What we want?
This is based on an impulsive survey done among PGSEM-2005 batch students in Sep-2007. I wrote the questions in just 15 minutes without thinking much pro and cons or results to achieve. Was amazed by the turnout and response!! Am putting figures as I cannot put the charts here. This was published in PGSEM-Newsletter Issue 2 (Oct -2007). Happy reading!
“I always find that statistics are hard to swallow and impossible to digest.” - Robert A. Taft
After covering about 2.25 years of our journey into PGSEM, most of us shall willingly agree to the above quote. Yet people use statistics as they are like lamposts which can be used for support rather than illumination. But can statistics really prove anything? Can these statistical techniques like - simple random or convenience sampling; surveys or interviews; ordinal or nominal scales; null or alternate hypothesis; systematic or random sample error really mean anything? Well after all those Quants courses, AMR and business forecasting am sure it has some relevance in business. But for the ordinary mortals of PGSEM 2005 batch does that lead us anywhere? Do we really know what we want? So, it was with a simple objective we decided to do an exploratory survey - Non binding on any one, no project report to fill, no need to torture numbers to confess anything. 34 responses came up. Not sure if that can be a representative sample. Yet we have put together the data taking cue from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle,
“While the individual man is an insoluble puzzle, in the aggregate he becomes a mathematical certainty”.
Hence we shall let statistics say the story by itself while you can interpret it the way you like best!
1.What is your current role in your organization?
Project Manager - 44%
Technical/ Project Lead - 29%
Business Dev/Product Management - 18%
Consultant - 9%
2.How long have you been in your current organization?
0-3 years - 26%
3-5 years - 21%
5-7 years - 44%
>8 years - 9%
53% people haven't changed jobs in the last 5 years and more. Does this defy attrition rate in IT industry?
3.How many organizations have you changed in the last 5-7 years?
None - 44%
1 - 26%
2 - 21%
3 - 3%
>3 - 6%
Only 9% have changed 3 or more organizations in last 5-7 years!
4.What is your current expectation from your organization?
Challenging non-IT work - 30%
Empowerment - 22%
Quick Growth - 17%
Role change - 12%
Globe trotting - 7%
Work life balance - 7%
Recognition - 5%
5.What do you think the company should do to retain you?
We received a lot of interesting comments to this as this is a burning issue on life after PGSEM. We have classified them into 4 buckets – pay packets, type of work desired, role expected and others and put some sample comments.
Pay Packets:
Pay me much much more
Good perks and reward for performance
They cannot afford so forget it.
Pay me well and throw up challenges at me
Work Desired:
Move me out of IT delivery and give me consulting or strategic consulting roles. Give me roles beyond IT delivery.
use me to solve organizational level and strategic problems.
allow me take my group global
More growth opportunities and challenging assignments
Flexibility at work, Challenging and empowered work environment, Work - Life balance, Salary at part with industry
Role Expected:
Provide me with a job commensurate with the skills that I have now acquired.
Move me into business development or marketing roles
Should provide me more functional roles in domain consulting
Define responsibility and allow to choose and build a team, and run a business unit
Match my aspirations with the company's needs and give me a challenging role which will help me utilize the skills I've acquired as a PGSEM graduate
Others:
I think I will stay in my current role for sometime.
Nothing.I want to move out of my organization into Finance.
6. How do you see the IT industry and your organization 5 years from now?
Here again we received very interesting responses where a group thinks IT industry is going to be an exciting place, while others think it may be average or non-exciting place. Some sample responses.
Exciting place:
IT Industry will undergo innovations in terms of the service offerings and my organization should gear up for that change.
Challenging future. Flattening growth curve, need to find new markets through new products and/or get the customers to upgrade.
IT industry would become highly price competitive and my current organization would look at expanded basket of services to ensure that the premium pricing would ensure profitability.
Much more mature and consolidated
I think we have only seen basic services with some innovation in India. I see that the this will explode and more innovative opportunities will come up.
To be focussed on product development and build services around them.
Non-exciting place:
Repeatable non-specialized industry with entry barriers for recruiting reducing every year. Qualified people could get terribly frustrated.
Services will lose their charm. They may start 6 days of work. Products and Research will gain importance.
IT industry will continue to grow and will be doubled in 5 years but excitement about IT would go away. IT jobs would be more about maintenance.
Doomed; dead; Stagnancy cornering in
Probably non existent. Mostly commoditized
Highly competitive, no price disadvantage
Average:
I think there will be rationalization in the IT industry in the way it is growing and the same will affect my organization as well.
Same as now, not too much difference other than the added China dimension
Maturing, growth tapers off
7.What is attractive in another industry other than your current (Indian IT industry)?
We put some sample responses to this as well:
Better Prospects:
More scope for learning and being on the business side of things. Opportunities for learning increases but in IT you get only more and more people management roles. Technical stream is not recognized as a big plus in Indian scenario.
Finance: Such high commission. Chance to make it big.
Marketing: Creating new things, building relationship, drive the company's business. Marketing in IT is just for name sake.
