Career Planning for Engineering Students in India

Rajeev AgarwalFounder and CEO

B. Tech. IIT KharagpurMS, Engineering, Iowa State University

MBA, University of Michigan Business School

April 8, 2023

Career Planning for Engineering Students

Compiled by MAQ Software |

Agenda

• Software Industry Overview• How to get a good job after

graduation?• How to meet long term career goals?• Pursue MBA or take up a job?• Recommendations


Perspective and trends• Over 40 years of professional life ahead of you• Technology is changing even faster today as

compared to ten, twenty or thirty years ago• Work globalized to include workers in India and

China• Education has shifted online• Engineering work becoming easier due to better

tools and automation• Huge shortage of engineers with current skills

worldwide

Disclaimer: Use our discussion as one data point only. My perspective is based on 25 years of experience through colleges, work, friends, family and entrepreneurship.


Software Employment in India (non BPO)• Large IT Service Providers (10 companies)

– Employ ~250,000 employees in India with ~50,000 new hires to support growth, migration and attrition

• Midsize and Small IT Service Providers (~5,000 companies)– Employ ~25,000 employees in India with ~10,000 new

hires/ year

• Extension of IT Departments of Fortune 1000 Companies– Employ ~100,000 employees in India with ~10,000 net

new hires

• Product Development and Support Team Extension Centers– Microsoft, Google, Adobe, Amazon, IBM etc.– Employ ~10,000 employees with ~1,000 net new hires/

year

• Research Team Extensions– IBM, Google, Microsoft, etc. (~1,000 researchers with

PhDs)

Numbers above exclude BPO and non-software business employees.


Software Graduates in India (CS/ IT graduates per year)

Colleges CS/ IT graduates

IITs ~3,000

BITS, IIITs ~3,000

NITs ~4,000

Regional Universities ~25,000

Total ~35,000

Source: MAQ Software estimates based on interaction with universities


Trends in Technical Career Progression• Technology use and skills needed vary across

industries – IT, Retail, Banking, Transportation, Healthcare etc.

• Employment and growth opportunities vary across different industries– 50% of technology purchased by financial services

industry (Banks, Insurance, etc.)

• Moving from entry level roles to mid-level roles, – expand skills to include project and people management

• Knowledge of industry (domain) and mastering platform / tools become critical for growth

• Prepare to relocate to metros for opportunities– 80% of new SW space and jobs are in

Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune and Chennai (20% Rest of India)


How to get a good job after B.E./B. Tech.?1. Master technical skills• Master fundamental topics – data structures,

algorithms, programming, databases and networking

2. Follow technology trends• Keep up with key enterprise vendors (IBM,

Microsoft, Oracle, SAP etc.)• Hard to change technology platform mid career

(10- 15 years of experience)3. Increase self awareness• Intelligence Quotient (IQ)• Personality and work style• Emotional Quotient (EQ)


1. How do I master technical skills?

• Supplement your classroom knowledge online– Free computer science video courses at

• Stanford Engineering Everywhere (see.stanford.edu)• MIT Open Courseware (ocw.mit.edu)• IITs and IISc. Courses (nptel.iitm.ac.in)• KhanAcademy.org

• Develop software in college– Paid or unpaid positions on campus– Research for Professors (no task is below you)– Publish applications on Apple AppStore,

Windows Phone Marketplace, Android Market (one to two week effort)

– Publish websites for your community using free tools (WordPress, Facebook, etc.)


How do I learn about software industry?• Company websites, blogs, newsletters and press

releases

• Social Media– Facebook (Like company page)– YouTube (Watch speeches of key industry leaders,

events, TED)– Twitter (Follow Tweets)– LinkedIn (Reviews)

• Books– Autobiographies for historical perspective– Books by major players in the target industry

• Movies (Dramatize, still better than no knowledge)– The Social Network, Pirates of the Silicon Valley, Wall

Street

• Industry Association and Conferences


2. How do I learn about technology platforms?• Learn about shift to common industry standards

in specific areas, e.g.:– HTML5, CSS 3 etc. for front end application development– Java and C# for programming– TCP/IP v4 vs. v6 for network protocols

• Enterprise application space currently dominated by IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, SAP etc.– Review company websites for free training for engineers– Like IBM, Microsoft, Oracle and SAP company page on

