Comment by Noname on 2005-11-16 21:32:18
I think Mr. "Not entirely true" is little confused. When he is giving an example of opening up a grocery store, it seems he has forgotten the one basic thing that in case of owner of a grocery store even if he work for 20 hrs, he will be gaining something from it. The prime thing "Money". Hard work never works in the long run. Many of my friends are working in the US. They say that they go home at 5.00 PM everyday but their colleagues in India stay late in the office. I wonder if hard work pays, then how MS/Sun are able to deliver "The Technology" products to the world just by working 8-9 hrs a day. One most important thing is Indian companies are not sure of what is "The Technology". We are just followers. And the day is not far when other low-cost options like China, Mexico, Brazil will crop up and Indian will lose its importance in software world. So its to woke up and understand the reality. Instead of just dreaming about how India is great. India has done nothing to improve the way we work. I have even worked under the managers who don't know the language in which the project is being developed. And these people talk about "The Technology", which is very disgusting. |
Comment by Noname on 2005-11-16 23:56:17
The only solution is to start planning an exit strategy while the going is good and not wait till you become a nervous wreck. |
Comment by Noname on 2005-11-17 00:45:14
I take serious exception to Amarinder's comments - "if you can manage a motor car production does not mean that you can manage a software project". Well can he tell me how many Project Managers with Technology background (aka Glorified Developers) have been successful as PMs? The problem is that the industry neither grooms its developers to become PMs nor facilitates successful PMs from non-Technical background to fit into their new role. The type of PM he has referred to fail mostly because of the Technical leads who see him as a challenger to their career(!) and ensure that he fails. The organizations also do not recognize this as a cultural issue and try to resolve it. Rather they either brand the PM as incapable or eliminate the Technical Lead. I am telling this from my personal experience and from the experiences of some of my friends - all of us moved from the "Old World" to this so called "New World". |
Comment by Noname on 2005-11-17 06:26:18
This is a very timely and relevant post.
At the peak of IT all, my mom, 54 years old, looked much healthier than me, since she sleeps daily at 10:30 p.m. and wakes up at 5:30 a.m. and goes for a walk in the park. While I returned home at approximately the same time, having left a good amount of my hair in between the keys on my keyboard at work.
Sheesh....Wish I had some sense!
You've got to learn to draw the line. You've got to respect yourself and say, "No".
vijucat |
Comment by Noname on 2005-11-17 07:21:06
The things mentioned are relevant, but today perception of most managers are changing. They are too learning to respect the personal life of ppl working for them. It will take time to change the attitude everywhere. |
Comment by Noname on 2005-11-17 23:20:08
Very good article Harshad and good to see quite a few comments on this...
I seriously feel that there is no point in blaming the company for this...It is in the hands of the employee to take care and plan accordingly, if he/she is staying late then it means to say that his/her planning is not proper and they are not abel to manage their time properly.
There are also quite a number of people who wish to come to office as they dont have anything else to do..and they are so used to working that if they stay at home for one weekend without going to office they feel they are bored. So, people should change themselves than blaming the company or the managers.
-Priya. |
Comment by Noname on 2005-11-17 23:30:11
A very well written piece. I guess we all at some point of time go through this. Even for me, past 3-4 months had invovled working more than 13 hours of day. Being a girl I can't sit late so I have to come in office by 8 and sit till 10 in office.
If we try to say something about this to our seniors we are immediately labled as the ones "Having attitude problem!". That affects my apperisals and hence my salary. Those who play TT in afternoon but sit till 1 in the night are given promotion because seniors see him sit till 1 in night. How many hours one sit in company has suddenly become a scale for how much hard working one is rather than seeing his productivity.
We can't change Narayan Muthry or any chairmen of other companines. We have to take initiative that we don't follow their footpath if we reach there place.
Only then we can think of changing this world. Only then we can create something which Gandhi created some 70 years back. |
Comment by Noname on 2005-11-18 01:08:49
You are right on spot. I have been working in a tier 1 indian software company. I have been through this grind. I have slogged.. :-(. Currently I am in US and I see ppl work for 8 hours a day and they are respected for that. A Desi Manager treats his team members like his servants and does not respect them. This is not true here in US. |
Comment by Noname on 2005-11-18 02:21:38
Hi,
This is very good article, but I would say is common to all Indian Compnaies. This is how we Indian has cultivated our working stile. This is what is our Work Cluture is..... We seriously need to change this and that has to be a collective efforts of Management and employees. We have set our standard working hours like that only. Managers should undrstand that its quality of work important rather than hours or work.
No body should be appraised based on hours of work put in. HR should be also active. I have seenn this common to Indian Work culture ... present in all industries... be it a Banking or IT or an audit Firm.....
People in developed country work less and still their countries is developed like All European Countries , US and others.
So we need to change as Indian and take some good US and European culture ..... |
Comment by Noname on 2005-11-18 02:51:39
I would like to put some comments on this.
# First of all none whether at Manager, Team leader, Programmer or Designer works for WORK. He/She works for earning money only, and little bit for showing him/her self in our culture in terms of earning high scale, living prosperous life etc.
Which means none will think about this problem in any corner and which results into person like Harshad. He spoke very well. But his level will be at programmer ot Tl, so he can't do much more to solve this problem in his/her company.
# Other things is that our Nation has NO goal, and none cares for anything whether it is NGO or Goverment or any Private company which can look after this and many other problems.
# We like to show off our self because our history and past culture didn't let us do so and it has filled in us with Hate, Jealously and Pain which we release time by time by causing pain to others. I am saying this in broad sense and not just in term of IT industry.
# This is sleeping country, and don't know where it is going towards. However I would like to call it as CROWD and not as country where everyone can do whatever he/she likes regardless of what should be done.
# Until 1990 most of us didn't know or concerned about Money, Mobile phones, Cars, Hi-Fi life etc, but with the arrival of Globalisation, we suddenly realized how far we are from rest of world, which created sudden burst in us for living such life and as we know it can be satisfied only by high paying job which is, I think, possible only in IT industry. So we enjoyed it's fruits at great extent. But we forgot the future of it and didn't use our IT knowledge in educating our country nor we tried to lift up other industries using skills of IT, which resulted in isolation IT industry with others. Hence now even if India is most exporting country of IT products, It seldom uses it's fruits at it's home. And IT products remained just as item for Exports only.
# Until we use our It skills at our home, this problem will remain there because to live better life, anything must be attached directly to day to day life.
# Most of employees at the time of recruitment don't have clear idea about what is exact requirement and what he/she is going to do. Instead they are just concerned about what is going to be Paid. Even when 2 employees in IT talk about their jobs, they will most of time talk about paying scale and facilities only and will never discuss about environment & work culture of their companies or what technologies their companies use for production.
# Please note that when you don't know about your skills and strengths, you will take more time to finish your task than expected. And since you don't want to loose your job, you will for more hours and more days. It is not that always only Higher management forces you to work longer than it is required.
# Final point is about Education. I think most of problems lies in bad education given to us by our past Indians. Since they didn't learn or might be they were not taught, we are result of it. Logic is simple. If your parents are not that much educated then you will not likely to learn. Here education is not just teachings of School or College but the Knowledge that is needed in living better life.
# Conclusion: I see this problem as more of employees than employers, because unless and until you oppose what is not worth for you and other programmers in any case, higher management will never consider what is worth for you. So stand up and speak for your self. |
Home | 
