Is the IT/ITES/BPO Sector the best employer?
At last, blogs are doing what they ought to – Criticize and Learn. Instead of the normal, ‘your post/comment is holy and the most insightful, etc.’ type of comments and replies, one blogger has chosen to go off-beat and write an entire post criticizing my comment. This is the comment in contention –
“First of all, I am happy that you did not choose to be one of those IT/ITES/BPO employees in swanky IT parks, contributing to practically nothing, except price-rises. I am happy that you have chosen a field where you can make a significant contribution, unlike those ‘software engineers’ that I see all around me”
First of all, I should appreciate that blogger for criticizing my point of view. This was the kind of spirit I saw in the blogosphere when I started blogging, back in 2008. Back then, I learned a lot just by participating in debates/controversies and reading other’s frank opinions. Somewhere along the way, blogs changed drastically and people started scratching each others backs (as my non-blogger friend calls it), and started using sugar-coated words.
Anyway, let us now come to the issue in contention. Since I don’t work in the IT/ITES/BPO industry, I am actually least qualified to make such a comment. But then, my opinion was formed due to continuous interactions with people working in that field. Most of my friends are, ‘software engineers’. Irrespective of what they do, they call themselves that.
Since I have never worked in the IT/ITES/BPO sector, I request others (who have worked/ know people who work in that industry) to answer one question – Is IT/ITES/BPO segment the best employer? Based on your answers, I might want to change my opinion.
Go ahead and answer the question. I am not going to reply to any comment in this post and hence, for a change, you will be writing to convince yourself, not me. If anyone tries to reply to anyone else below, those comments will be deleted. I want people to give their frank opinion (it can be for or against the topic, that doesn’t matter), but it should be what you think and not what others expect you to think.
Destination Infinity
PS: Rather than supporting my comment, I would be happy if you could just answer the question.
Contd: What are the factors you mostly look forward to, in a job?
I would have commented a similar one if I was supposed to answers on IT sector. I think IT has been the cause and source as well on the price rise and I would not dismiss their contribution to growth, but it helps only certain people and create unbalance development. I would say farmers are the best contributors of country!
someone if does not understand about post let me explain little
our friend commented on someones blog, and after reading that comment someone other wrote a blog post link for its given in the post.
Its great that someone felt your thought and he wrote a post on that.
I think every job is important and contributes something
Soon I will post article on PIL subject, which you suggested me before that I will suggest please you read the following post.
What is Public Interest Litigation? Know Guidelines on Public Interest Litigation given by Supreme Court of India –
http://realityviews.blogspot.in/2011/01/what-is-public-interest-litigation-know.html
I think software engineer is another term OVERUSED..
and the answer to your question is a big fat NO.. I dont think so they are ..
BEST to the nation and society sadly we dont see it that way , One day when we will have to start to import everything from different countries we shall find out ..
I often worry, ‘What will happen to the civil work, Mechanical work, art, science etc. when every youngster opts to become a software Engineer?’. I have heard from many IT professionals that their job is monotonous and that is the reason they keep on hopping jobs. They get into depression, often, it seems. I asked my grand niece to take interior decoration or fasion technology because she is good at desiging things…very good visualisation. But because of peer pressure, she became a software engineer. Now, she is bored.
We get jobs in every field nowadays, but youngsters are after software engg. , which is not good.
Hmmm…my son is a software engineer!
IT/ITeS was the best employer…. the industry was doing well and could afford to take good care of its employees. Sadly, owing to US protectionism, many smaller companies in this segment may not see mega growth, cost cutting will be introduced and sad to say, so will many of the ‘frills’ that employees of this sector could enjoy – such as good amenities at work. That said, what is a good employer? It at times boils down to the person you are reporting to and not the organisation.
One silver lining that I see across industry, is flexibility – flexibility to work from home being one such instance.
I would not blame the IT sector price rise, true demand for flats say in Bangalore could have gone up because of the IT sector and this led to increasing prices…. but then this is an issue of demand and supply and why blame the demand side for that? Look at the employment which the sector provided, the foreign exchange that it brought in.
Since I live in USA, I assume you meant IT Sector in India and not the IT Sector in the world as a whole. It may be the best as for as salary is concerned. It is one of the worst in working conditions. Also, it is not going to grow as fast as it grew the past years. Americans are not happy that their jobs are exported overseas for cheap labor. And, American politicians are not fools. They are listening to their voters.
Esp. Obama is listening intently, I was told!
Without doubt, India has come a long way due to the IT and ITES industry……but, i am certain that they are not the best employer! If they were, at all, there wouldn’t be so much stress and fallout associated with work in that sector!
I can’t really comment on the IT sector, but yes, i miss the old blog atmosphere too 🙂
I have worked in IT and now I am in creative arts. IT is good but I won’t say the best employer.
I don’t know much about IT sector.
Can any sector actually claim to be the ‘best employer’? What does that term even mean? I used to work in the IT industry, and it worked for me then. I enjoyed doing what I did – a lot. Was my employer the best- far from it, but I think if we are satisfied with what we are doing, if our work gives us that satisfaction along with the sense of value, in terms of remuneration, responsibility, roles etc, we would continue in that organisation/sector.
IT has opened up avenues for a lot of people, but is it the best employer? As I said, it would depend on what our aspirations are.
As for IT contributing to inflation, price rise etc.. that would take a different sort of analysis to answer, don’t you think? I, for instance, do see the trickle down effect, while some might not.
I agree with Bikram and Smitha.
By what standards do you decide a best employer anyway? Keeping employees happy? Minimal attrition rate? High standards of HR practices? It’s a tough call to take.