Facebook for latest news (Facebook is new RSS feed)– Watch online videos of supplier user conferences


Not all Employers are SameCareer Progressive

OrganizationsLarge IT Service Providers

Work 70% work on new applications, smaller projects

70% work on maintenance and support, larger projects

Technologies Anything older than 2 years is obsolete

Likely to be older systems

Processes Agile and Daily build model (CMMi not relevant)

CMMi and highly restrictive processes

People Computer Science/ IT degree required

Most engineering streams accepted

Idle engineers (bench)

Less than 10%, cannot afford idle employees

30% to 50% of India employees on bench (72-75% utilization)

Growth/ Learning

High due to rich work experience on projects

Different


After Engineering: Job or MBA?


Management Education in India• Proliferation of MBA programs to meet growing

demand of business graduates• Established IIMs increased capacity (~400

grads/IIM)– Following patterns of US MBA programs, IIMs requiring

students to gain good work experience before MBA

• Top programs consider quality of work experience• Quality of graduates, jobs and salaries drop

drastically as you move beyond top 10 MBA programs

• For many aspiring managers, good long term investment to do MBA from top 10 programs

• Many MBA graduates are paid less than a good engineer with 2 years of work experience


Progression at IT Services Cos.

Software Development

Engineer

Senior Software Development

Engineer

Project Lead/ Associate Project

Manager

Project Manager

0-2 years

2-4 years

3-6 years

6-12 years

Master technical Skills

Strengthen technical Skills + Learn project mgmt.

Strengthen technical Skills + Learn project mgmt. + Gain people mgmt. skills

Management Skills required for which MBA may help

Logical jump to

accelerate your career

through MBA


After Engineering: Job or MBA?

• Why MBA? – Change Career (e.g. engineering to sales?)– Accelerate Career (Individual contributor to

manager)

• Curriculum design and case studies designed to take advantage of work experience of students

• Majority of MBA students (90%+) are engineers

• For some aspiring managers, OK to wait for MBA and gain good work experience– 40 years of professional life ahead– 2 years of work experience + 2 years of MBA = 36

years of successful career


Top MBA Programs and EmployersPrefer students with good work experience

InstituteGraduates

per year

Students with more than 2 years of

work experience

Established IIMs 2,400 30% - 75%ISB, Hyd and Mohali 900 100%

XLRI, MDI, JBIMS, IMT 1,500 ~50%

S. P. Jain, NITIE 600 ~50%


Questions You May Ask Before Accepting a Job!

• Will I develop new applications, support applications or test applications?

• Will I work on current or obsolete technologies?

• Will you teach me how to learn new technologies?

• What is typical number of years before engineers are given ownership of a project?

• What percentage of current engineers are on bench?

• What will be my date of joining?• What will be my salary on IT Form 16?

(unclear CTC in the offer letter)


Recommendations

• Own your own growth– Watch Stanford/ MIT courses to get different perspective

from different professor (Even if all your teachers are great!)

– Maximize learning by offering to work on challenging projects (Do not sit idle, you will not grow)

• Look for long term success, not the immediate salary– Focus on quality of projects offered, overlook

designations– Sometimes companies offer a high package for

unattractive jobs (e. g. hours, timings, traveling job etc.)• Give examples from relevant technology or

projects during your interviews

• Everyone gets only 24 hours in day– Use time wisely– Avoid peer pressure


About MAQ Software

• Focused on Digital Marketing and Web Analytics• 300+ employees worldwide• 3 development centers: Redmond, Mumbai,

Hyderabad• About 15% of the team focused on adopting

Cloud Computing, Mobile platforms and Big Data

• Use Agile – Lean Software Development techniques (daily build model)

• 98% of all projects are from repeat customers or their referrals


Company recognitions

Microsoft Partner Network since 2001

Inc. 500|5000, the Fastest Growing Private Companies, five consecutive years (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011). Rare honor for companies.

Puget Sound Business Journal’s 100 Fastest-Growing Private Companies in Washington state, six consecutive years (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010)

Microsoft Preferred Vendor for seven consecutive years (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011)

MAQ Software Confidential |

THANK YOU

Career Planning for Engineering Students in India

Education

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