It’s time for a revelation about IT Industry.
I don’t know whether you have given it a thought or not but everything you have been doing from your early childhood is very systematically planned.
It is so systematic that sometimes it gives me a feeling that I’m in a simulation where everything has a set of protocol. Break the protocol and you will be punished.
It’s F**#ing Matrixx…
I don’t know whether you have had that feeling or not. But the Indian IT Industry is forcing you to walk the similar path.
It is a scary feeling to know that everything will happen the way it is planned to be without you being aware of it.
Just be with me for a couple of minutes because in this article I’m going to give you the reason to think about the direction of your career. Investment of your slavery in Indian IT Industry is a bad decision and you will know after reading it.
At the end of this article, I have shared some of the comments from my friends who are working in IT Industry in India
Feel free to share your views in the comments below (no matter how bad/good they are) and if it really holds the value to the entire post, I will include it in this post and acknowledge you.
Table of Contents
Why our Education System is the way it is?
I’m sure more than 95% of you have never asked this question to yourself because you were too busy following the protocols.
Well, you are reading this article so a lot of things are about to become clear.
You see our education system is not built around the student’s ability but what our nation needs to do in order to develop its economy and compete in the International market. The system was built by the English people when they visited our countries about 200-250 years ago (more than that). They established their first monopolistic trading company which was called English East India Company
The company used to trade spices from India to other countries. China also played a big part in the East India expansion.
I’m sure most of you have read this in your History books with the motive to get higher percentage in your History Test.
It’s All About Business
It was costly to bring their people from their country to work in India, therefore, they had to find a solution to make Indian people work for them.
However, there was a big hurdle that they needed to overcome.
Indian people were illiterate and also there was a big communication gap in between. I want to repeat my uncle’s word here –
“As long as there are stupid people in this world, clever will never sleep empty stomach.”
They played smart and promised to teach Indians and provide them occupation and living. They built schools and other facilities to provide education to the people and India so that they can work for them (be their slaves). That is how the Education System of India came into existence.
You see the main objective of this system was not to develop the individual inherent abilities but to make them a resource to work for them. Just like a machine which is made to do a certain job.
Slowly and steadily this thing became a trend. Houses started sending their children to school in a hope that one day he will bring money back home and thus become a source of their earnings. This is called Slavery by Will.
Just like every other trend, Slavery By Will trend also evolved with the advent of a new policy in the British system.
The person who will work more will get more.
I don’t know the what state of mind they had at that time but I can imagine it would be pretty much similar to what we have currently.So people started working harder and harder in order to earn a little extra.
I hope you can relate from it.
And The Business Continues…
After a long time, we are still doing the same thing.
The only difference is that we have better school infrastructure and teachers who do not hit students if they do something wrong.
That is all that we have now. The system still persists in the same way it did in the British Era.
Ever questioned on the System, that why we have to study the same syllabus every year, knowing that there is no need of the things which are being taught, knowing that the reality has far outgrown the concepts you are reading in your CBSE textbooks.
I think it is time to raise your voice and start putting a question mark on our education system.
Let me tell why the existing system has not been changed by the government even after knowing that it plays the main role in transforming an individual’s life.
The reason – they think they need the system in order to run the nation.
The truth is totally opposite to that. The Indians have grown a lot and are capable of competing with the world’s finest industries.
Infact, the CEO of world’s top companies are Indians. I don’t think I need to name them. We all know about it.
I have already written multiple posts on our poor education system. You can find them here,
- Poor Education System of India
- Indian Education System needs Improvement
- Teach Students how to earn money instead of mental mathematics
IT Industry Come into the Picture
I’m a software engineer in one of the MNC.
I’m an observer too. I observe. And I had an opportunity to observe more closely how IT companies work in India.
My observation – They cannot be more dependent on other companies for work as they do now.
Are you pursuing engineering?
Perhaps, you might already be aware of the fact that most of the IT companies in India are an outsourcing company. They outsource their services and people in exchange for money.
