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.
Agree with this…These are all the things which we feel strongly about but share them only amongst ourselves. Very well written article, gives a peep into our Software World.
I'm sorry to inform you that since offshore outsourcing began, US IT workers have been working
12- and 14-hour days, but only 5-6 days a week. I feel for you folks. You took 4 of my jobs leaving me with nothing, except a new life.
please spread this news to all the s/w companies in india
“Narayan Murthys please stand up ” – ha ha.
Stand up they did, and make a new mandate of 9 hours work day !!
Can somebody tell me why there are no human rights activists protesting with banners?
and why the country is moving towards being a perfect slave house ?
TCS, CTS, INFY, WIPRO, HCL, etc., etc. employ an enormous number of people (my guess is atleast 400,000 people)
and the lives of this huge number is not something to be messed with.
Needless to mention, the Government is only interested in the high tax money from these young souls.
From my neighbors, I learnt that the IT Industry has used the recession has a tool to enforce the 9 hour work (official) rule, effectively stopped promotions, and no pay-raises, cut down on perks and even made it unofficially official that going home and having a personal life is a sin !.
I am not an advocate of labor unions. But the MBA's havent done any good either. More harm than good I would say.
The government in India is a epic fail, obviously. I even wonder if there are any labour laws that are actually enforced.
Labour unions only turned out to be political stunts and harmed both employees and companies.
NASSCOM is just a 'party-time' for CEO's to make pointless statements.
MBA's have turned out to be even worse than the labour unions. 'Employee-care' is an almost non-exisent term.
It is very, VERY, sad to see the highest educated generation of this country, having to go through with all this.
Makes me wonder if the purpose of 'Basic Education' has not been met and has been totally ignored.
If 80% of the educated engineers who are all employed in the IT industry fail to realize that the current mode of offshoring / outsourcing is very unsustainable, unless they are willing to die for the money, there is definitely not going to be any good change in this 'we-exploit-our-country men-for-the-benefit-of-our-western-clients' attitude of these IT companies.
Oh, given the negative attitude of the post, I am having the urge to say this —
This is not just a rant from a poor 'sleepless, no-social-life techie' in one of these software firms. Here is the 'this-is-why-i-think-so' about me — In my career, I have had the chance to be in the extremes of places – From the Labor Union infected, Central government run, Integral Coach Factory, Chennai, to the 'Oldest and Biggest Software Firm by number of scape-goats' in Mumbai, India, and then Consulting & free-lancing at numerous companies in four western countries in the past 11 years.
Excellent analysis, laying bare the vice behind the “IT phenomenon” in India.
I have believed that this IT revolution has done more harm in many ways, at a permanent level than any betterment. It has duped tender talented minds into a vicious trap which has become inescapable.
HAAAA!! HAAA!!!!
NASSCOM should come to the rescue? what a thought!! Its a private club for IT company owners! they would come and rescue the poor employees whose blood they are sucking?
And you say that unions will bring in inefficiency!!!! Do you know anything about unions? Even the 8 hour work day (for menial labour) was brought in by the unions! Even in the previous century, the employers had to be fought with unions – and you think in this century, somehow the employers have become ethical?
I liked your article – but like the “work life balance” thing that no one understands, you are saying the couple of things that IT companies are driving into their employees minds! 1) Indian IT is not about cheap labour? IT IS about it! without that factor – no country that has a workforce needs to offshore! 2) you are saying that NASSCOM should come to the rescue! 3) Unions are BAD! – this all three are daily bytes from your management! dont fall for them! While employers have their union (NASSCOM) why cant the workers have thier union to voice their concerns?
HAAAA!! HAAA!!!!
NASSCOM should come to the rescue? what a thought!! Its a private club for IT company owners! they would come and rescue the poor employees whose blood they are sucking?
And you say that unions will bring in inefficiency!!!! Do you know anything about unions? Even the 8 hour work day (for menial labour) was brought in by the unions! Even in the previous century, the employers had to be fought with unions – and you think in this century, somehow the employers have become ethical?
I liked your article – but like the “work life balance” thing that no one understands, you are saying the couple of things that IT companies are driving into their employees minds! 1) Indian IT is not about cheap labour? IT IS about it! without that factor – no country that has a workforce needs to offshore! 2) you are saying that NASSCOM should come to the rescue! 3) Unions are BAD! – this all three are daily bytes from your management! dont fall for them! While employers have their union (NASSCOM) why cant the workers have thier union to voice their concerns?
