![]() | #241 |
Senior - BHPian | ![]() My point only is that being an IT professional is not a life saving skill, or even an essential skill. Also a programmer cannot survive on its own without having some corporate entity to depend on. So at most it's a superficial skill that seems to add some value somewhere up the value chain that's difficult to measure, and so is marred with absurd and erratic pays and job conditions. It's too immature as a field of work. |
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![]() | #242 |
Senior - BHPian Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Bangalore
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| ![]() You'll be surprised at the number of indie developers publishing software products. Or working off short-term contract jobs. Or contributing to FOSS. Just that these styles of working are not popular in India (though I myself have several people in my address book who do freelancing in certain specialized areas). |
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![]() | #243 | |
Senior - BHPian ![]() Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Bangalore
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Looking at the middle rung of IT companies which are bursting at the seams with these IT graduates- one can see the very epitome and definition of redundancy. No wonder that companies are setting out with an axe to chop this excess fat in these times of lean and downturned markets. Last edited by arindambasu13 : 15th October 2018 at 09:45. | |
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![]() | #244 | |
Team-BHP Support ![]() ![]() | ![]() Quote:
You mean just like bankers, accountants, or any other white collar job? | |
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![]() | #245 | |
Distinguished - BHPian ![]() ![]() Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Pune
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![]() | #246 |
Senior - BHPian Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Bangalore
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| ![]() You are right; but I was pointing out that such avenues exist and everyone needn't serve these western giants all the time and face a bleak future when the boom phase tapers off. |
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![]() | #247 | |
Senior - BHPian ![]() Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: AU
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![]() | #248 |
BHPian ![]() Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Bangalore/Udupi
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| ![]() I feel there should be dignity of labor, (All types of jobs are respected equally, and no occupation is considered superior). It's like team work. No one is stopping us to learn new skills, except our superiority complex . |
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![]() | #249 | |
Team-BHP Support ![]() ![]() | ![]() Guys, phenomenal discussion, even for non-techies like me! Have been subscribed to this thread since its beginning. Quote:
1. For every photographer who charges 2 lakhs per wedding shoot, there are 1,000 others who would struggle to make ends meet. Also, I don't remember the exact stats, but 80 - 90% of all small businesses never see their 5th anniversary because they shut down before that. 2. The mindsets of an entrepreneur & a corporate techie are very different, from what I've seen. Goods & bads on both sides, but most corporate folk I know couldn't start a business, and most businessmen I know wouldn't survive a week in the corporate world. 3. If you want to do something independently, first work with an individual or company already in the industry. Think of it as a 1 - 2 year MBA in that business. E.g. if I wanted to start a car dealership, I'd work as a salesman or manager in an existing dealership for 24 months minimum. Also depends on your capacity at the age of 40. I enjoy running my business, but at the age of 41, I'm unwilling to start something from scratch. All those 12 - 16 hour days, anxiety over finding new customers, balancing revenue & bills etc. are behind me. When I was 27, I wanted to build a fast car from scratch. At 41, I just want to drive the fast cars that I've built. | |
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![]() | #250 | ||||
Distinguished - BHPian ![]() ![]() Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Pune
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That youngster is a hard core techie he used to design and manufacture industrial control circuit boards but he just stopped and shifted to photography. We have fun discussions on both topics. Also, he hails from GJ being businessmen runs in their blood. I believe age and genes are on his side. ![]() Quote:
For e.g. although I have successfully run corporate business units generating 10s of millions of dollars worth of business each year for years on end, when I decided to go independent and contemplate starting my own small IT company I got a case of (very) cold feet. I may have the experience in running a business but being from a service class family the thought of pumping in a majority of my life's savings into a perceived risky business was scary. The spouse wasn't too thrilled either. Now, on the other hand, a school friend of mine, chucked his job as a VP in a well known software company and started his own services business back in 2011 which till today is running very successfully. The difference between me and him? He's the "Type A" boisterous marketing man and me the mildly introverted "techno-manager" who believed and still believe I don't have the chops to start and run a business from scratch risking the savings built up over multiple decades in the process. Thing is, getting into large financial commitments make me sweat. ![]() I also believe you need age on your side because starting afresh in middle age can be difficult. The chances of recovering from a major financial setback at this age are low. It's an unpleasant thought considering people live longer and expenses, especially medical, will only grow as one gets older. Quote:
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![]() | #251 | |
Team-BHP Support ![]() ![]() | ![]() Quote:
A company started by good salesman will worry about perfecting the product (or building one) after winning some deals. Remember, Bill Gates made the DOS deal with IBM even before he bought it from Tim Paterson. | |
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![]() | #252 | ||
Distinguished - BHPian ![]() ![]() Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Pune
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![]() In manufacturing industry jargon blokes like me are like production unit or factory heads rather than the go-getting Sale guy. I liken these chaps as the 'spear or arrow head'. While they OTOH called us "back-end" or "techie" chaps interchangeably. The former being a deliberate and unflattering pun. ![]() Quote:
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![]() | #253 |
Distinguished - BHPian ![]() ![]() Join Date: May 2007 Location: bangalore
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| ![]() A techie can always partner with a sales/business oriented person. This is actually a fairly common and desirable composition of founding teams at least among product companies. The founding team needs an aggressive sales oriented person but introvert techie can surely have a seat at the big table. Most techies are risk averse and get a lot of kick in working for big names and that is the main issue I have noticed in my experience. Also few of them are not technical enough to single handedly build a marketable product and have the ability to wear many hats (product manager, architect, full stack developer, capacity planning, dev ops, customer support, hiring, mentoring etc.). Last edited by androdev : 15th October 2018 at 20:41. |
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![]() | #254 | ||||
Team-BHP Support ![]() ![]() | ![]() Quote:
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However, some research has gone into finding the essential qualities of a CEO. Well, the answer may surprise you. This is from an extensive study, whose results were published in Harvard Business Review. 7 Essential Qualities
So it is neither techie nor sales person. He/she must be a person who can build the right team. Sure, a company headed by a salesperson may do higher revenues. And a company headed by a techie may build a better product. I have seen many instances of both cases. Therefore, if a person is leaving the corporate world in the 40s, he/she must seriously do some self-assessment and compare the result with the above list. | ||||
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![]() | #255 |
Distinguished - BHPian ![]() ![]() Join Date: May 2007 Location: bangalore
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| ![]() ^ Agree with all the points you mentioned esp the bit on 7 qualities. The previous posts seem to suggest an introvert techie is not fit for starting a business which I disagree with. Some internet consumer products don't even need direct sales and in other cases you can have partners to bring the complimentary skills. As long as you can think and build a product that the market needs (market-fit is the most difficult part), you have no particular disadvantage compared to any other entrepreneur. |
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