Problems for Indian Managers...
I read that Bush bhai is going to address the nation tomorrow, maybe even apologize for the poor response to Katrina. I hope his speechwriters did a spell check, and that he practices pronouncing, else I will have to mention that in my next post.
The FEMA/Horse dude, I mean director, officially resigned yesterday. Good for him, and us. The media is just getting started on whooping some politician ass. I just saw the tail end of a piece on ABC that showed how some Louisiana Senator caused two helicopters and eight army men to wait for 45 minutes while he went into his house and collected his belongings, including a laptop. And if that was not enough, they reported that he got pissed that someone broke his house window. And so it keeps going...
And speaking of the media, I've noticed a spurt in the number of Indians [as in desi's] in US TV. I don't mean to be a racist, but I cannot help observing this. I saw an ad for a cereal in which there is a desi "intern", then there was some show on NBC where there is an Indian "doctor", then I saw an "engineer" on CSI. Then there was a t-mobile ad, in which the background music was our very own "didi tera devar diwana". I also remember some people in ads for a Volkswagen commercial...Guess people have started to acknowledge the number of people here. Which might be good or bad, but its happening all the same.
Onto some reports I just finished reading from my various subscriptions [decent ones]. Guess what business executives in India think is the number one constraint in their organizations growth? According to this article by McKinsey Quarterly, its the lack of qualified labor. That does sound surprising when all you keep hearing about is India's seemingly vast labor pool. But, for those of us from India it does make sense. We have so many colleges that almost everyone who applies is guaranteed admission into some engineering or technical school or the other. The lack of quality is inevitable with this vast increase in quantity.
We might end up falling over ourselves if we continue to churn out so much supply. The study estimates, for example that in Hyderabad by 2008, demand for qualified engineers will hit 138 percent of supply. A direct quote - "Graduates of the top schools, such as the seven Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and the six Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), are world class, but elsewhere the level of quality declines steeply." [They forgot Mepco Schlenk, my alma mater, but that's ok].
The other factor I think, is the increasing salaries of professionals. Project Managers salaries have risen by around 20% and Programmers by 13% in the past four years. The primary motivation for companies to move into India is the cost benefit. Increasing salaries will definitely hit operating costs, as is explained in another study.
Another issue is the lack of communication skills or just the ability to speak English. Here, I think the Southern part of India really takes a hit. If people speak English in colleges here, its called showing "Peter", an euphemism for saying to shut it and shove it and not show off. Its another matter that these very people must speak English when they go job hunting. Sad, but true state of affairs.
I think the one sure way to increase quality of our future engineers is for schools to start associating with the private sector. Look at the US, research and outside projects are an integral part of the curriculum [never mind that you don't actually do research]. This brings in money, and with it accountability. If the school and students don't perform, they company will just go elsewhere. The other thing would be to start getting creative. Technical skills are important, but there is so much more that an engineer can learn. Schools should start giving some useful electives than the usual crappy ones that no one cares about. We seem to have somehow got into the rut of thinking that the terms Engineering and Software Development are synonyms.
And don't forget that most of the good ones end up in the US, writing blogs and giving opinions on what the problems in India are. Hey somebody's got to do it, right?!
The FEMA/Horse dude, I mean director, officially resigned yesterday. Good for him, and us. The media is just getting started on whooping some politician ass. I just saw the tail end of a piece on ABC that showed how some Louisiana Senator caused two helicopters and eight army men to wait for 45 minutes while he went into his house and collected his belongings, including a laptop. And if that was not enough, they reported that he got pissed that someone broke his house window. And so it keeps going...
And speaking of the media, I've noticed a spurt in the number of Indians [as in desi's] in US TV. I don't mean to be a racist, but I cannot help observing this. I saw an ad for a cereal in which there is a desi "intern", then there was some show on NBC where there is an Indian "doctor", then I saw an "engineer" on CSI. Then there was a t-mobile ad, in which the background music was our very own "didi tera devar diwana". I also remember some people in ads for a Volkswagen commercial...Guess people have started to acknowledge the number of people here. Which might be good or bad, but its happening all the same.
Onto some reports I just finished reading from my various subscriptions [decent ones]. Guess what business executives in India think is the number one constraint in their organizations growth? According to this article by McKinsey Quarterly, its the lack of qualified labor. That does sound surprising when all you keep hearing about is India's seemingly vast labor pool. But, for those of us from India it does make sense. We have so many colleges that almost everyone who applies is guaranteed admission into some engineering or technical school or the other. The lack of quality is inevitable with this vast increase in quantity.
We might end up falling over ourselves if we continue to churn out so much supply. The study estimates, for example that in Hyderabad by 2008, demand for qualified engineers will hit 138 percent of supply. A direct quote - "Graduates of the top schools, such as the seven Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and the six Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), are world class, but elsewhere the level of quality declines steeply." [They forgot Mepco Schlenk, my alma mater, but that's ok].
The other factor I think, is the increasing salaries of professionals. Project Managers salaries have risen by around 20% and Programmers by 13% in the past four years. The primary motivation for companies to move into India is the cost benefit. Increasing salaries will definitely hit operating costs, as is explained in another study.
Another issue is the lack of communication skills or just the ability to speak English. Here, I think the Southern part of India really takes a hit. If people speak English in colleges here, its called showing "Peter", an euphemism for saying to shut it and shove it and not show off. Its another matter that these very people must speak English when they go job hunting. Sad, but true state of affairs.
I think the one sure way to increase quality of our future engineers is for schools to start associating with the private sector. Look at the US, research and outside projects are an integral part of the curriculum [never mind that you don't actually do research]. This brings in money, and with it accountability. If the school and students don't perform, they company will just go elsewhere. The other thing would be to start getting creative. Technical skills are important, but there is so much more that an engineer can learn. Schools should start giving some useful electives than the usual crappy ones that no one cares about. We seem to have somehow got into the rut of thinking that the terms Engineering and Software Development are synonyms.
And don't forget that most of the good ones end up in the US, writing blogs and giving opinions on what the problems in India are. Hey somebody's got to do it, right?!
posted by Ram at
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
1 Comments:
Thanks for dropping by..
I liked this post, but no point in waiting for schools to change the curriculum or colleges to change the electives. What to the students decide about their future? They have two choices, either run with the flock or hit the rocks, seeking a change. And the outcome of the latter is extremly commendable and worthwhile (as it was in our case), rather than waiting for the institutions to change.
On my professional interaction(read IT basically), I see a mix of both the types of people, but who is going to make a difference is anybody's guess.
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Boopalam, at 1:52 AM
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