how sweet n influencin they may be,speak more.
And I believe every such frustrated employee should go bold enough 2 confront his MANAGER.But that doesn’t mean u invite trouble by being aggresive.Try 2 be assertive
n convince abt that feasibilty of d same.
Let me tell u,being servile does never hold the key to the top.U need to b a maverick.Just give it a try.If it changes,well n good 4 u n possibly the IT industry n if not as the saying goes
LIFE GOES ON!!!!!!!!
I don know if I said too much n if I can implement d same,but as I said let’s all make an effort.And I assure u all I m surely gonna take an OBTUSE PATH.
This very fact, that we indians are ready to work long hours and deliver the product before time brings them to us.Else there will be no difference between the outsourcing companies and the companies in india.
If we keep making sound like this they will just turn their heads off us and agian its recesion.
Ganesh.
http://ganeshramblogshere.blogspot.com/
This very fact, that we indians are ready to work long hours and deliver the product before time brings them to us.Else there will be no difference between the outsourcing companies and the companies in india.
If we keep making sound like this they will just turn their heads off us and agian its recesion.
Ganesh.
http://ganeshramblogshere.blogspot.com/
This potrays the true picture of IT scenario and even I fully agree with it. We are fully responsible for this scenario and have typical Indian minds that even if work is finished by 5 p.m. have to wait till 6.30 or 7 or else what will others say.
And when v stay till long in office that is no where in count affecting our personal life too
AnjanPreet
I don’t know about Google / Yahoo, etc. but almost all indian software firms seem to follow the sweat shop model.
The general steps are –
1. Get a project by promising everything the client wants.
2. Assign an impossible schedule to the developer (forget Analysis, Design and start coding ASAP, SDLC be damned).
3. Frown upon any employee that leaves the office on time and wants 5 days a week.
4. Forget innovation, copy paste any code you need to meet the insane schedule.
5. Failure to meet the schedule or bugs reported by the client results in more reprimands.
:sigh
Will things ever change?
This potrays the true picture of IT scenario and even I fully agree with it. We are fully responsible for this scenario and have typical Indian minds that even if work is finished by 5 p.m. have to wait till 6.30 or 7 or else what will others say.
And when v stay till long in office that is no where in count affecting our personal life too
AnjanPreet
I don’t know about Google / Yahoo, etc. but almost all indian software firms seem to follow the sweat shop model.
The general steps are –
1. Get a project by promising everything the client wants.
2. Assign an impossible schedule to the developer (forget Analysis, Design and start coding ASAP, SDLC be damned).
3. Frown upon any employee that leaves the office on time and wants 5 days a week.
4. Forget innovation, copy paste any code you need to meet the insane schedule.
5. Failure to meet the schedule or bugs reported by the client results in more reprimands.
:sigh
Will things ever change?
Yes Friends,
It is a fact that u r wrong.
I would like to state following points.
1) In an world economy money transfer from one country to other in india due to IT.
2) The project are coming into india bcos of low price of software production as we are competing with many such upcoming countries like china,brazil etc.
3) The whole meaning of the blog was regarding IT Inovation and harshad was very impressive in explaining it.
4)It is fact that we lack in IT innovation.
5) But all those above points regarding ragging and managers and stuff are bogus.
6)Look at India, it is really pacing toward a better future. dont talk of black listing companies and managers or u will loose job my friends.
————————————————————————
Answer to when will innovation take place.
7) As and when people bcos rich after working for 14 hours and try to become entreprenuers the innovation will take place or
8) when there would be a slow down in offshore consulting project all those software engineer who might have loose job will try doing something different and innovation will take place.
finally.
The Indian IT industry started and in present also is about Consulting projects and outsourcing and we our high salary is in fact due to it.The day when indian companies will go into fields like trying to build and indian O.S like windows or a DBMS like Oracle then will the change start.
People in india has for long been waiting for jobs which were not available before IT to the masses.
jobs were there only for iit’s and iim’s and today becos of IT any MCA or graduate can get job and hence they are working.
But ofcourse the entire point is Innovation is not happening and it is sad.
but personally i believe that a time will come and change will occur and i too am waiting for it.
——————————————
I am a software engineer working 12 hours daily. I am getting a good salary and getting experience and i know what i m getting is bcos i m working long and cheap for a project of U.S
If i ask less working hours and still big pay my company would have to employ more employees and the project cost will get high and resulting we might loose our project and No project means no job.
NO money to INDIA
NO Income Tax.
No development of India.
Sabeer Bhatia was working on Hotmail when he was in college.
The people who developed Google were working on a thesis in college.
Bill Gates dropped out for second year college becos he had idea of Windows.
All major innovations in software industry have been during college time when u have no pressure of work and appraisal and promotions.
So better we make our college study better and give people freedom to do projects which at present we are wasting in studing for aptitude test,group discussions and interview prepartions.
Let people enjoy there work and innovation will happen.
Yes Friends,
It is a fact that u r wrong.
I would like to state following points.
1) In an world economy money transfer from one country to other in india due to IT.
2) The project are coming into india bcos of low price of software production as we are competing with many such upcoming countries like china,brazil etc.
3) The whole meaning of the blog was regarding IT Inovation and harshad was very impressive in explaining it.
4)It is fact that we lack in IT innovation.
5) But all those above points regarding ragging and managers and stuff are bogus.
6)Look at India, it is really pacing toward a better future. dont talk of black listing companies and managers or u will loose job my friends.
