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.
Hi Harshal,
If there’s work, you could sit & do it. Give reasonable estimates. Obviously any Manager would have gone thru the same situation before takin the task of ‘Manager’. He/She shouldn’t be a ‘Damager’ to his employees. Staying Late in office does not mean an employee is very productive. One has to give a reasonable time-frame to finish the job. Staying long hours, spending 12hrs in office does not ensure Quality of Work. Your are doing your job, but taking your own sweet time!!.
My Damager says ‘Oh, your leaving so early’ when its 2 hours past the time, & its 9 hours of work. If he was a Manager, he should have asked ‘ what made you stay extra for 2 hours?’ This sums what he expects from me?? Must work, like a thumb rule on Saturdays’ etc etc….
These things can’t change unless people in Upper-Management realize & know what productivity is & what Esitmation is….. and when your lower the order, all you havta do it go on with the flow or stand out. When you stand-out… you get laid-off. Period. That’s the end of the story.
This is how you fall in line too……
Hi Sir
Your article is really good
Please do correct me if i am wrong
The IT industry in India lacks innovation
The employers need to be blamed for runing the personal lives of employees
Employees should stop offering benifits for projects completed ahead of time
Comp offs and other benifits only encourage an employee to overwork and sit up late .
IT companies should preach the motto software development is not labour . Stop benching employees (You can’t substitute a recourse with another one in the middle of a project )
One way to curtail the late sitting is stop paying overtime and instead start cutting salaries of employees who sit late
Hi Sir
Your article is really good
Please do correct me if i am wrong
The IT industry in India lacks innovation
The employers need to be blamed for runing the personal lives of employees
Employees should stop offering benifits for projects completed ahead of time
Comp offs and other benifits only encourage an employee to overwork and sit up late .
IT companies should preach the motto software development is not labour . Stop benching employees (You can’t substitute a recourse with another one in the middle of a project )
One way to curtail the late sitting is stop paying overtime and instead start cutting salaries of employees who sit late
I 100 per cent agree that our employers won’t find solution for our problem. I agree your opinion on our salary.
Though i feel the need for an union, I suspect the practicallity?
I will contact you.
I 100 per cent agree that our employers won’t find solution for our problem. I agree your opinion on our salary.
Though i feel the need for an union, I suspect the practicallity?
I will contact you.
if u want to suceed u have to sleep.i am in B.I.E.T. the most important thing is mental rest for a software professional.we earn money to ensure sound sleep,den why not concentrate on more sleep than more moneyyyyyyyyyyy???????????????????
Harshal,
You got the right point . We should not be differenciated by cost but rather by quality . its a fact that there are other countries in the world that can provide even cheap labour . I will not be surprised if some chineese get to my desk to take the transition the way we do with americans now !
So the price advantage is just a joining bonus , we will have prove our mettle if we need stand for longer time
-Ren
if u want to suceed u have to sleep.i am in B.I.E.T. the most important thing is mental rest for a software professional.we earn money to ensure sound sleep,den why not concentrate on more sleep than more moneyyyyyyyyyyy???????????????????
Harshal,
You got the right point . We should not be differenciated by cost but rather by quality . its a fact that there are other countries in the world that can provide even cheap labour . I will not be surprised if some chineese get to my desk to take the transition the way we do with americans now !
So the price advantage is just a joining bonus , we will have prove our mettle if we need stand for longer time
-Ren
This writer identifies the problems correctly. But for solution he begs Coporate gurus…
Do you think our employers will find solution for our problem? How it is possible that Azimgi will give less work and pay high as he gets project because the employee is paid less and exploited lot(that the writter himself mentions in his article).
So this article gives a clear picture of our problems. But for the solution it tries to show its servitude, slave attitude. It compromises.
Get the information and we will strive for the solution
The article itself mentions the reason for our problem is what the reason behind the west preference of India as IT desitnation. Then how come our corporate gurus will eradicate those reason (that means, – how will they improve our life at the cost of their business).
If it happens that our Corporate gurus have to decide between our welfare and their business thay will choose the second one. That means, they will shift their business to some other part of the world.
If we unite atleast we could say our grievances and get them resolved until the time come for our gurus flying out of this country.
My opinion is we ourself only able to find solution for our problems not our employers
I would stress again the need for IT union(not the conventional way – We have to discuss to find Neo ways).