Do you see, it is the same thing that happened at the time of East India Company. They made Indians work for them and the same thing is happening today as well.
Other companies are outsourcing their back office work to poor countries like India to get their less important work done.
Less Important Work is What They Call It
Yes! Less important.
The trend of outsourcing started with this philosophy:
Big companies who have a lot of back-office work (work that does not pay much value in the business) is outsourced to developing countries.
I read the philosophy in a lot of books that talks about financial freedom, passive income, wealth building etc. Removing the clutter helps you concentrate better on the work which is important.
In the book, 4 Hour Work Week by Tim Ferrish. He wrote how outsourcing can help you free your time for the things that are more important for your business.
And I see the same things happening around me all the time.
The big companies are outsourcing their back office work to small countries and concentrating on the bigger matters. Whereas we are happy to receive our monthly paycheck to pay for our basic needs.
Well played!
Some of the clever minds may question, Why the foreign companies are not falling just like East India Company?
The good thing they did is that they learned from the mistakes of East India Company.
East India Company were mostly dependent on the Indian labours for their work. When Indians went against East India Company and refused to work for it, the company collapsed.
The same is not the case in today’s world.
Foreign companies are not dependent on Indian IT companies for their major work rather they are outsourcing only the part of the job to them which does not play much value to their overall business development.
They outsource work which could help them to improve their productivity and other similar stuff. They outsource these work so that they can concentrate on developing their business without worrying about the distractions and the work which is less important.
The most time efficient move ever devised – Outsource your time-consuming work to others and concentrate on the core (more important job).
Yes, that is what we are, their back-office workers.
Completely Dependent on Foreign Product Companies for Work
This is something we all have seen in past few months that how much we are dependent on others for work.
A little move by Trump took more than 2 Lakh jobs in India. If only the situation would have been other way around, we would have found other ways to compensate the loss of one big client (America) without laying off engineers/employees.
Let me tell you one more fact – America is not a fool. Americans… maybe.
America has some of the best minds in the world who knows how to use second-best minds across the world. That is one big reason why people are continuously migrating from India and other Asian countries to America for work. They never pay you as much as they pay their own citizens but still, they pay you enough as per your country standards.
Don’t you think if you would have spent 10 years of your life working on your own business, who knows where you would have been today?
Maybe you would have been a CEO of yet another MNC. :D:D 😀
And The Slavery Continues…
It is still like slavery but at a much larger level.
Let’s compare it with a similar situation to understand what is actually happening at this level.
Imagine you are one rich person with a big bungalow and big business. You have grown your business to an extent where it is not possible for you to manage it alone. You started hiring your family members first to take hold of the important task that needs to be done in your business. These are the core functions which cannot be given to someone whom you do not trust. Your company size grew a lot more.
Now, there is a lot of waste product that is coming out of it.
You need to take care of this waste as well in order to keep the space neat and clean for you to concentrate on the things which matter the most for your companies.
This waste is less important and has a little to no impact on your business core.
You are one intelligent ass so what you did? You looked for people who are qualified to take care of your waste product and cost you less. They reached out to the people that can take care of this waste for them.
So, they reached less developed people for this job. This way they are paying them some bucks which they would not get otherwise and also they are getting their job done.
It’s All About Managing The Waste In Less
Now the rich person (You) in this scenario is the big fat foreign product companies.
You have already hired your own people to do the core jobs.
When your business grew even bigger, you reached out other small companies that could take care of your less important jobs and that is where our IT companies stand at this moment.
We are just doing their less important work and helping them to grow bigger and wealthier. They call us cheap labour.
Yes! that is what we actually are. Nothing more than cheap labour.
I would strongly recommend to take a step and become the creator of your own destiny because India no longer needs to work for foreign countries for its living. We have grown much bigger and that is the reason they have started fearing from us
We should learn from China.
They don’t have WhatsApp, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Apple and they are one of the biggest economies on the face of the earth after the USA.
