10 Years in the IT industry
I just survived a decade in the IT industry. When I joined my first company after my college graduation, I never thought, I would be sustained this long when I used to see people around me. They were having a pretty strong background, good vision, good plans, etc. What I had was a college degree in computer science and hope to see the industry which we never saw.
This industry, culture gave me a lot. I realize that you don't need to have a strong background to enter the IT industry, what you need is knowledge or urge to gain more knowledge.
This industry always gives you options, rather I would say good options. You may choose to have a good work-life balance, good development opportunity, or research opportunity, all have their pros and cons.
I mostly worked for product-based companies. In spite of being product-based or oriented, I feel that the product development or to be precise, billable or valued product development is still not part of Indian IT companies. Most of the IT companies are owned by western countries and most of the development is done at their end only. So here we get to maintain that project and maybe some of the features to develop. But that's all, I never see any full-fledged development started here.
But that is also not fully true, most of the people here in India are much more reluctant for such opportunities and they are much more concerned about their personal interests. Few of them are happy to spend a few hours in the office and that's all.
With Big Giants like Google and Amazon, the trends are changing and people want to get more involved in product development. I remember when I joined my first organization, and if you are asked, where you will see yourself after 12–15 years, more than 90% of the people used to say that, I will see myself as a manager with a good team working ‘under’ me. And really after spending a few years, I saw dead hunger in lots of developers just because of this management trend. But as I said earlier with the new giants coming and India becoming a prominent home for lots of startups, people started inclined to development career for a few more years or rather for most of their career.
The notice period is also one of the factors which are getting lousy attention over some time. I think it should be renamed as ‘Time wasting period’. I think both, organizations and employees are culprits in this. The organization is expecting a new joiner to join soon but don't want to let their employee go sooner. Here start the actual games of multiple offers. I personally saw that many organizations hire employees just because he/she can join early, without any proper evaluations. I think many organizations also know the potential threats of this situation. Most of the employees are trapped in this offer chasing race and sometimes end up in the wrong environment. I am telling you this from my personal experience.
Overall this is a fantastic industry to work in. I feel the change in my life, change in my thoughts, change in my behavior. IT culture will teach you, how to plan your things ahead. Your perspective will change to look at the world. You will feel the difference in your surroundings and at the same time, you will feel connected to this global world. Your aspirations will be fulfilled and there is always something to try something new. There is always a fresh start and there is always value for an experience.
I am a Happy IT-wala :)