Because while we are in the era of IT revolution, we suffer a lot(Even I heard of companies that are not at all paying and/or paying less(2000 ,3000) to their employees(Java etc)). What happen when the field is saturated (The following could expedite the saturation – high attrition rate, slaray hike), And competition become very very high(as companies moving from india to south east asian countries, pakishtan, China, affrican countries etc).
And also beware, now the talent pool is very less. that is why Corporates not much bother about willing to attract techies by paying high and Fakes. (For example: as new project are coming in huge the real talents required for those projects are very High. because the maturity of IT field in India is very very less (Absolute maturity will be around Five to three years). But the project we are attracting requires heavy number of experienced techies… Where will the talent market go? So fakes are available.. and thus salary hike and Attrition rate….employees are enjoying. This is Known as Bangalore Bug in IT HR people. But this will not continue…As years goes even an experienced person would find it difficult to shift his job or to find alternate company. This become evident now itself.)
Salary hike is chumma..One side we expedite increase in Cost of living the other side PC chidambaram insures we are paying high tax indirectly to contribute the unrealistic GDP growth rate..:-) see below one IT employee opinion about salary hike:(taken from the given Link)
‘2005-11-04 23:17:54
As for the new generation earning more money – it is just an illusion. When I started working at the age of 23, my dad and I had the same paycheck. However he lived in a huge house given by his employer, all utilities were payed by the employer, and his pension was the last paycheck that he drew, which needless to say is substantial. If I factor all that in, I made considerably less than he did’
And I should mention that though our earnings are far higher than our parents, our life is very worst compare to what they lead. Atleast they have penson and peasceful(6 hr /day work) life. But for us?
Another thing is we beleive that ours is really intellectual work. But not really. We are just an external hardware of Computer. So we have high speed, heavy memory and computer like processing stuff but very clearly we are lacking creativity and common sence that a normal person would have.
This also one kind of exploitation. Because we think that we are doing something intellectual but not actually.
As the natural law says the worker’ body part that involves in production will be affected(Hand, Knee joints etc). For us it is Brain and Hands…..What is the effect…Stress? Suicides? Sleeplessness?…
As the scenario goes like this….What shall we do…as we believe we are intelligent and even decide the future plans of Our Clients:-))
I am always very eager to discuss this -about our problems, with anybody interested.
[EMAIL][email protected][/EMAIL]
[URL=http://itncar.blog.com/]ITncar[/URL]
This writer identifies the problems correctly. But for solution he begs Coporate gurus…
Do you think our employers will find solution for our problem? How it is possible that Azimgi will give less work and pay high as he gets project because the employee is paid less and exploited lot(that the writter himself mentions in his article).
So this article gives a clear picture of our problems. But for the solution it tries to show its servitude, slave attitude. It compromises.
Get the information and we will strive for the solution
The article itself mentions the reason for our problem is what the reason behind the west preference of India as IT desitnation. Then how come our corporate gurus will eradicate those reason (that means, – how will they improve our life at the cost of their business).
If it happens that our Corporate gurus have to decide between our welfare and their business thay will choose the second one. That means, they will shift their business to some other part of the world.
If we unite atleast we could say our grievances and get them resolved until the time come for our gurus flying out of this country.
My opinion is we ourself only able to find solution for our problems not our employers
I would stress again the need for IT union(not the conventional way – We have to discuss to find Neo ways).
Because while we are in the era of IT revolution, we suffer a lot(Even I heard of companies that are not at all paying and/or paying less(2000 ,3000) to their employees(Java etc)). What happen when the field is saturated (The following could expedite the saturation – high attrition rate, slaray hike), And competition become very very high(as companies moving from india to south east asian countries, pakishtan, China, affrican countries etc).
And also beware, now the talent pool is very less. that is why Corporates not much bother about willing to attract techies by paying high and Fakes. (For example: as new project are coming in huge the real talents required for those projects are very High. because the maturity of IT field in India is very very less (Absolute maturity will be around Five to three years). But the project we are attracting requires heavy number of experienced techies… Where will the talent market go? So fakes are available.. and thus salary hike and Attrition rate….employees are enjoying. This is Known as Bangalore Bug in IT HR people. But this will not continue…As years goes even an experienced person would find it difficult to shift his job or to find alternate company. This become evident now itself.)
