Coffee talk with a Software Engineer- Part 2

Malini is a System Software engineer working with Hewlett Packard for the past 2.5 years. She joined the company in an offcampus recruitment after finishing her BE in CS. In this talk she shares some of her thoughts on the IT industry.

What are you working on now?

I am currently working for a backup and restore software of HP called DataProtector. This comes under storage domain.

Why did you decide to take up this career?

Just my fasination with computers and the cliched model of the indian families prompted me to take up this career :-)

What are the different career options available for someone who aspires to study this career?

Depends on the role you are interested in. You can get into coding, testing, system administration or Quality Assurance (QA). After a few years in the industry some decide to do MBA and go for management roles. There are people who get into project management, for which an MBA wont be needed. A few others who want to continue in tech become system architects, tech consultants and other R and D related roles.

What is the potential in India? And abroad?-

In my opinion the potential is pretty good both in India and abroad currently. Although there are talks in the industry of companies shifting to places like vietnam due to the rupee appreciation and other cost factors. The need of the hour for us is to INNOVATE and create more value so that companies stay here.

Which are the best universities for this course as per you?

On a national level its IITs, BITS Pilani and NITs.

In Bangalore its colleges like RVCE, PESIT and MSRIT that attract the crowd. Then there is IISc for people wanting to do special courses, usually after engineering.

Apart from this people opt for MS in US.

What are the advantages of this career?

Money and Exposure to globalization

What are the drawbacks of this career, if any?

Erratic working hours (esp for IT services)

What is the hot thing in this field right now?

Of late e-com, wireless seem to be catching up

Who is your role model in this field and why?

None

What is the future of this career 10 years down the line?

As stated earlier - depends on what you want. One can stay as a techie or go for management

What are the kind of specializations available?

For an engineering / BSc aspirant doing a course in CS / IT or Electronics would be optimal. Although there are leading companies that take civil, mechanical graduates too.

After Engineering M Tech from IIT or an MS from BITS Pilani would be good if you want to stay in india.

For those willing to go abroad MS would be good. Again in MS some take up computer science, grid computing etc. depending on their interests. Browsing through the university links will give you a brief idea on what to take up.

What are the kind of companies that hire people who take up this course?

IT services or IT products

How much does it cost for the course?

Depends on the university

What is your advise to students who wish to see this field as an option?

Once you join your engineering / bachelors course try getting exposed to various technologies and most importantly know ur semester projects well. There are many who face problem due to not knowing their projects well. Many companies are now very good at testing if u ve done it on ur own or not :-)

Also, plan your further studies properly as far as possible.