————————————————————————
Answer to when will innovation take place.
7) As and when people bcos rich after working for 14 hours and try to become entreprenuers the innovation will take place or
8) when there would be a slow down in offshore consulting project all those software engineer who might have loose job will try doing something different and innovation will take place.
finally.
The Indian IT industry started and in present also is about Consulting projects and outsourcing and we our high salary is in fact due to it.The day when indian companies will go into fields like trying to build and indian O.S like windows or a DBMS like Oracle then will the change start.
People in india has for long been waiting for jobs which were not available before IT to the masses.
jobs were there only for iit’s and iim’s and today becos of IT any MCA or graduate can get job and hence they are working.
But ofcourse the entire point is Innovation is not happening and it is sad.
but personally i believe that a time will come and change will occur and i too am waiting for it.
——————————————
I am a software engineer working 12 hours daily. I am getting a good salary and getting experience and i know what i m getting is bcos i m working long and cheap for a project of U.S
If i ask less working hours and still big pay my company would have to employ more employees and the project cost will get high and resulting we might loose our project and No project means no job.
NO money to INDIA
NO Income Tax.
No development of India.
Sabeer Bhatia was working on Hotmail when he was in college.
The people who developed Google were working on a thesis in college.
Bill Gates dropped out for second year college becos he had idea of Windows.
All major innovations in software industry have been during college time when u have no pressure of work and appraisal and promotions.
So better we make our college study better and give people freedom to do projects which at present we are wasting in studing for aptitude test,group discussions and interview prepartions.
Let people enjoy there work and innovation will happen.
hi,
I wont write much . But i m totally agree with u . And i m glad to tell u that from my side i try to finish my work between 9:00 to 6:00 without any tress . And i m able to manage .So it’s all depends on individual so everyone cn try to survive him/her self.
tnks for such a great effort
hi,
I wont write much . But i m totally agree with u . And i m glad to tell u that from my side i try to finish my work between 9:00 to 6:00 without any tress . And i m able to manage .So it’s all depends on individual so everyone cn try to survive him/her self.
tnks for such a great effort
Harshad, after all some one has raised the issue. Its really good people are aware of it.
Actually these days’ Indian IT companies have divided themselves in Sub-Business-Units(SBU). And these SBU working as a group to fulfill their motives rather than working as a team. Companies are having sufficient work force, but if you see there are people who have just 2 jobs in a day, swipe-in and swip-out, and others have loads of work on their head.
Basically team-spirit is one of the endeavor we are lagging. If any SBU is having resource with no work, still they wont release them, because of that other’s are having deficit of resources, most of the Indian companies are having this issue.
Harshad, after all some one has raised the issue. Its really good people are aware of it.
Actually these days’ Indian IT companies have divided themselves in Sub-Business-Units(SBU). And these SBU working as a group to fulfill their motives rather than working as a team. Companies are having sufficient work force, but if you see there are people who have just 2 jobs in a day, swipe-in and swip-out, and others have loads of work on their head.
Basically team-spirit is one of the endeavor we are lagging. If any SBU is having resource with no work, still they wont release them, because of that other’s are having deficit of resources, most of the Indian companies are having this issue.
I feel all comment are Fair inough & have what all i wanted to say. [B]null[/B]
I feel all comment are Fair inough & have what all i wanted to say. [B]null[/B]
This articel is well written with facts. Many of the IT junta want to outpour similar thoughts but its like a problem with no solution.
When India becomes a developed nation, these things are bound to change.
This articel is well written with facts. Many of the IT junta want to outpour similar thoughts but its like a problem with no solution.
When India becomes a developed nation, these things are bound to change.
Harshad
There’s absolutely no word of this lovely piece you’ve written that I can’t seem to agree upon. I a, new to the IT industry, graduated recently, and am still learning to walk the walk here, but nonetheless, I can identify every individual who has been heer before me, with what you wrote. Congratulations on the beautiful piece.
Apart from all that you mentioned, may I add, the frusterations that others like me suffer from, on the pretext of being underworked, rather than over-worked. Looking at the current recruitment scenario, the IT giant I work with, hired 900 graduate engineers, all 80 percenters, trained them as hard they could for the next 3 months, with a sword constantly hanging over their necks, and then left them to idle away their time, with inly two jobs in a day- to swipe in and swipe out, with none to report to, not even a cubicle to work at, for the past 2 months now! Trust me, it’s like killing the spirit of the youth- a first class engineer in an alien city, looking all day at his office clerk doing more productive work than he does! What say on that?
Harshad
There’s absolutely no word of this lovely piece you’ve written that I can’t seem to agree upon. I a, new to the IT industry, graduated recently, and am still learning to walk the walk here, but nonetheless, I can identify every individual who has been heer before me, with what you wrote. Congratulations on the beautiful piece.
Apart from all that you mentioned, may I add, the frusterations that others like me suffer from, on the pretext of being underworked, rather than over-worked. Looking at the current recruitment scenario, the IT giant I work with, hired 900 graduate engineers, all 80 percenters, trained them as hard they could for the next 3 months, with a sword constantly hanging over their necks, and then left them to idle away their time, with inly two jobs in a day- to swipe in and swipe out, with none to report to, not even a cubicle to work at, for the past 2 months now! Trust me, it’s like killing the spirit of the youth- a first class engineer in an alien city, looking all day at his office clerk doing more productive work than he does! What say on that?