Interesting thread 
I have been in the software industry for 25+ years, and still remain an exited child that I was on day one.
Let me start with busting some myths:
Just my 2 cents.
Regards,
Sharad Medhavi
I have been in the software industry for 25+ years, and still remain an exited child that I was on day one.
Let me start with busting some myths:
- Myth: Software industry == IT
Reality
Software is about creating something that is either installed/used by the others, embedded into a device, or offered as a service over the internet. 'IT' is about setting up the infrastructure, installing software developed by someone else and operating it, configuring or customizing it to the organizations need, extending it by adding small modules, providing support to users on the H/W or S/W they use.
Unfortunately most of the Indian Software companies are IT companies, and have not produced any software products of much importance even after three decades of their existence. They have just been providing cheap labour to whoever in the world needs it. They have created no IP (Intellectual Property) of their own at all. You end up working (as a second class employee/contractor) for some other company, that needed someone who was skilled but would do the work that their employees did not want to do. There is no growth based on your excellence (if you happen to develop any).
Software is about creating something that is either installed/used by the others, embedded into a device, or offered as a service over the internet. 'IT' is about setting up the infrastructure, installing software developed by someone else and operating it, configuring or customizing it to the organizations need, extending it by adding small modules, providing support to users on the H/W or S/W they use.
Unfortunately most of the Indian Software companies are IT companies, and have not produced any software products of much importance even after three decades of their existence. They have just been providing cheap labour to whoever in the world needs it. They have created no IP (Intellectual Property) of their own at all. You end up working (as a second class employee/contractor) for some other company, that needed someone who was skilled but would do the work that their employees did not want to do. There is no growth based on your excellence (if you happen to develop any).
- Myth: Innovation has stopped in the Software industry. There would be not as many jobs.
Reality
On the contrary, there has been more innovation in the tech industry during the last 10 years, than previous hundred years. The next 10 years would see an exponential growth in technology. Everything would be a computer, and there would be no computers. When the automotive technology started, the horse carriage drivers had similar feelings. They never realized that there would be hundred times more car drivers than there were horse carriage drivers. Just that they were not considering skill upgrade.
The software/tech industry has a more flat playing field than any other industry. In all other industries you are competing with the locally available labour in your country, while in the software/tech industry we need to compete with folks around the globe (developers in the US, to freelancers in Prague & Russia). If we want to be in a role of importance or seniority, we need is to make sure that we are as good as anyone anywhere else in the world. That includes knowing where the technology is heading and what needs to be done in the future. No one would value us just based on the years of experience, if we are not the best in whatever we are doing. This is not easy in a senior role unless you had that strategy, and worked towards it all your life.On the contrary, there has been more innovation in the tech industry during the last 10 years, than previous hundred years. The next 10 years would see an exponential growth in technology. Everything would be a computer, and there would be no computers. When the automotive technology started, the horse carriage drivers had similar feelings. They never realized that there would be hundred times more car drivers than there were horse carriage drivers. Just that they were not considering skill upgrade.
Just my 2 cents.
Regards,
Sharad Medhavi
