Tuesday, March 21, 2006

The dark face of IT/ITES salaries

This is from the point of view of the young employees in IT/ITES sectors.

"IT sector pays high salaries in India-so I want to become an IT professional",I am coming across this statement very often now-a-days.I am not trying to point that it is wrong.I may also say the same if I am not an IT professional.

The highest salary paid in IIIT-Hyderabad campus is Rs.8.4 Lakh per annum for a BTech graduate.A BTech graduate from other disciplines is paid a maximum of 1.5 Lakh per annum in their respective sectors.This is a large gap(6:1 ratio).So almost all graduates are shifting to IT by acquiring the required skills from coaching institutes .

The brutal murder of 24-year-old Pratibha Srikanth Murthy, who worked at the HP GlobalSoft call center has made me think , How many potential Entrepreneurs,Researchers,IAS/IPS/IFS officers,Chartered Accountants,Bank managers,Lawyers,Judges,writers,....... are taking up the call center jobs,because they need money? Working in the night,sleeping in the day is against biological clock but many youngsters are used to it.What I feel is youngsters must think BIG.

Coming to the work done in IT sector.90% of it is not up to the standard, but people are satisfied with their work because of big bucks.It is upto the youngsters to show the world that India is not only capable of support work of a company but also core and fundamental work.This will happen when India Inc. comes up with a revolutionary startup like Google.I am happy to know that effort is put in this direction.I also want to be part of it.This include barcamps,Technology Business Incubation units are opened in IITs and some of the other schools.They encourage the students to establish startups to carry out work in fundamental areas.Kritikal solutions,Kanwal Rekhi School of Information and Technology, are some of them.I hope many more institutes work towards such initiatives.Indian government must back them up.

Although IT sector pays high salaries compared to other sectors.The hype is so much that a lay man started considering IT employee as an ambani or a Tata.Also companies in service sector doesn't pay so much particularly for a fresher.Instead of the average salary metric ,the maximum salary metric is more advertised.This may be the cause of hype.Take places like Miyapur,Kondapur and Madhapur in Hyderabad (may be the same with IT boom cities) .This is the belt that surround the IT companies.The standards of living in these places is double compared to other areas Why?Simply because the support landlords,house-maids,food joints think that software people swim in the money like Scrooge Mc Duck of Ducktales.One will faint easily looking at the prices in the menu of any road-side restaurant in these areas.So my room-mate and I am cleaning the house by ourselves,washing clothes and are planning to cook.

May be I overeacted when our landlord increased the rent by a high amount all of a sudden and looked as if it is his right to do so because we are earning sooo much according to him

5 comments:

Chaitanya said...

Its HI-Time for IT industry n so the migration is no surprise.But its not that people from different sects jumping into this field.Everyone knows of the Time when IT was struggling to stand on its feet even in US n so neither a matured laywer,nor an IAS officer
stretches his feet into a dynamic market.Though they r'nt paid of such huge sums ,still they hav their own credibilities.And coming to the issue of ever growing prices on the belt of MM(madhapur-miyapur),whome do u really blame on??
Is it the one who is selling the commodity at such high prices or the who is consuming it!!
The best game everyone knows is the blame game n we r not an exception for it.Come on dude stop questioning abt it n try to come up with a solution!!! :))))

Shadab said...

Common Chaitanya,I am not blaming any one.Why would I cry if IT is shining?I want it to shine more.But if you take the statistics the number of candidates aspiring for other opportunities you will find that it is reduced.Just go to each company,I suggest one company a day :-) and take the number of employees who are working with out interest in the work.Why is it so?You will be surprised.Reasons include sub-standard work,no motivation,no interest in computers at all and so on.
Now let us talk about blame-game.I started educating my landlord,shop-keepers around my house.What they think is wrong?IT is paying more than other sectors.But it is not paying so much to all, so that they can increase the prices as if they like.Ultimately it's a societal system.If the economy looses balance then one more divide will arise like digital divide.
What about you?Will you start collecting statistics and educating people of your ayappa nagar?After all alone I can do nothing.

pradeep said...

i was discussing this topic with my prof(fyp) once and he said that other fields were experiencing a big 'brain drain' due
to the big bucks in the IT sector. Many professions that were otherwise very good options now seem obsolete, courtesy
the IT sector. How many of the good performing kids in schools(in AP) talk about or dream about becoming lawyers,
agricultural scientists, police and armed forces personnel? How many good students are opting for interesting things
like arts, political sciences and other social sciences. The aspiration for a govt job was very high in the public
when I was a kid. Now ppl dont even care for prestigous institutions like DRDO(one of my friends got a job there but
now he doesnt want to go there coz he got into a private IT firm that sends ppl overseas and so he can make more money).
The other day I read an article in paper about how Civil Services seems to lose their charm coz of the
same reason(I'm not sure about this but the article said there was a considerable impact). Maybe there are a few ppl
still interested in such stuf, but nonetheless it's too small a number.
Now I dont blame the people(this includes me) for making a bee line for the computer jobs. It's natural for a person
to look for better comforts and pleasures in life.
Now I seriously dont agree with you that rates around hi-tech city shouldnt be so high. I seriously think they should
definetly be higher than other places. It is obvious that 'we' are earning more than our counterparts in other areas.
You said 15k per month as a very low amount. Do you know how much a normal govt officer or a private school
teacher(remember there must be some private schools in your locality too) or for that matter an IAS officer gets paid?
The govt thinks that a basic of around 12k per month is enough for the collector of a district. You can talk of perks
but even they are reasonably good for us. Let's not discuss black money here.:D
Does this really mean that all police officers and other govt officials out there are there just coz they couldnt make
it here? I may seem rude but the answer is partially yes.
I'm not qualified to propose a solution to this problem, but it seems that these ppl should be heavily taxed than others.
In an indirect way the companies which make huge money can be heavily taxed, but if this be the case we will lose the
companies. We definetly dont want to lose the duck laying golden eggs. We cant stop that altogether but definetly we
can put a fight against this. Now the only way seems to be pulling out more money from the ppl indirectly. Such areas
where ppl like us live or have offices can be identified and put up as seperate zones where other commercial activities
like cinema, malls and eat-outs can be heavily taxed. Other restrictions like firms that make this much of money as
revenue or profit have to have atleast these many people so that the same revenue is generated but distributed among
more people(I know this sounds stupid in many cases, it does even to me now. but that's what came to my mind instantly).

What am I talking about? Am I talking like a communist? May be yes. If some ppl can make more money that's their
talent. How can you tax them for being smart? I'll send you a forwarded mail that I got
recently. Will go home and do it. gmail doesnt work here :P

Hey where did I start and where have I gone? Anyway gotta go home now.
bbye

Shadab said...

Pradeep, I does not mean that 15000 is
low amount.But many think that every IT professional is paid not less than 25000/- per month.Thats what I wanted to highlight.So every one is taking it for granted that IT people have no issues in spending money.If this notion is continued in the same intensity then one day will come where the same 15000/- will be low amount.

Suman Y said...

True ra shadab .. very true ... most of the times all a guy is doing is copy pasting ... not even using his brain... and doing all that just for his stomach ... buuuut .. his very very very very very valuable life is getting wasted ! he is not doing something meaningful ..something useful ane point notice cheyyadam ledu !! .. I feel .. a farmer's job is a hundred times meaningful than "most" IT professional's WORKK !!!