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I totally agree... hey, its high time since we guys moved on to some real 'techie' stuff rather than be a part of some god-damned services or BPO industry... rather than crib, its totally in the hands of the x-gen kids... its time to break the rulez and do something useful.. we just need the 'pat' on our backs, and im sure things will get going... VCs are u listening?! :P

 

You're right, but then Infy or TCS or even Wipro will never equal Microsoft. Why?

Simply because Indians by nature are averse to taking risks. Especially at the corporate level. If you notice why any of the top software companies in the US succeed, it's because their primary business model in and of itself is based on something that's quite risky -- Products.

Infy, TCS, Wipro ad infinitum are nothing but modern day versions of Indian public-sector offices. It's a social thing, we are a security conscious culture.

I was at Microsoft this March - and I'll tell you the reason why Microsoft rocks. They are willing to put money in an idea, they are willing to invest as much as it takes. They are not afraid of taking risks, or doing something that might even kill them. The whole culture expects them to keep innovating, else the competition will kill them.

That is not the case back home - TCS is hiring 40,000 people - as many as Microsoft has. However, the average TCS (technical) employee cannot give me an optimal solution to sorting a quadraple-linked list at the drop of a hat, an average employee from any of the top software companies in the US can.

You ought to read Jamie Zawisnki's article on how and why Netscape died. Which is why, Infy, TCS and Wipro will die, too - if they do not innovate.

Anyway, goodluck, maybe if this generation does take a conscious step towards that goal, India may yet come out as India shining.

 

I will add one more point - the idea of salaries based on a scale, and the so-called educational qualifications should go.

One of my good friends is a teenager who earns $140k a year - yes - you got that right. Why? Because they pay him what he wants. In return, on an average he churns out ~1 patent every few months and rakes in a few million dollars of revenue. If Infy wants my services and I demand, say, 5 lakhs a month, it's because I've a reputation to uphold - and my quality comes at a price. If management drones can be paid huge sums, why not techies?

Why should I have to go through the whole cycle of a developer, a team leader and the whole way? I ought to be able to choose what level of competency I fit the profile of.

By putting all freshers in the same basket, you're forcing the good ones to be lowered down the scale. I know several freshers who are simply too brilliant to be doing that shit - but hey, we do not want innovative programmers. We want dumb, cheap, code monkeys with the title "engineer" (no matter what area they're majored in).

IT in India is going to have a long and hard fall, unless things change. Some of the resumes that people send in for job applications are a sight to behold.

 

I could not agree with you more.. The idea that a fresh graduate from college, no matter which institute he is from is put in the same basket of freshers without considering his ability or potential is absolutely stupid... But again, as you correctly pointed out, Why would Infosys or Wipro take that risk?? They are surviving just as well right now.. A pay scale as the one you mentioned would make a lot of sense, given that the employee would also put himself under pressure to deliver so as to do justice to the salary that he gets.

 

Why should Infosys or Wipro bother? Excellent question.

A quick search in the Delphion Patent database turns up four entries for Infosys and two entries for Wipro. So, that's six by the top two "information technology" houses of India.

On the other hand, Microsoft turns up 7,413 patents, while IBM turns up 81,103. That's 88,516 patents by the two top computer companies of the US.

A staggering ratio of 14,753:1 - given the fact that we have signed the WTO - this has the potential to stifle any and all progress. As long as Infy does the good clean, slave work for the top American companies, they would not care. The moment Infy grows bigger, or they get scared of their own positions (IBM, Accenture and the like have their own services arm, you know...) - Infy will start feeling the brunt.

Even if they cannot attack the IP rights in India, they will be forced out of their operations in the US. Which has already begun to happen, but hey you'd never read about it in Indian papers now, would you?

Besides, there are cheaper destinations than India. You really think we are that good? I'll send across a sample of the resumes I receive everyday, you'd then realize the crappy quality of programmers we _really_ have. Most lie, exaggerate, make claims of things they have not done and are outright pathetic.

Contrast this with a better and cheaper destination like South Korea. Or Eastern Europe. The average East European can whip any Indian's ass in math, sciences or programming on any day, twice on Sundays.

Unless we move onto other better areas (biotech for one, cryogenic space travel for another), it's going to be hard. Besides, just ONE industry cannot sustain - it provides for a single point of failure.