Salary hike is chumma..One side we expedite increase in Cost of living the other side PC chidambaram insures we are paying high tax indirectly to contribute the unrealistic GDP growth rate..:-) see below one IT employee opinion about salary hike:(taken from the given Link)
‘2005-11-04 23:17:54
As for the new generation earning more money – it is just an illusion. When I started working at the age of 23, my dad and I had the same paycheck. However he lived in a huge house given by his employer, all utilities were payed by the employer, and his pension was the last paycheck that he drew, which needless to say is substantial. If I factor all that in, I made considerably less than he did’
And I should mention that though our earnings are far higher than our parents, our life is very worst compare to what they lead. Atleast they have penson and peasceful(6 hr /day work) life. But for us?
Another thing is we beleive that ours is really intellectual work. But not really. We are just an external hardware of Computer. So we have high speed, heavy memory and computer like processing stuff but very clearly we are lacking creativity and common sence that a normal person would have.
This also one kind of exploitation. Because we think that we are doing something intellectual but not actually.
As the natural law says the worker’ body part that involves in production will be affected(Hand, Knee joints etc). For us it is Brain and Hands…..What is the effect…Stress? Suicides? Sleeplessness?…
As the scenario goes like this….What shall we do…as we believe we are intelligent and even decide the future plans of Our Clients:-))
I am always very eager to discuss this -about our problems, with anybody interested.
[EMAIL][email protected][/EMAIL]
[URL=http://itncar.blog.com/]ITncar[/URL]
India has largest pool of software professionals and best IT companies. Then why no single software language has been innovated from India so far? I think this question is an answer to many questions for the sitiation of this country.
It is true that an avg. Indian youth is hardworking. But Indians have not innovated anything in basic software research. So on one hand, Indian software professional wants an intellectual work and on the other hand, he is not ready to put his time and money on research!!! This clearly means that average ( read 99.999%) software professionals are nothing more than glorified clerks. So do do not complain. If you feel that your work is not great, then just leave it and follow your heart. But do you have the courage to do it?
India has largest pool of software professionals and best IT companies. Then why no single software language has been innovated from India so far? I think this question is an answer to many questions for the sitiation of this country.
It is true that an avg. Indian youth is hardworking. But Indians have not innovated anything in basic software research. So on one hand, Indian software professional wants an intellectual work and on the other hand, he is not ready to put his time and money on research!!! This clearly means that average ( read 99.999%) software professionals are nothing more than glorified clerks. So do do not complain. If you feel that your work is not great, then just leave it and follow your heart. But do you have the courage to do it?
Hi Guys,
I can across this article by chance. Definately it highlights some ‘issues’ of software industry in india.
Well are these real issues or just the frustrution of a person who was incapable of working.
In every industry in private sector people work hard. Take an example or a mechanical engineer working in a manufacturing plant and another mechanical engineer working in software industry.
Both will put in the same effort(hours + energy) but the guy working in software will get more comfortable working env plus better salary.
So, the real issue is not late working hours but the INNOVATION.
It is high time we focus towards moving up the value chain and inventing technology. We should focus on real issues instead of cribbing about nonsense.
AND IF A PERSON IS NOT SATISFIED WITH HIS/HER SOFTWARE JOB, THEN WHY DON’T THEY LEAVE IT AND TRY SOME ANOTHER FIELD WHERE THEY CAN GET 9 – 5 ROUTINE.
ANYONE WILLING TO DO THAT………
Hi Guys,
I can across this article by chance. Definately it highlights some ‘issues’ of software industry in india.
Well are these real issues or just the frustrution of a person who was incapable of working.
In every industry in private sector people work hard. Take an example or a mechanical engineer working in a manufacturing plant and another mechanical engineer working in software industry.
Both will put in the same effort(hours + energy) but the guy working in software will get more comfortable working env plus better salary.
So, the real issue is not late working hours but the INNOVATION.
It is high time we focus towards moving up the value chain and inventing technology. We should focus on real issues instead of cribbing about nonsense.
AND IF A PERSON IS NOT SATISFIED WITH HIS/HER SOFTWARE JOB, THEN WHY DON’T THEY LEAVE IT AND TRY SOME ANOTHER FIELD WHERE THEY CAN GET 9 – 5 ROUTINE.
ANYONE WILLING TO DO THAT………
Fantastic Article.As I found this article while searching ‘Culture of people of Software Industry in india’ in Google.