Lots of opportunities for IB and Advisory services involving challenges, of course money. money ..money
Interfacing with people. or humanistic job. More analytical work. More bottom line oriented work. More challenging work.
Business Oriented Role, flexibility to use business knowledge
Different kind of work and no late night stay.
I am not treated as a "resource".
Nothing better:
The challenges from my point of view would be more or less same if we move into another company which is in a B2B space. Domain knowledge may be a differentiator. Dealing with a company engaged in B2C space will throw up new challenges that would be interesting.
am not sure there's anything
People in general showed strong preference for working in other industries like – Retail,
Telecom, banking and finance, Strategy management/consulting, Media, hospitality.
8. What would be good place to work?
Small MNC - 29%
Large MNC - 26%
Small Indian IT company - 9%
Large Indian IT company - 6%
Client Organization - 6%
Indian non-IT company - 6%
Others(please specify) - 35%
9.Why do you think so?
Some responses why people think MNC is a good place to work:
Learning are more in an MNC. Also work culture is better. Indian IT companies still have slave mentality making people slog for hours for no tangible outcome.
Small MNCs have challenging work environment. I think I can take full responsibility of full unit.
True MNC have good HR policies in terms of salary and leaves at home countries. They extend more or less similar privileges and practice for Indian operation. Indian MNC still has stingy middle class mentality.
Process would be in place, diversification in terms of domain, product woudl exist. Growth prospects would be better.
Smaller the organization, better the growth prospects. MNCs add a globalized perspective of working - cultures, policies and compensations are all international. Indian IT companies are good in terms of exposure and opportunities, but have a very narrow approach
No small mindedness and good work culture with better work life balance
Some responses on why Indian IT company is not good:
I am not treated as a labourer by some person who does not even know how a computer works
In a big IT company, career paths are already defined and its not possible for management to grant exceptions.
Some mixed responses as below
Have worked with a large Indian Company and have kind of got a hang of how things change as we grow from big to bigger. It would be a great learning to start with a small Indian IT company and help it grow big
Somehow I do not want to work in an organisation where decision for local country are made by someone sitting in other country who has no clue of what is happening here.
India provides more challenges and opportunities than any other developed economy in the current scenario. A non- IT organization is the place to be.
10. Who do you think can make effective changes to retain you in your current organization?
Top Management - 49%
Immediate Boss - 18%
HR policies - 15%
Your unit - 9%
Others - 9%
So, does this statistic startle you in any way? Are there any response errors or response biases? Is the data suggestive of anything or concealing much more? May be a statistician has the answers. So, without any deliberate falsification or unconscious misrepresentation, leave you with a quote from Joe Stalin to Churchill on what statistics might mean to an ordinary mortal at PGSEM 2005.
“The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of millions is a statistic.”
“I always find that statistics are hard to swallow and impossible to digest.” - Robert A. Taft
After covering about 2.25 years of our journey into PGSEM, most of us shall willingly agree to the above quote. Yet people use statistics as they are like lamposts which can be used for support rather than illumination. But can statistics really prove anything? Can these statistical techniques like - simple random or convenience sampling; surveys or interviews; ordinal or nominal scales; null or alternate hypothesis; systematic or random sample error really mean anything? Well after all those Quants courses, AMR and business forecasting am sure it has some relevance in business. But for the ordinary mortals of PGSEM 2005 batch does that lead us anywhere? Do we really know what we want? So, it was with a simple objective we decided to do an exploratory survey - Non binding on any one, no project report to fill, no need to torture numbers to confess anything. 34 responses came up. Not sure if that can be a representative sample. Yet we have put together the data taking cue from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle,
“While the individual man is an insoluble puzzle, in the aggregate he becomes a mathematical certainty”.
Hence we shall let statistics say the story by itself while you can interpret it the way you like best!
1.What is your current role in your organization?
Project Manager - 44%
Technical/ Project Lead - 29%
Business Dev/Product Management - 18%
Consultant - 9%
2.How long have you been in your current organization?
0-3 years - 26%
3-5 years - 21%
5-7 years - 44%
>8 years - 9%
53% people haven't changed jobs in the last 5 years and more. Does this defy attrition rate in IT industry?
3.How many organizations have you changed in the last 5-7 years?
None - 44%
1 - 26%
2 - 21%
3 - 3%
>3 - 6%
Only 9% have changed 3 or more organizations in last 5-7 years!
4.What is your current expectation from your organization?
Challenging non-IT work - 30%
Empowerment - 22%
Quick Growth - 17%
Role change - 12%
Globe trotting - 7%
Work life balance - 7%
Recognition - 5%
5.What do you think the company should do to retain you?
We received a lot of interesting comments to this as this is a burning issue on life after PGSEM. We have classified them into 4 buckets – pay packets, type of work desired, role expected and others and put some sample comments.
Pay Packets:
Pay me much much more
Good perks and reward for performance
They cannot afford so forget it.
