Down, not Out

Has anybody considered giving the Indian IT Industry an award for succeeding

during the current financial year in spite of all odds? Travel across the US and

see the corpses of thousands of companies, washed away by the twin waves of the

recession and the September 11 disaster. Besides, there are hundreds of others

with a glimmer of hope after seeing revenues halved and profits evaporate during

the last twelve months. Only then would one understand the resilience of the

Indian IT industry that has been buffeted by wave upon wave of disaster. Adding

to the two global disasters, we had our very own local massing of troops on the

neighboring border and now the horror of Gujarat, which has sent new shivers

across the collective spines of our American and European customers and

prospects.

The entire industry, particularly software exporters, are preparing to count

the few blessings of the year that is ending and address the growth challenges

in the forthcoming year. It would not be out of place to point out to the

thousands of millionaire wannabes who are deserting IT for seemingly safer

career options, that the opportunities that attracted them toward computer

training institutes through the nineties, are still very much there. Possibly

not for the get rich quick types but very much for the sincere and focused breed

that the Indian industry has been built out of.

A case in point is the story of a young lad called V Krishnan who has

succeeded against all odds to make a career switch and move to the US in the

middle of the slowdown. Having quit a ‘safe’ job and ventured off to

Portland, Oregon in the middle of 2001, young Krishnan had everything going

against him. But due to sheer diligence and perseverance, he is a proud Unix

Administrator at a significant logistics firm on the West Coast, building his

bank balance as well as his confidence in spite of the business mayhem that has

been wreaked all around him. In a recent mail exchange, Krishnan says

opportunities still exists for Web application developers, manufacturing and

transportation ERP specialists, logistics and supply chain business

professionals, quality assurance, testing and disaster recovery skills and

systems administrators of all hues.

Web and Unix administrators will never go out of fashion like the vast Java

and vanilla ERP community, because skills in high-availability systems, data

changeovers from one system to another in times of emergency, backup and restore

management, patch management and switching are now the core need of all medium

and large installations.

What makes the Krishnan success story highly replicable is that jobs like his

do not need ‘rocket science’ qualification. He suggests a bachelor’s

degree in science and two to five years of work experience since rookies are

more likely to be hired from local American community colleges. What is more

important, he feels are good communication skills, an ability to see the larger

picture and marry system needs to organization demands and the willingness to

provide regular updates to team leaders and members, even if there are mistakes

to be reported. And most important, he feels is the ability to follow American

football, baseball and basketball and discuss these topics avidly every Monday

morning!

The revival of business prospects in the global software markets will surely

lead to success for the farsighted and clairvoyant firms, which have used the

slow period to reskill and retool and move a little further up the value chain.

Finally, a thought on Gujarat. In this extremely disturbed environment, where

the smoke and fire may have been temporarily doused but the dust is still to

settle on the killing fields across the state, is it not the responsibility of

the educated and employed intelligentsia to take up the cause of a truly secular

India and be prepared to protect the secular tenets of our country with little

more than words? It is time to participate in the confidence building agenda

through monetary and physical involvement and lead the way within our

organizations as the IT Industry has always done — let us make the environment

and our country proud again.

The author is deputy chairman and managing director of Zensar Technologies

and the global CEO of Zensar



He can be reached at ganesh@dqindia.com