Think! Think!
Work For The Humanity, Not For The People
Today world has shrunk up by many folds. It is just a matter of few seconds to connect with someone at the far end of the world. The technology has brought us closer yet the frustration inside people has grown instead of getting down.
The big reason behind this is that people are still working for one another instead of working as a whole towards a better society.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken a step in the right direction. His scheme “Make In India” has actually helped many people to come up with their own businesses.
The more business we create in India the more independent we become as a whole. Once the Nation becomes strong within, there is no way external factors can influence the growth of the nation.
Student’s Are Simply Raw Products
As Indian IT Outsourcing companies are dependent on foreign companies for work and survival, so they want resources who can serve their clients.
The best way to get that resource is to pick the fresh produce right after college.
The student is fresh, looking for a job and doesn’t know much of its own (he doesn’t have his own brain to make decisions for himself), he is a perfect candidate for a job. They take him in, train him to speak their language and work according to their protocols.
This is, in fact, the naked truth of IT companies in India.
So far I have just covered 10% of what is happening currently and that too from outside the shell and what actually is happening at the higher level.
I will surely get down inside the building of an IT company and tell you what exactly is happening inside the walls of a Big IT company.
Maybe that way you will think twice before considering an IT Outsourcing company for a job after finishing your college.
Life inside the walls of an IT company
I’m about to share my experience inside of the walls of an IT company. This will really help someone looking to get a job in an IT company of India. The life inside of an IT company is not at all the way it seems from the outside. I don’t know exactly how to put it in front of you, so I asked my friends in my circle about their advice on joining an IT company. I will share some of those snippets with you and if required explain to you what they actually meant by their comment.
They Pay Very Less…
Haha? This is spot on. 4 words explain it all. I have already talked about this point multiple times in my previous blog posts. The naked truth about Indian IT industry is that they pay very less.
Let me back it up by an explanation – Excluding the top 1,00,000 engineers who are IITians and NITians, the rest are just mediocre. They get a starting package somewhere between 3 lakh – 5 lakh (I’m being humble). You cannot expect more than that because the truth is they cannot afford to pay you more than that.
They take you in putting some money in your training because the fact is “99% people who are not IITians are dumb or technically useless for the companies”. They are not a resource for the company immediately. The company needs to spend more money on their training. I’m not talking about the exceptions who already holds the potential to run their own companies but most of the crowd is the same. Yeah? So coming back, they pay you starting package of 3.25 (TCS pays this to freshers) you sign a 2-year contract with them. Which means if you are to leave the company before 2 years you will have to pay them 1 lakh rupees. You are bound to that same package for 1 complete year.
Wait for a Year to Get an Increment
Once you have completed your first year with the company they will increase your package by minimal 10% – 30% (again, I’m being humble). Okay, let’s take the best-case scenario and you got an appraisal of 30%, that is just Rs. 8000 monthly. You have spent your complete year and what is the ROI 30% increase on your salary. Don’t get me wrong but most of the people are dependent on their only salary and this 30% is not the correct way to measure your returns. You are missing one major factor in the calculation and that is YOU and YOUR TIME.
There are other things in life which will pay you even more than what you’re getting paid in IT industry. So my friend, take my advice now – If you can survive without getting into IT company, then do that and meantime look for better opportunities to create something for yourself. If your passion is not engineering then you have already done a big mistake taking up engineering and wasting 4 years of your life or I would say making your belief strong that engineering is not your cup of tea. Do not repeat the same mistake for the rest of your life. Take a stand and make a move. So, coming back, the whole point of this discussion is – THEY PAY YOU VERY LESS FOR YOUR EFFORTS.
You must read my other blog on this,
- Biggest Financial Mistake people make early in their life that ruins the Golden Period of their life.
- Best Investment of Your Money and Time
- Work Smarter: 5 Tips to Manage Your Time Better
Emphasis is Given on Experience Number and Not the Actual Knowledge
This comment is made by Tahir and it is complete in itself. But still, I would like to add a few things to the points Tahir has to ponder.
