Vinny’s Blog

update - 03/25/2008.

As you know Ravi presented his views on returning to India and today I came across an article which is very interesting..

Americans seek employment in India

After months of job search, the only place Durbin received a job offer was from a Bangalore-based IT major this month. ”I am here to apply for my work visa to India,” Durbin told NDTV.com, standing outside the India Visa Services Centre in Manhattan, to which the Indian Embassy and Consulates have outsourced visa-processing system.

http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20080044950

March-18-2008———————————————————————————————————————-

Hi, Guys…remember Ravi. Yes ! our good friend Ravi…well as you know he left us and then joined Citigroup in London and then moved out of London back to India to be close to his family (parents) etc. For a long time I myself have debated the idea of going back to India….and.. I know that many of us have thought of going back go India at one point or the other - either on purpose OR in case IT hit the fan for us here ? then !

After a long pause finally Ravi was able to write me back about his experience. I asked for his permission to publish this on my blog this way not only me but all of us can read about his experience. So, with his permission here it is….

-From Ravi

————————-

At Work

- Work culture is completely different.

- It is very important to find a boss who also worked for significant amount of time abroad. If you get stuck with a boss who grew up the ladder staying back at home and doing some business trips, you will completely feel like a nerd looking at some of the logic being applied. Such lot who have not worked outside India have very complicate thinking and complete lack of understanding of customer needs like transparency, proactive communication etc

- Carefully join an organization which is running an ODC setup in India. Example- Citigroup office in Mumbai or something like Microsoft ODC or Oracle ODC etc. If you join any of the Indian IT consulting majors or even global consulting firms, the expectation is “ “what business can you bring in rather than what you can do”.

- Remember there are loads of projects but there is heavy talent shortage in India. If you are in charge of a significant delivery, more than 50% of your time will be spent on setting up a team and in the meantime schedules run out and customer shouts !!

- Attitude of youngsters in IT is a big shock. There is zero commitment and there is no sense of belongingness in the teams. In our days team members used to stay back and work together. Current generation lot of them have their own groups outside work and are demanding for their own time outside work. Unfortunately with the sort of deadlines we agree to we always need that extra time which does not seem to be coming from them any where now-a-days

- Also, in a batch of 100 new recruits only 10 turn out smart. Rest 90 are crap and become your liability in the projects. Though all proclaim loud they can fire, it is a complete rarity to show the exit to this crap lot.

- Almost every one wants an on-site opportunity. How you balance that ambition is one of the challenging tasks for you as a manger.

- Don’t think retuning back folks are taken in with lot of respect now. Those days are gone and expect tough and multiple interviews before being selected. No mercy and you may have to get that technical stuff right even if you want to position yourself as a manger etc. Don’t get mad but remember we are in IT and that is the business the companies are running. So respect their intent and take the calls accordingly.

- If you get some of the logistics right and get spotted, career is a dream in India. You will be recognized and talked about and you can reach the top in a short amount of time. This is completely different from the corporate setup abroad where we face some challenges in growing and getting spotted.

- Most firms in India have abundant talent spotters and they are given enough leeway to work independently and multiply the business. Pay is in direct proportion to all this.

At Home and family

- If you are emotionally attached to family and that is the main reason you are coming back to India, ensure you stay at a place close to family. Other wise you will realize, you used to spend more time at parent’s place during your trips to India from abroad than when you are actually in India. Vacation is maximum of 2-3 days at a stretch. Forget about going out for at least a week break like you do more often abroad.

- If you have bought a home in a gated community with facilities like pool, gym etc while you are abroad, you are a lucky and smart chap and one of the worries is gone. You and family will be comfortable and happy with the sort of amenities in the gated communities. Kids get their playing time and they will have whale of fun.

- Multiple schools are available based on the amount of money you want to splash. There is no concept of good school like the old days where teachers remember their wards for years etc. A good school now-a-days is judged unfortunately on the facilities available rather than the talent of teaching stuff. End result, despite having envious facilities, you might end in rut with your kids as talented and committed teachers are a gone.

- Other than Taco Bell most of the big chains like Pizza Hut, McDonalds, Baskin Robbins, Subway, Dominos are here. So you get the same stuff like abroad, better still you get indianised version of some of these stuff als0, people are eating out a lot and there are multiple restaurants.

- Air travel is easy and you can take off to some good place with family easily provided you get time that is !!!

- It is affordable to go to Europe and east Asia from India and middle class India is doing it big time now-a-days during summer,

General

- Infrastructure is crap and roads are deplorable. You will miss those long drives on some of the quiet freeways, a lot. In general you will die to get those ‘Pardes’ moments back (when Sharukh goes with the song ‘Yeh dil, diwana’ on SanFransico bridge !!!).

- Initially you will laugh when people buy a BMW or Mercedes but sit in the back. But that is the wisest thing to do on the roads. Some of the highways I heard like Pune-Bombay are good. NH-5 to my knowledge is also great.

- Though schools come in various flavors like international, global etc, the focus is on books. Creativity of kids which is nurtured abroad is a goner from day one.

- If you are coming back when your kid is between 3-10, don’t expect that accent etc from abroad to stay. Expected raw , regionalized English !!

- Stay in a community which has good mix of educated and IT crowd, and kids will be well groomed.

- Summer is well, summer. Don’t expect a compromise here. You can have 10 a/c’s at home but remember you gotta go out multiple times and hence get exposed to the heat.

- Amusement parks , malls etc are coming up big time, so there is scope for family to go out. Despite that movies are the biggest pastime and multiplexes are coming up every where to give a good experience.

- You will hate to drive at night with people using high beam.

- Remember Freedomget to pursue dream with little or no hassles etc. that will be gone . Caste card , corruption are way of life and strong and only wealthy castes are running the show (real-estate, multiplexes, hospitals) and minting money. Doing something on own might materialize if you have right connections or extra strong will to get things done. You will be surprised to see some of the folks who returned back are big time into politics but are still playing the caste and corruption card. This is very unfortunate but true.

Conclusion

- Don’t act on emotions and buy those return tickets to back home. Think and plan well. Get a good job, ensure you have a house in best locales and some of the initial relocation is taken care of . Ensure you have enough money to take family back to where you came back from after at least 1 year on a short vacation. This will reduce the nostalgia. Work wise join a firm which is running a ODC. (it’s own shop)