Hi Harshad,
Atlast some one has come out with good suggestions and very true feelings towards the IT companies. Nice article..this is the fact which is happening in this indian IT industry.and everybody is falling prey in this hype… You are absolutely right. I could not agree more with you.
One problem that I have experienced in one of the most reputed software companies is that your growth is totally in the hands of your
boss. You might be technically excellent but that hardly counts. What does count is sucking up to your boss. This is true of most software companies.
My opinion has slowly become that there is nothing technical about the technology industry. Its all based on favouritism and the like.
I am really sorry to say this though. The employees / IT Professionals
inspite of being a very technically oriented, I am still a proponent of the 8 hr. work day. I believe too that if done sincerely, real
good quality work can be achieved in 8 hrs. Europe does it, US does it, India is also capable of doing it. But the same is not happening becos of the ‘BOSSESS’.
Hope I havent hurt anyone’s sentiments – these are purely my opinions.
I am not an IT Professional, I work for a MNC Bank, (India & Abroad) it is not that much worst compared to the IT sector. In IT Companies there are bossess where they will promise you that you will be sent offshore or you will be rated good in H1 &H2 appriasals, to get the workdone. I am ture or not? I am 100% TRUE on this. Don’t they feel shame toward’s their own attitude towards the fellow employees. They should think that they also have started their carrier in the same way, before they play with their employees. I am seriously got fed up listening to the Indian IT companies where it is only the name what they are making by ‘SUCKING’ the employees energy. While any employee gets recruited in these IT companies what they promise to the employees is not meeting to the employees satisfaction. Now days it has become practice to all these IT companies to select the fresh candidates by Campus interviews. What do they get out of it? A fresh pass out will think that he has got a good job. But once he joins then he understands what a wrong step they have taken in their life. It is happening in all the IT companies. None of the IT companies are meeting their deadlines and put all the blame towards the fellow employees by saying that they are the ‘NON-PERFORMERS’ after struggling a lot and leaving all their personal life towards the company. I have a the list of companies what they are doing? how they are treating the Employees? one small question from me.. does any Project leader or Group leader doesnot know what is his requirement to deliver the project? If the project requires 5staff, why they dont take 5 and keep back-up. They will dump everything on 3employees and they will cancel all the leaves and put pressure to deliver by staying overnight and at last, they will say that you could not meet the company expectations, and the rating will be poor. Only thing what i want to say is that, please guys advise your friends to check twice before they join any Indian IT companies.
Can we all, who think like us, do something? I am more that willing if I can do my part in this.
Venkat
Hi Harshad,
Atlast some one has come out with good suggestions and very true feelings towards the IT companies. Nice article..this is the fact which is happening in this indian IT industry.and everybody is falling prey in this hype… You are absolutely right. I could not agree more with you.
One problem that I have experienced in one of the most reputed software companies is that your growth is totally in the hands of your
boss. You might be technically excellent but that hardly counts. What does count is sucking up to your boss. This is true of most software companies.
My opinion has slowly become that there is nothing technical about the technology industry. Its all based on favouritism and the like.
I am really sorry to say this though. The employees / IT Professionals
inspite of being a very technically oriented, I am still a proponent of the 8 hr. work day. I believe too that if done sincerely, real
good quality work can be achieved in 8 hrs. Europe does it, US does it, India is also capable of doing it. But the same is not happening becos of the ‘BOSSESS’.
Hope I havent hurt anyone’s sentiments – these are purely my opinions.
I am not an IT Professional, I work for a MNC Bank, (India & Abroad) it is not that much worst compared to the IT sector. In IT Companies there are bossess where they will promise you that you will be sent offshore or you will be rated good in H1 &H2 appriasals, to get the workdone. I am ture or not? I am 100% TRUE on this. Don’t they feel shame toward’s their own attitude towards the fellow employees. They should think that they also have started their carrier in the same way, before they play with their employees. I am seriously got fed up listening to the Indian IT companies where it is only the name what they are making by ‘SUCKING’ the employees energy. While any employee gets recruited in these IT companies what they promise to the employees is not meeting to the employees satisfaction. Now days it has become practice to all these IT companies to select the fresh candidates by Campus interviews. What do they get out of it? A fresh pass out will think that he has got a good job. But once he joins then he understands what a wrong step they have taken in their life. It is happening in all the IT companies. None of the IT companies are meeting their deadlines and put all the blame towards the fellow employees by saying that they are the ‘NON-PERFORMERS’ after struggling a lot and leaving all their personal life towards the company. I have a the list of companies what they are doing? how they are treating the Employees? one small question from me.. does any Project leader or Group leader doesnot know what is his requirement to deliver the project? If the project requires 5staff, why they dont take 5 and keep back-up. They will dump everything on 3employees and they will cancel all the leaves and put pressure to deliver by staying overnight and at last, they will say that you could not meet the company expectations, and the rating will be poor. Only thing what i want to say is that, please guys advise your friends to check twice before they join any Indian IT companies.