Fantastic Article.As I found this article while searching ‘Culture of people of Software Industry in india’ in Google.
I’m a HR guy and recruit software people.The people I placed are also in this same situation.It is important to take action in this matter.I read in some magazine that IT people have lot of health challenges because of stress.India is big in any number game.Big army, Big film industry, big IT industry and now big in diseases like cardivascular, BP, Diabetes……..etc.
Lot of people are trading their time,family,values and health with a thing called JOB in sophisticated buildings where most of them are confused.
We need to own ourself!!
Do something guys!!
Regards
Pasha
I’m a HR guy and recruit software people.The people I placed are also in this same situation.It is important to take action in this matter.I read in some magazine that IT people have lot of health challenges because of stress.India is big in any number game.Big army, Big film industry, big IT industry and now big in diseases like cardivascular, BP, Diabetes……..etc.
Lot of people are trading their time,family,values and health with a thing called JOB in sophisticated buildings where most of them are confused.
We need to own ourself!!
Do something guys!!
Regards
Pasha
🙂
🙂
Bravo Harshad ! Too good an article. It’s wake up call.
Bravo Harshad ! Too good an article. It’s wake up call.
Folks, i greatly agree with what Mr.Harshad has spoken out.I always keep wondering whose gonna bell the cat ?? :sigh .well i have close to 6yrs of IT experience and i have gone thru the rigours of an common Indian IT professinal.Well..it’s mostly from the managers side the issue of staying late starts and the fever catches on when fellow colleagues start to spend unproductive late hrs @ their desk.It’s peer pressure (fearing that we will fall down in the eyes of the supervisor if v r not seen off late @ the desk) is the main thing for this problem,
The art of saying ‘NO’ is a definetly needed one for the hour.But i really wonder how many managers in the business accept when a employee says ‘No’ to the deadly timelines given for him to finish the task at hand.What are the good chances of his fair appraisal when the employee sticks to his call ?? I question these b’coz i have gone thru the odds personally and i have lost the ‘Well Balanced Life’..well it would be right to say i have almost lost my life.
even now i work in one of the tier 1 indian services company where the weekly average is expected to be 9hrs @least.The day starts @ 8.30AM and official closing hrs is 6.00PM but thats for the records.
Well since i have gone thru the odds and know whats it like to lose ur personal life i have always kept as a policy that i don not see my juniors who report to me to work late and in the weekends.I stricty advice them to stay out of office during the weekends.
Not the last ..todays parents expectations are also a reason for such a chaos.They compare their young boys/girls to others (either family relatives or friends) and pressure them to get all the materialistic offers of the IT industry only learning late that how they have created a wide gap b/w their relationships.
guys think twice… and save the younger generation from disaster…for guys of my generation try to change the walks of life and get to live the life.
Folks, i greatly agree with what Mr.Harshad has spoken out.I always keep wondering whose gonna bell the cat ?? :sigh .well i have close to 6yrs of IT experience and i have gone thru the rigours of an common Indian IT professinal.Well..it’s mostly from the managers side the issue of staying late starts and the fever catches on when fellow colleagues start to spend unproductive late hrs @ their desk.It’s peer pressure (fearing that we will fall down in the eyes of the supervisor if v r not seen off late @ the desk) is the main thing for this problem,
The art of saying ‘NO’ is a definetly needed one for the hour.But i really wonder how many managers in the business accept when a employee says ‘No’ to the deadly timelines given for him to finish the task at hand.What are the good chances of his fair appraisal when the employee sticks to his call ?? I question these b’coz i have gone thru the odds personally and i have lost the ‘Well Balanced Life’..well it would be right to say i have almost lost my life.
even now i work in one of the tier 1 indian services company where the weekly average is expected to be 9hrs @least.The day starts @ 8.30AM and official closing hrs is 6.00PM but thats for the records.
Well since i have gone thru the odds and know whats it like to lose ur personal life i have always kept as a policy that i don not see my juniors who report to me to work late and in the weekends.I stricty advice them to stay out of office during the weekends.
Not the last ..todays parents expectations are also a reason for such a chaos.They compare their young boys/girls to others (either family relatives or friends) and pressure them to get all the materialistic offers of the IT industry only learning late that how they have created a wide gap b/w their relationships.
guys think twice… and save the younger generation from disaster…for guys of my generation try to change the walks of life and get to live the life.