Change in the definition of growth ? Not just number of employees or revenue, but also quality !!!

(Please don't think I am biased to favour the Indian IT industry, I am a part of the bandwagon so I include references to it)

Recently while talking to a senior executive at a company I came across this question written in the blog title, he mentioned that companies have recently started to realize that while growth is important, but increasing number of employees into the firm is no good way to achieve it.

In the last decade companies hired lots of graduates and staffed them into various projects outsourced from abroad. The resources were shown to the clients as resources waiting to start executing the projects. More the resources more chances of getting newer projects. 

One good thing which the recession brought in was growth of analysts and consultants.

10-12 years down the line HR analysts realized that companies have grown to fat sizes and that this is no good way to grow. By simple high school math one can figure out that by increasing resources and doing the same amount of work reduces productivity per resource !

This meant improvising the existing talent so that productivity and revenue both could be increased.

This doesn't mean that we need to stop hiring at the entry levels in the future but we need to definitely get the best people at entry levels itself. By hiring quality people at the entry level, companies will get better people at higher levels in the future. Better people means more quality work is done, ensuring client satisfaction and finally growth in terms of revenue.

So it seems, gone are the days of rampant and blind hiring at colleges during final/pre-final years of graduation. If you are reading this and if you are looking for a job then its time to be not only talented, but also to do your work in a qualitative manner rather than just quantitatively. To tell you the truth, if you are good, people will like to stay with you and companies will make efforts to retain you (in cash or in kind). But if you ain't good nobody cares, there is a huge ocean of people waiting to showcase their skills and talent.

Reasons why IT industry isn't the same anymore

Back in time 10 years back, being a part of the IT industry in India was considered uber-cool and elite. The profession commanded respect and even the mention of the word computer science engineer sent bells ringing in the ears of neighborhood aunties looking for grooms for their daughters. Onsite trips for a few months or sometimes years were the norm and people got richer and richer. Property prices zoomed up in cities and suburbs and property brokers thought of different techniques to fleece the buyers in the name of IT boom.

But what happened to the once elite considered profession ? Why isn't it the same anymore ?
Why has it become a dharamshala for all kinds of people ? Why doesn't it come back to it normal self (pre-2007 era) ? Where are the phenomenal salaries that were offered to employees earlier ?

Reason #1 : ( There is no IT in IT ! )
IT work involves insignificant amount of knowledge related to computer science or information technology for that matter. Anybody who knows how to click and type with decent amount of common-sense can come over and start working.

Reason #2: ( IT work is nearly complete )
Most of the IT work has already been completed and optimized in these last 12-15 years of IT boom, which leaves behind little to be done. Clients can today just order a solution over the internet, just like you order a book from amazon.com. The little configuration or customization that needs to be done doesn't need to be outsourced , it can done by hiring a few more members into the IT team of the client themselves.

Reason #3: ( Privacy Issues )
People are today concerned about their privacy and hence are the companies handling the common people's data also concerned about data security and privacy. This has led to companies forming their teams which does the IT work at their own location with lesser issues of data privacy and theft. Specially banks and investment firms.

Reason #4: ( Supply >>> Demand )
The industry is today over-saturated with employees. There is no need for much head-hunting. Thousands of employees are sitting idle today having no work to do at all (read bench). Now, how can one expect that one will be offered a envious hike when he switches companies ?

Reason 5: (Reason#1 + Reason#4)
Finally, the job is such that it doesn't require any heroic programming or analytic skills. On the floor (the workstation where you work) everybody is alike.So this leaves little for the supervisor to differentiate on the basis of your academic background/skills. So you might find a science graduate doing the same work as a electrical engineer. Companies have been seen promoting schemes for bachelor of science graduates to complete their masters along with a job at their offices. It helps them to save costs and get trained bonded resources to work for peanuts.