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October 18, 1996 @ 01:38 pm·Filed under Books
By
Alexis Leon & C.K.Thomas, Comdex Computer Publishing, 1996.
“Just as the Gulf has its natural resources
in crude oil and South Africa in diamonds, India’s natural
resource lies in its abundant technically skilled manpower. And,
this transforms India into a Software super power”. - Dewang
Mehta (Executive Director-NASSCOM)
The Indian Software industry is one of the
fastest growing industrial sectors of the economy, second only to
the financial services sector. Today, Indian software
industry employees 1.3 lakh people and this figure is expected to
grow up at an exponential rate in the coming years. From
modest beginnings in the early 1980s, the Indian software industry
has grown leaps and bounds over the last decade. Today, it
boasts a turnover of over Rs.3750 crores. The growth
of the Industry has been largely export-led. Software exports from
India, zoomed from a mere $24 million in 1985 to $470 millions in
1994-95 and the figure is projected to go up to $1 billion in
1997-98 and 12 Billion dollars by year 2000.
Even though there is high growth rate in the
software industry during the past decade, India’s contribution
to the world software market is still not very substantial.
With its vast untapped potential, India is favourably placed to
cash in on the exploding global demand for software and
related services. With liberalization, the number of
Multi-national companies desiring to set up a base in India is
increasing day by day, which is evident from the numerous joint
ventures that are being started. Major Multi-national companies
like IBM, AT&T, Novell, Microsoft, Oracle, Sybase, Unisys,
Texas Instruments, HP, and Digital have started their development
centers in India, and are deriving their competitive edge from
this centers.
Today, India has the second largest
English-speaking scientific manpower, next only to the United
States. It also has a large network of technical
institutions that train some 50,000 people annually. But
still the software industry is acutely short of manpower.
Lack of software professionals with the right qualifications and
skills is one of the main reasons for this shortage. Even
though there are hundreds of training institutions, only a few of
them are imparting quality training which will get the students a
good job. All others are just giving some training without
the necessary infrastructure facilities or qualified instructors.
For a person who does not have any knowledge of
the IT industry, it is very difficult to chart his career
path or to decide on which institution to join or what course to
take. Often he or she is misled by the glamour and glory of
the advertisements and will finally end up with a diploma or
certificate which will neither fetch a job nor would provide any
substantial learning.
You are a 10+2 student and aim to become part
of IT industry because you love computers, because you love to
learn the latest technology and don’t want to be a mere clerk
and want to earn and lead a comfortable life. You have taken
a diploma from some reputed computer training institution after
your college education and you are faced with a question how
to get a job. Even though most of the training institutions
promise placement after the completion of the course, it rarely
happens so - you are left to fend for yourself. You have
joined some small software company, there are thousands of them,
after getting some experience, it is time to move forward into the
big league. It is time to get a job with some multi-national
company, and advance your career. But you don’t know which is
the right company and how t o get there. You are a student
counsellor in an Institute, or you are a computer teacher and is
genuinely interested in the development of students. You wish to
guide them to a successful career in Software profession. You are
looking for a good book that gives everything in a nutshell.
You are a software professional who have gained good
experience in your respective application areas. The next
logical step is going abroad. Even though there are a
handful of ‘body shoppers’ or recruiting agencies
operating in India, choosing the right one from them is a
difficult decision. You will have to send in your
resumes, fix a deal with the body shopper, will have to
attend client interviews, both direct and telephonic, and have to
overcome a lot of other hurdles before boarding the plane.
If you belong to any of the categories
mentioned above, then this book is for you. This is a
practical guide to become successful in the software profession.
It starts from the very beginning and tells you all the things
that you wanted to know about the IT profession.
The book gives detailed information and
practical tips on how to prepare your resume/bio-data, how to
prepare for an interview, how to prepare for the aptitude test,
how to perform well in group discussions, how to attend telephonic
interviews, how to impress your prospective employers, etc.
It also contains sure shot and time tested methods of getting the
job you want.
Also included in the book is the list of
Software companies in India and overseas recruiting agencies to
which you can apply, their requirements and expectations,
selection procedures, etc., which will give you a cutting edge
over the others. ‘Forewarned is forearmed’.
The book contains the details of the major
Software training institutions in India, the courses offered by
them and advise on which courses you should take and which
institute you should join. Thus, this is a book for the
novice as well as the experienced.
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