Pay me well and throw up challenges at me
Work Desired:
Move me out of IT delivery and give me consulting or strategic consulting roles. Give me roles beyond IT delivery.
use me to solve organizational level and strategic problems.
allow me take my group global
More growth opportunities and challenging assignments
Flexibility at work, Challenging and empowered work environment, Work - Life balance, Salary at part with industry
Role Expected:
Provide me with a job commensurate with the skills that I have now acquired.
Move me into business development or marketing roles
Should provide me more functional roles in domain consulting
Define responsibility and allow to choose and build a team, and run a business unit
Match my aspirations with the company's needs and give me a challenging role which will help me utilize the skills I've acquired as a PGSEM graduate
Others:
I think I will stay in my current role for sometime.
Nothing.I want to move out of my organization into Finance.
6. How do you see the IT industry and your organization 5 years from now?
Here again we received very interesting responses where a group thinks IT industry is going to be an exciting place, while others think it may be average or non-exciting place. Some sample responses.
Exciting place:
IT Industry will undergo innovations in terms of the service offerings and my organization should gear up for that change.
Challenging future. Flattening growth curve, need to find new markets through new products and/or get the customers to upgrade.
IT industry would become highly price competitive and my current organization would look at expanded basket of services to ensure that the premium pricing would ensure profitability.
Much more mature and consolidated
I think we have only seen basic services with some innovation in India. I see that the this will explode and more innovative opportunities will come up.
To be focussed on product development and build services around them.
Non-exciting place:
Repeatable non-specialized industry with entry barriers for recruiting reducing every year. Qualified people could get terribly frustrated.
Services will lose their charm. They may start 6 days of work. Products and Research will gain importance.
IT industry will continue to grow and will be doubled in 5 years but excitement about IT would go away. IT jobs would be more about maintenance.
Doomed; dead; Stagnancy cornering in
Probably non existent. Mostly commoditized
Highly competitive, no price disadvantage
Average:
I think there will be rationalization in the IT industry in the way it is growing and the same will affect my organization as well.
Same as now, not too much difference other than the added China dimension
Maturing, growth tapers off
7.What is attractive in another industry other than your current (Indian IT industry)?
We put some sample responses to this as well:
Better Prospects:
More scope for learning and being on the business side of things. Opportunities for learning increases but in IT you get only more and more people management roles. Technical stream is not recognized as a big plus in Indian scenario.
Finance: Such high commission. Chance to make it big.
Marketing: Creating new things, building relationship, drive the company's business. Marketing in IT is just for name sake.
Lots of opportunities for IB and Advisory services involving challenges, of course money. money ..money
Interfacing with people. or humanistic job. More analytical work. More bottom line oriented work. More challenging work.
Business Oriented Role, flexibility to use business knowledge
Different kind of work and no late night stay.
I am not treated as a "resource".
Nothing better:
The challenges from my point of view would be more or less same if we move into another company which is in a B2B space. Domain knowledge may be a differentiator. Dealing with a company engaged in B2C space will throw up new challenges that would be interesting.
am not sure there's anything
People in general showed strong preference for working in other industries like – Retail,
Telecom, banking and finance, Strategy management/consulting, Media, hospitality.
8. What would be good place to work?
Small MNC - 29%
Large MNC - 26%
Small Indian IT company - 9%
Large Indian IT company - 6%
Client Organization - 6%
Indian non-IT company - 6%
Others(please specify) - 35%
9.Why do you think so?
Some responses why people think MNC is a good place to work:
Learning are more in an MNC. Also work culture is better. Indian IT companies still have slave mentality making people slog for hours for no tangible outcome.
Small MNCs have challenging work environment. I think I can take full responsibility of full unit.
True MNC have good HR policies in terms of salary and leaves at home countries. They extend more or less similar privileges and practice for Indian operation. Indian MNC still has stingy middle class mentality.
Process would be in place, diversification in terms of domain, product woudl exist. Growth prospects would be better.
Smaller the organization, better the growth prospects. MNCs add a globalized perspective of working - cultures, policies and compensations are all international. Indian IT companies are good in terms of exposure and opportunities, but have a very narrow approach
No small mindedness and good work culture with better work life balance
Some responses on why Indian IT company is not good:
I am not treated as a labourer by some person who does not even know how a computer works
In a big IT company, career paths are already defined and its not possible for management to grant exceptions.
Some mixed responses as below
Have worked with a large Indian Company and have kind of got a hang of how things change as we grow from big to bigger. It would be a great learning to start with a small Indian IT company and help it grow big
Somehow I do not want to work in an organisation where decision for local country are made by someone sitting in other country who has no clue of what is happening here.
India provides more challenges and opportunities than any other developed economy in the current scenario. A non- IT organization is the place to be.
10. Who do you think can make effective changes to retain you in your current organization?
Top Management - 49%
Immediate Boss - 18%
HR policies - 15%
Your unit - 9%
Others - 9%
So, does this statistic startle you in any way? Are there any response errors or response biases? Is the data suggestive of anything or concealing much more? May be a statistician has the answers. So, without any deliberate falsification or unconscious misrepresentation, leave you with a quote from Joe Stalin to Churchill on what statistics might mean to an ordinary mortal at PGSEM 2005.
“The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of millions is a statistic.”
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