Can we all, who think like us, do something? I am more that willing if I can do my part in this.
Venkat
Very true article…The question is what to do about it – other then discuss it here :D…
Very true article…The question is what to do about it – other then discuss it here :D…
Helloooo…whoa…Hot topic and oh so true…Hope I’m not too late to add the to the thread!
I have to say at the forefront, that I’m anti-computer to begin with…think they (along with the tv set) are the cause of break down in real relationships, etc…that said…
Who says we (employees) have to be 14 hour workers?! It’s upto us to decide what we want, what is important to us and go with it! The work culture is a reflection of twisted priorities…There ARE people out there who do things right. I worked in a company where the boss asked all his employees not to entertain clients after 6pm!!!! (yes shocking but TRUE)…My hat off to him! On the other hand I know of a boss who won’t even take her own daughter’s calls at the office (true this is during a meeting but still priorities are priorities!). Let’s be people with priorities…if you live by your convictions how can you be frustrated and unhappy??!!
Helloooo…whoa…Hot topic and oh so true…Hope I’m not too late to add the to the thread!
I have to say at the forefront, that I’m anti-computer to begin with…think they (along with the tv set) are the cause of break down in real relationships, etc…that said…
Who says we (employees) have to be 14 hour workers?! It’s upto us to decide what we want, what is important to us and go with it! The work culture is a reflection of twisted priorities…There ARE people out there who do things right. I worked in a company where the boss asked all his employees not to entertain clients after 6pm!!!! (yes shocking but TRUE)…My hat off to him! On the other hand I know of a boss who won’t even take her own daughter’s calls at the office (true this is during a meeting but still priorities are priorities!). Let’s be people with priorities…if you live by your convictions how can you be frustrated and unhappy??!!
:roll
Hi Pls can you let me know who is the BD for the US market.
:roll
Hi Pls can you let me know who is the BD for the US market.
Nice article..this is the fact which is happening in this indian IT industry.and everybody is falling prey in this hype…
Recently i have read the google story..there nothing has been mentioned that larry page and sergey brin worked for such number of hours..had sleepless nights…etc etc..yet they have gone to become billionaries…
The problem starts for people right from the day when they are in school..infact we have so well adopted to the british education system..the course which westerners have imparted and still continues..shame on the education system of india that it has become all the more a process…rather than being something to get educated truly speaking…and here we have to study social science along with maths..if u are good in maths but bad in social studies..parents will see that y not this much in social studies..well parents cant themselves tell the capital of SPAIN and argentina 🙂
same with the IT industry..managers are the one who will say that i m good in people to get work..but have we ever heard people here saying that im good in my work..everybody dreams to become a manager..because they have nothing to do..their world is just a cabin where even a drop of water looks like a pacific ocean..n crossing this drop of water is a marvellous achievement for them…
like parents cant tell capital of spain and argentina(well my parents also cant tell),same are these managers who cant spell the technology..but yeah they will talk abt everything except the work…
it is high time that we have to look for…a career..where name comes or slavery?????
Nice article..this is the fact which is happening in this indian IT industry.and everybody is falling prey in this hype…
Recently i have read the google story..there nothing has been mentioned that larry page and sergey brin worked for such number of hours..had sleepless nights…etc etc..yet they have gone to become billionaries…
The problem starts for people right from the day when they are in school..infact we have so well adopted to the british education system..the course which westerners have imparted and still continues..shame on the education system of india that it has become all the more a process…rather than being something to get educated truly speaking…and here we have to study social science along with maths..if u are good in maths but bad in social studies..parents will see that y not this much in social studies..well parents cant themselves tell the capital of SPAIN and argentina 🙂
same with the IT industry..managers are the one who will say that i m good in people to get work..but have we ever heard people here saying that im good in my work..everybody dreams to become a manager..because they have nothing to do..their world is just a cabin where even a drop of water looks like a pacific ocean..n crossing this drop of water is a marvellous achievement for them…
like parents cant tell capital of spain and argentina(well my parents also cant tell),same are these managers who cant spell the technology..but yeah they will talk abt everything except the work…
it is high time that we have to look for…a career..where name comes or slavery?????
