Very few people in Bangalore are able to resist
the lure of belonging to the IT industry. It is perceived
as the land of opportunity-for exponential career growth,
advancement, exposure, money and travel. Also, being
positioned as the 'knowledge industry' it is seen as
the place for those with above average intelligence
and capabilities. Reports indicate that the talent requirements
of the industry far outstrip the supply. The industry
nurtures the careers and ambitions of not only the technically
inclined, but for people with various other skills as
well.
The last few years have seen the emergence of testing
as a career stream. To ensure the products created
are error-free, robust, and can be implemented in
any environment, rigorous testing of these products
become a necessity. Given the very stringent quality
requirements of a global environment, verification
and validation engineers are much in demand specially
in niche and critical sectors of network security,
telecom, banking etc. Testing engineers also emerge
as domain specialists-working to ensure that the functional
specifications of a product are achieved. Organizations
like mine have dedicated testing divisions offering
automation testing services as a value added service
to our customers. Quality is another major preoccupation,
given the global competition, and professionals who
create innovative processes to inculcate best practices
are much in demand.
Pages can be written of the employment opportunities
in the ITES sector. Captive call centers of banks
and telecom concentrate on sales and support of their
services, but services organizations like Nous have
a division to provide technical support to their customers.
The customers are offered the cost and time advantage
of support being offered from India, and career opportunities
extend to young people who provide voice based, mail
and chat based support to the end customer who may
be in any location in the world. The learning for
a young professional would be in the business and
technology domain in question, as well as the ability
to manage customers from different cultures, and with
varying needs.
Those with a techno-business inclination will find
the Business development careers in IT very challenging.
Product companies position and tweak their products
to suit a prospect's probable requirement, and in
a services company a Business development professional
must sell the competencies and knowledge-base of the
organization to meet a perceived need-to apply technology
to a customer's business environment. Again, the excitement
is the global arena and all that comes with it.
The IT industry being people-centric also mainstreams
several professions like HR, ensuring that the organizational
environment provided enables employees build capabilities,
hone their skills, manage their careers and feel supported
to deliver at the pace and quality required. The finance
and accounts departments are perforce the hub of commercial
activity. Progressive environments also create positions
in corporate planning, marketing communications, knowledge
management, facilities management and administration,
travel and law, etc. These professions take on the
challenges of the IT industry –therefore creating
specialists in these areas.
Suffice it to say that opportunities are many, and
so are potential candidates. However, for a HR professional
like myself, the constant attempt would be to match
candidate to requirement, and enable the selected
candidate develop himself into an excellent resource
-given the environment and business of the organization.
Manu Srinivasan
Manager - Human Resources
Nous Infosystems
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