Master technology first; be a manager later, says Infosys
Praveen Bose & Bibhu Ranjan Mishra / Bangalore Nov 13, 2009, 00:15 IST
Infosys Technologies has decided that its staffers must have at least six years of having worked on technology responsibilities before being asked to head a project.
This is the latest move in a process that began 18 months earlier, after clients had complained that its project heads didn’t seem to have enough of technological skills. That, in turn, was because of the industry’s high growth and also the pace of attrition (employees quitting) in the sector.
So, many employees were being given managerial responsibilities within three to four years of joining. However, from last month, all freshers joining the company will have to compulsorily stay focused on technology for the first six years of their career. After this, they will have to choose to either grow vertically as a techie or take up managerial responsibilities.
Infosys says this new strategy, termed 'iRace', aims to re-map the technology skills of its software professionals and offer them roles based on their current level of experience and technological know-how.
It appears to have already had some adverse effect, for a section of employees in the junior and middle levels are understood to have resigned.
"Because of the high growth in the industry, people were being given managerial responsibilities within three to four years, making clients return to us and complain about the lack of their technology skills. We have now re-mapped the efficiency of our employees, as a result of which some high performers have been mapped upwards, while others have stayed in their previous positions,” says Nandita Gurjar, Group Head for Human Resources.
By doing so, we will be able to meet the clients' requirements in a much better manner, she adds.
To make the task smoother, Infosys has created 25 career streams. An employee who does not wish to take up managerial roles but stay focused on technology has to identify positions like technical architect and technical lead till he goes up the ladder to become the Unit Technology Manager (UTO), a position the company has created now. Henceforth, all 13 business units of the company will have UTOs, who will directly report to the chief technology officer (CTO) of the company.
Infosys started the exercise almost 18 months earlier, following an internal assessment by consulting agency, Mercer. Based on the results, the company decided to implement what Gurjar terms a 'role structuring'.
Industry insiders concur that when the IT sector was booming and demand was high, people with very little experience were being given roles of project managers or technical leads, as it was difficult for the company to get experienced people. However, with the greater supply of trained resources, especially in the wake of the economic recession, most Indian IT companies are busy redefining the roles.
"We have seen people becoming project managers with less than six years of experience, whereas in most global companies, especially product companies, project manager is a big role. A person who manages projects in those companies should have at least 14-15 years of experience, which helps him handle multiple projects and customers at a time.
Besides, when a person becomes a project manager in six years, this ends his chance to learn on technology platforms," says a person who works as a project manager in an Indian IT services company.
At the end of the second quarter in the present financial year, Infosys' headcount was 105,453, including 97,594 software professionals.
I completely agree with Coder. People who are very good with technology are usually poor with people skills and communication and vice versa. Not that it happens all the time but more than 80% of the times. That is exactly the reason you would not find technical questions in internationally recognized Project management papers like PMP and Price. Neither will you find management questions in Java, .net, PHP, Database certification papers.
I think Infosys is a loser....this is the way of this pathetic company to make the managers take up technical work also in the same salary......this way they dont have to recruit managers and technical architects both. Just recruit 1 and, pay him 1 works salary and draw the work of 2 ppl out of him......u losers. If the clients did really complain abt this....all the companies wud have applied this policy......but i dont think they believe in manipulation of ppl. A CEO of a company does not have to work in each and every department of his company to run his business becoz he has ppl to do that and he just needs to manage these ppl. Same applies for Project managers too.
if the person having 6years of experience doesnt mean that his technology expertise would be more,it largely depends on the body of work the person does in this 6 years,so if a guy has gained the required technology xpertise in 3-4 years he/she should be promoted accordingly.It will increase the attrition rate,as capable guys will move out,if they dont get the right opportunity.
six years or seven years does not matter anything an employee is eligible for managerial possition only when he got expertise in his work. its depends up on the capabilities of individuals how can they easily adapted to new situation.
Thses are all excuses by Indian companies, thay just want to increase profit margins, that is why they are giving such type of roles less experiance people, they just check the english fluency of the person to become a project manager. if you are getting a person having 3-4 years of experience as a manager, you will be happy. They are very few people who can manage it, rest just cheat thier customers.
This is the reality with Indian IT companies as they used to move people into PM roles as they can charge higher rates to their clients. People are not allowed to stay within the technology domain for long for these reasons and now, they are trying to spin it out as a new thing.
Posted by: Jack
November 25 , 2009, 12:27 IST
It is such a hypocritical attitude that the Infosys Management has towards their OWN employees...They say they need to have competency based appraisal systems and then Nandita comes up with this farcical statement and stipulates that employees should have X number of years in a role!!!...Does it mean a manager with 6 years is better than a manager with 4 years experience??? Does that justify your competency based appraisal system???...But shameless as most 'MANAGERS' are, there will never be a reply to any of this!!
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