Indian IT Industry and the myth called "keeping yourself updated"

My previous blog entry was an attempt to explore the current situation in Indian IT Sector .The bottom line of that article is very simple:"We are not Ir-replaceable and any body's job will be under scrutiny, if profit margins are down". That post mainly addresses the situation in Indian Software Services. But i think the situation is more or less the same in Software Products, BPOs and Call Centers. Yes, there are some Ir-replaceable jobs. But they are very rare and mostly those jobs are retained by the companies who outsourced to India. Also, there are companies where your job safety is much better than the others. But those companies are a very few in number and it is not easy to get into them.

That being said, one of the most common responses i hear from a lot of people is, "If you keep yourself updated you don't have to worry about your job". Theoretically this is a perfectly valid statement. But in reality this is a total bullshit claim and probably it is a hoax created by some "self improvement" junta. So,in this blog entry lets see how "keeping yourself updated" works. My initial claim is that it work pretty much like an "Multi Level Marketing(MLM)" scheme where there are only very few "absolute" winners.

What does it even mean?

First, let see what the hell it means when some says "Keep yourself updated". Everybody talks about it. But no one tells you what it is. So for simplicity, lets assume "Keeping yourself updated" means "Keeping your resume updated". Because if you want to change a job the first thing you are going to do is excavating and updating your old resume.

 

How do we update ourselves?

In other words, how do we generally update our resumes? The truth is no body updates  their resumes consciously. As you continue working through your jobs, the resume updates itself. But the only problem is,  most of us are doing mundane, boring jobs which are very constrained to a company. So, there is nothing much to put in your resume by default expect for the projects. Sure, you might be a person who has great project knowledge but that is a useless skill outside your company. I have seen so many resumes which have pages after pages explaining the projects. But the truth is no one reads that stuff. So, obviously this is not going to take your resume anywhere.

 

 

 

How can we update ourselves?

So now, lets can see two ways in which one can keep their resume updated consciously so that the job prospects are absolutely great.
1) Updating deeply.
2) Updating broadly.

Updating deeply

This means keep focusing on a single skill or a few skills throughout the career. You pick a bunch of skills and year after year you build deep but very generalized expertise in it. For example, if you are a java programmer, along with the project specific needs, you need build a generalized expertise in what you learn. You should also take up projects which will let you explore different areas in Java. In this way, after a few years you will reach a level of expertise where you can design some cool end to end Java solutions. A few certifications on the way is also very useful. This way in your resume you will be a  "King of some trade".

Updating broadly

This means keeping up with the latest trends of the industry. You may start as a Java Programmer. But after some time, you switch to Mobile programming because that is the new trend. Then after a point of time, mobile programming becomes old but something niche called "Big Data" or "Cloud Computing" comes in. So, you switch to that. In the end, you not only learn a lot of things but you are also in sync with the industry demands. This way, in your resume you can be a  "Jack of all trades"

Will updating ourselves guarantee employment?

Both the approaches sound great on paper. But now lets see the practical difficulties and flip sides of both the approaches.

First, lets take the "King" position. The first hurdle in this approach is getting into projects which have the scope for learning. Most of the projects that are migrated to Indian IT Companies are maintenance projects. They do not have any scope for new learning.  The second and the most important hurdle here is that there are only a very very few kings needed.  There could be thousands and thousands of Java programmers out there in the market but a company will need only a handful of "high paid experts".
Sure, every one can learn Java relentlessly and become experts. Then industry will just up the standards for the experts. Today, you might be an expert who knows how a piece of Java code translates into a JVM byte code, but tomorrow if a lot of people also know that then you may be have to do in x86 assembly to. There is no end to this. Who knows, may be a few years down the line, only people who can Rap in Java or C++ will be considered experts.

Now, lets take the "Jack" position. You become a Jack of all trades by keeping up with Industrial trends. Ofcourse, you cannot keep up with all the new trends in the industry. But you can keep your primary skills in sync with the industry. For example,if you are Java person you can easily shift to IPhone Programming. You can teach yourself some IOS concepts and even try out some iphone apps. But the biggest problem in Indian Job scene is, without having some any real project experience you wont be even called for an interview. This is a classic catch-22. To get an IOS job, you will need some IOS experience. To get some IOS experience you will need an IOS Job.There are ways to break this loop but they are generally very difficult. It also depends on how much time you have in hand.

So, we can see that both the ways have a lot of practical difficulties even though they look simple in theory. They are simple if they happen naturally or if you have ample time on your hand. But lets assume that you are able successfully plan execute one of the above strategies. You might even become safe but what about the others? Because in any industry there are two types of laborers. First the non-expendable laborers. These are the people whom the industry depends on and they are not replaceable. They generally make up 10% of the industry strength. Then there are expendable laborers. These are people who can be easily replaced with some one else. They are the majority and roughly might account to the 90% of the population. This is true for every industry out there and IT industry is no exception. But this is a ruthlessly profit driven industry which can be migrated across geographical boundaries with ease. In India, it is also not completely regulated by Labor Laws or kept in check by Labor Unions. So, unlike the other industries the 90% expendable labor force in IT Sector are extremely vulnerable.

So, are we screwed?

In the end, i am not saying keeping yourself updated is useless. On the contrary, it is very essential to keep yourself updated in the realm of your project and core skills. But the reality is, it doesn't matter how updated you are, if you are not in the elite top 10%, there is no job guarantee for you. There is only space for very less people on the top. Others no matter how hard working or sincere they are will have to stay out. Anyway, most likely nothing drastic will happen and not all 90% will loose their jobs. However, if you keep yourself updated you will not fall into the bottom 10 or 20%,. But that is the max most people can do. Beyond that, if you loose job one day, it is not your mistake. Because that is how this system is. So, either the system has to change by government intervention or we need to be vigilant.