World around us (Working world) Attrition, Hikes and Happiness

World around us (Working world) Attrition, Hikes and Happiness

“If in another 6 months, I don’t get a transfer to x-branch of the company, I would quit.”

“There is no challenge in this job profile. I want them to put me in x-project, where work would be interesting. Else I would put in my papers.”

“They are paying only x.x lakhs per annum even to freshers… Company Y pays double that. If in my next appraisal I don’t get at least z.z lakhs per annum, I will join Y. In fact, Y has already made me an offer to pay my bond money also. Besides, I have three other offers also to consider.”

“Im getting the big post besides double pay comparing my current one.”

“I was betrayed by my boss, he showed no intrest in my appraisal.”

“If you dont make hay while the sun shines you probably are a fool”

“The market is so good nowadays all u need is to be a good marketer to sell urself out there ofcourse for greater price”

These are the kind of words one gets to hear from the younger software engineers. Not that Im old, but that’s the feeling I get when I talk to these people. I remember back in 2005 when I passed out, when the industry was beginning to look good, recovering from the 2000 dot com bust, my batch mates considered themselves lucky to get a job. It is not that we all were angels and never cared about the money, but I feel we at least give our jobs more respect than ‘I-sell-myself-to-the-highest-bidder’. And i had to choose between a job in a S/W firm and in my core field. All i did was that i chose what i had thought and held close to my heart. Not that i repent for that decision, but sometimes when uland up in the wrong place alienized by that culture you just cant regret urself later... for im still courageous enough toraise one day or other. I decided to hibernate myself today. But I'll rise on the occasion. The dormant volcano will eruptone day not until......But what adds insult to the injury is the negligent culture in the core industries. They call whatever they do as innovation. Whatever they get as an award of recognition. Whatever they run as R&D it goes on... But will they change ?? before the world changes. I feel as if they were isolated from the happenings around the world. They seemto be more primitive to term even a hint of Oldest technology as Technology of Today in worst cases tomorrow...

Added to the insult from the society for not being a so called software engineer !! where only S/W engineers are worshipped in this society for the higher pay and perks they get, all we get comparitively is peanuts... What do i call ?? am i getting underpaid or the guys out there are getting overpaid.. Well it all depends on the prespective you see. But the world out there is certainly changing... Inflation is getting bigger and bigger.. the so called imbalance in the society is getting wider... as a result call it whatever (Under/Over paid) the sufferer is ultimately the engineer who wages a lone war against the raising mobsthat woo for the S/w industries forgetting what they were taught all those 4 yrs... They finally endup in Bench, in doing some Testing andsome brainers as developers where they hardly know what they were doing. But the society respects him for the status, for the money he earns.Even the country respects them for the revenue they genrate..tor the tax they pay.. its all happeing as if the hell is falling... Im not blaming any software engineers personally.. for most of my friends are S/W Engineers.. All i argue is the fact of changing trend... Why none of us are ready to concentrate on the growth of industries as a future... They say chinese Industries contribute about 50% of GDP. But whereas in India only 12%.. perhaps they were not yet into IT/ITES...(of im not so good at this.. The figures may b wrong, for im not anBuisness man atleast).. For only the S/W firms to be blamed for the mass recruitment which were unprecedented a decade before.. They hardlycare for the branch you did.. all they need is a resource.. either to increase thier bench strength, for development or any other for that matter.But what fascinates me is that the socalled engineers who attribute themselves for hard work, lesspaid, stress etc., for they hardly have known the work culture that has been the very spirit of this country so far. They want to relax themselves for not moving from the chair for 6 hrs. Blessed iam for i enjoy working with machines at times.. ofcourse the scene at the ITES (CAD/CAM/Product design) too is changaning nowadays.. the Mfg.sector is swiftly moving into bases of technology hub outsourcing their whole projects all they need is R&D. Theres hell lot of ppl out there doing thecrappy things.. Thatz the mindset of todays industries.. they no longer need brainy engineers or masters or doctorates.. I suggest them, all they needis a guy who hardly finished his schooling.. he can do the job much better. Theres no longer room for creativity, innovation or improvement or whateverthey call. The country as such is moving into a doom of lazy pranksters... for the others are discovering new technologies we still work on our callcenters to nurture our fluency in the foreign language. Which is considered as a big status in this country. when will be change. We should catch wind before it rains... out there is the crop that we have sowed.. for it to grow or not to is in our hands...

I don’t think the young engineers alone are to be blamed. In this boom of software industry when every company is in need of a large number of ‘resources’ (I hate the term resources – makes it sound as if people are just another computer – maybe ‘talent’ could fit better), they have been blatantly throwing ethics to the winds, openly encouraging prospective recruits to just vanish from their current positions without any notice. That’s just once side of the story. The other part is that while on a recruiting spree, every company fails to keep track of its current workforce, often paying lateral entrants much more than the employees who had stayed on for many years. Thus, loyal employees too are forced to look for greener pastures outside the company. Also, most companies refuse to give proper raises during appraisal meetings– whereas, in resignation meetings there is a better chance of being granted a hike. While most IT/ITES companies are constantly whining about high attrition rates, had they spent half of what they spend on luring others to the company on hikes to existing employees, the attrition rates could have been better managed.

Again, the dreams and aspirations of the youth is very constantly changing – if my previous generation was happy buying a car/house in the mid forties, this generation is still not content buying every ‘kool’ gadget under the sun using their credit cards. If the nth batch was happy with x lakhs per annum as salary, the (n + 1)th batch is not content with x.5 lakhs per annum. Somewhere along the road to economic prosperity, we’ve lost the key to happiness. As my generation becomes increasingly consumerist, I wonder whether with many times more salary than our previous generation, we would be at least half as happy as what our parents were. Being said all these, lets think our future.. for its the motto of this genration to live life to its fullest for the moment, its not us whoare going to live here in this part of world of ours, Lets Heal our world.. and make it a better place for the generations to come. Think aboutthe dream of yours, ours as a country and the dream of great men like APJ, lets work together to make india a superpower, a economical giant,a technology hub, a peaceful harmony, and above all a wonderful destiny. For if u dare to dream you'll be delighted when u Destine there...