Placement Blues @ Nitte
The placement season is in full swing at Nitte, and the current final year bunch are facing a dilemma of their own. In the coming few days, Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, and Wipro are all set to visit the campus, and they intend to do it on the same day.
Most students are honestly shocked by this, because this way of placements is totally new to them. But at the end of the day its a happy problem to have. Or the optimist in me would say not a problem at all. I agree to the fact, that competition between these IT Majors has lead to this situation, but the fact is that if this kind of a compromise wasn’t thought of, there was no way the College could have worked the placement numbers to touch higher.
The IT Industry in India is on the up, and the dark gloomy days of recession is well behind us. So its great that Placements at Nitte are on the up, but the placement team doesn’t really have an alternative than to arrive at these kind of compromises. Like I said, and I reiterate It’s a happy problem to have!
Talking to a few of my junior friends, I realize there is a lot of confusion as to which of these three companies they should be choosing, because the rules stipulate that you can write only one company on the D Day!
At the heart of it, TCS, Infosys and Wipro are very similar and do similar kind of work. There’s not really much different to each of them except for their work culture and workplace ethos. Different rankings in India continuously rate these guys up and down, so inherently there’s nothing bad about any of these. Regardless of how much, or how less they brag about themselves at the Pre Placement talks.
At TCS, I guess there’s a lot of pride in the employees for being a part of India’s biggest enterprise the Tata Group, but that’s about it. I don’t think there are fanbois or fan girls for that matter for either of these companies. But I’m sure being proud of the mothership isn’t what is in most students minds right now.
I have a Sister who’s working in Infosys, and I kinda know what kind of work happens at TCS too. As a fresher your life isn’t really going to be much different at either of these. And for those of you looking for rapid career growth, don’t expect to reach major heights at either of these companies in the first couple of years. Simply because there are more than 25 thousand co employees waiting in the wings. It simply doesn’t scale that way.
With employer pride, and career growth out of the way, the next issue obviously is the money. As students I can tell, that we are always excited to start earning and to be able to spend our money. But again at all of these companies, the pay is more or less the same, and you are not going to earn 6 figures every month anytime soon. And as a fresher you should be able to easily manage with what they give you. So keep the Pay Scale out the equation, because many a time it can tempt you into taking the wrong call.
The only other thing that comes to my mind is the Location. Infosys and TCS both have fixed Training Centers for you guys, and post training you generally have a choice of location. But if you are wanting to come back to Mangalore, then Infosys is for you. But my suggestion is simply that, unless you step out of your comfort zone, you are never going to be living life. I for one have lived in 5 cities in my life time, and that’s a major experience. So step out of Mangalore if you can.
Wipro is not much different either. You must be wondering I haven’t really helped you in anyway thus far, and wasted your time reading this piece of junk. But what I feel is be flexible. The Career options in the IT industry are plenty and extremely short. So I’m sure you are not going to retire at TCS, Infosys or Wipro. Heck, I don’t think anyone does that.
Make a plan of where you want your life to take you, and use either of these companies as your stepping stones. It shouldn’t be your end goal. If it is you are thinking too low, and undermining yourself. As 20 somethings its too early for that I think. Go with your instinct, and don’t put too much thought into this. Because at the end of the day, life will be good, and these big companies aren’t gonna add much to that goodness.
Remember you are a small fish in a big pond, so it can be big bad world out there. If you can, take the bold step and skip all of these companies. Try the ones that give you faster career growth. That can be tough decision to make, but remember there’s no way you can successful in life, without taking a risk here and there. And there’s no better time than this.
Thanks for Reading. Cheers! All the best. Feel free to pass this around to your friends if it helps you. My 2 cents really…
It really is a Happy problem to have. Atleast for me. :)
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