Emphasis is given to the bare experience number and not the individual’s knowledge
I have rather felt the same thing in this industry. Have you ever given a look at the vacancy that comes in the various website? It will be very clear just by reading any vacancy that is listed on the website. They give more emphasis on the years rather than on the actual knowledge of the individual. At the very top, there is that criteria listed in bold
Experience Required: 3 years
Then when you still scroll down to actually view the responsibilities for that position, you say to you yourself – I’m just 1 year experienced but I’m already overqualified for the menial task they want from 3 years experienced guy :p
This is the harsh reality of this industry. It is so true that if you are going to bring any random guy in front of me and tell me his experience in an IT industry, there are chances that I will accurately guess his/her salary. So, you see it does not have to do anything with your knowledge, all that matters is the number of years on your resume. If you do not believe me, simply check the Naukri.com website and you will see what I mean.
Maintaining an Excel Sheet is done by IT Professional
Woah? Another great point. Maintaining an excel sheet is considered an IT job. I had a hard time figuring this out when I first got into this industry. There are so many excel sheets that we need to update on the daily/weekly basis that you have never done in your entire life. It was so very much annoying to know that in the age of IT where the world is moving forward at every blink of an eye, the top IT professionals are spending more than 1 hour of their time in maintaining the excel sheet every day.
The worst part, as people are progressing higher up in the hierarchy, the more excel sheets they maintain and less work they do. This is exactly the life of an IT professional with 3-4 years of experience. Excel sheet is all you have to do. Oh? Another thing that comes with the excel sheet part – Meetings.
Meetings Is What We Dd Most of The Time
We spend more than 3 hours in meetings. Yes? calling the US, talking to the client, team meetings etc.. etc.. etc? Out of 8 hours of our daily time. We spent 3 hours in meetings and 1 hour in excel sheet management. I just got a deep thought, what the fuck are we doing with our lives :/. And let me?tell you, my job is much better than the rest. The system is worst. Well, you cannot do much, it is the system. The only way to change the system is to change your company. Wussss!
Most companies do not have sufficient funds to invest in Research & Development
Let’s exclude the companies which are at the top 10 of the ladder, no company in India has a Research & Development sector which looks forward to the ultimate growth of their own self. The reason is very well stated by Tahir – They do not have sufficient funds to pay for the engineers for research and development job.
It is just not feasible for them. This really stagnant their growth in their fields because they use the same old techniques and technologies and as time progress they depreciate.
Even if a company invest in R&D they end up choosing the wrong people for that. You see, companies need to invest for their betterment and they must pick the right people for that. More often than not they choose the people with more experience and that is where they cannot be much wrong. They need to choose the right person for the right job. A person who is technically sound with an interest in research and development is what they should choose.
I think the rest is self-explanatory
I hope I have covered a lot of ground here to give you a peek inside the walls of the IT company. If there is any other question that you would like to ask, please shoot it in the comment box below. I along with my friends will be more than happy to answer all your queries. After all, that is why we got into an IT companies ?:D 😀 :D.
I have so much more to write but I guess this article has already crossed 3000 words. I will surely cover a lot in my upcoming articles. At the end, I would just like to conclude by saying that – Today, education is not inside the walls of a school. The world is an open place. There is everything on the internet and easily accessible to you. Take a stand, choose what you want to do and move in that direction. There is not a concrete way that you have to progress in the same direction. The world has become more flexible and open. There are people like me to help you in every step you want. The same applies to me too.
Just pave your own way and choose what you want to do. Do not be someone your parents or society wants you to be. They are old and doesn’t have any idea what is going in today’s world. Rather you should teach them about the latest happenings of the world and educate them to take a step forward in transforming this world into a better place for our future generation.
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I will strongly recommend you to read my latest article – 4 Most Important Dynamics to Keep Yourself Moving Up In Your Company.