I agree with you, but it’s not only the employers but employees as well who prefers to sit in the office for long hours becuase they have nothing else better to do. Companies should discourage employees late sitting and employees should be asked for explanation for this practice. In India companies have sufficient buffer to deploy more people to avoid stresfful work environment. In long run this will really pay and India may emerge as technology leader rather than just cheap offshore model the way Indian IT is being used by EDS, IBM and Accenture….. you get the high level design and do peanut job.
I agree with you, but it’s not only the employers but employees as well who prefers to sit in the office for long hours becuase they have nothing else better to do. Companies should discourage employees late sitting and employees should be asked for explanation for this practice. In India companies have sufficient buffer to deploy more people to avoid stresfful work environment. In long run this will really pay and India may emerge as technology leader rather than just cheap offshore model the way Indian IT is being used by EDS, IBM and Accenture….. you get the high level design and do peanut job.
Hi Harshad,
I agree with you 100%. Although I worked in India only for a couple of years before moving to US, I see my brother working there till 2 AM. Sometimes, he leaves the office in India at the same time when I leave my office here in US. I feel so much worried for him. But what is the solution. If one or two people start leaving early, they will not be able to set a trend and instead they will be branded as not serious enough in work. A greater revolution need to happen in Indian IT industry and top management people themselves should start realizing this and should make sure that no employee stays beyond 8 hours.
Can you and me and people who think like us, do something? I am more that willing if I can do my part in this.
Regards
Shailaja
Hi Harshad,
I agree with you 100%. Although I worked in India only for a couple of years before moving to US, I see my brother working there till 2 AM. Sometimes, he leaves the office in India at the same time when I leave my office here in US. I feel so much worried for him. But what is the solution. If one or two people start leaving early, they will not be able to set a trend and instead they will be branded as not serious enough in work. A greater revolution need to happen in Indian IT industry and top management people themselves should start realizing this and should make sure that no employee stays beyond 8 hours.
Can you and me and people who think like us, do something? I am more that willing if I can do my part in this.
Regards
Shailaja
It will become a serious social problem
that we are unwilling to see while it is brewing.
Doctors, psychologistrs, counsellors are conecerned.
It will become a serious social problem
that we are unwilling to see while it is brewing.
Doctors, psychologistrs, counsellors are conecerned.
You are absolutely right. I could not agree more with you.
One problem that I have experienced in one of the most reputed software companies is that your growth is totally in the hands of your
boss. You might be technically excellent but that hardly counts. What does count is sucking up to your boss. This is true of most software companies.
My opinion has slowly become that there is nothing technical about the technology industry. Its all based on favouritism and the like.
I am really sorry to say this though.
I took up B.Engineering in IT because I loved to program, but upon entering the industry I was appalled.
Inspite of being a very technically oriented person, I am still a proponent of the 8 hr. work day. I believe too that if done sincerely, real
good quality work can be achieved in 8 hrs. Europe does it, US does it, India can do it too.
Hope I havent hurt anyone’s sentiments – these are purely my opinions.
Any views or comments are welcome.
Cheers
You are absolutely right. I could not agree more with you.
One problem that I have experienced in one of the most reputed software companies is that your growth is totally in the hands of your
boss. You might be technically excellent but that hardly counts. What does count is sucking up to your boss. This is true of most software companies.
My opinion has slowly become that there is nothing technical about the technology industry. Its all based on favouritism and the like.
I am really sorry to say this though.
I took up B.Engineering in IT because I loved to program, but upon entering the industry I was appalled.
Inspite of being a very technically oriented person, I am still a proponent of the 8 hr. work day. I believe too that if done sincerely, real
good quality work can be achieved in 8 hrs. Europe does it, US does it, India can do it too.
Hope I havent hurt anyone’s sentiments – these are purely my opinions.
Any views or comments are welcome.
Cheers