Rajeev AgarwalFounder and CEO
B. Tech. IIT KharagpurMS, Engineering, Iowa State University
MBA, University of Michigan Business School
April 8, 2023
Career Planning for Engineering Students
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Agenda
• Software Industry Overview• How to get a good job after
graduation?• How to meet long term career goals?• Pursue MBA or take up a job?• Recommendations
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Perspective and trends• Over 40 years of professional life ahead of you• Technology is changing even faster today as
compared to ten, twenty or thirty years ago• Work globalized to include workers in India and
China• Education has shifted online• Engineering work becoming easier due to better
tools and automation• Huge shortage of engineers with current skills
worldwide
Disclaimer: Use our discussion as one data point only. My perspective is based on 25 years of experience through colleges, work, friends, family and entrepreneurship.
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Software Employment in India (non BPO)• Large IT Service Providers (10 companies)
– Employ ~250,000 employees in India with ~50,000 new hires to support growth, migration and attrition
• Midsize and Small IT Service Providers (~5,000 companies)– Employ ~25,000 employees in India with ~10,000 new
hires/ year
• Extension of IT Departments of Fortune 1000 Companies– Employ ~100,000 employees in India with ~10,000 net
new hires
• Product Development and Support Team Extension Centers– Microsoft, Google, Adobe, Amazon, IBM etc.– Employ ~10,000 employees with ~1,000 net new hires/
year
• Research Team Extensions– IBM, Google, Microsoft, etc. (~1,000 researchers with
PhDs)
Numbers above exclude BPO and non-software business employees.
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Software Graduates in India (CS/ IT graduates per year)
Colleges CS/ IT graduates
IITs ~3,000
BITS, IIITs ~3,000
NITs ~4,000
Regional Universities ~25,000
Total ~35,000
Source: MAQ Software estimates based on interaction with universities
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Trends in Technical Career Progression• Technology use and skills needed vary across
industries – IT, Retail, Banking, Transportation, Healthcare etc.
• Employment and growth opportunities vary across different industries– 50% of technology purchased by financial services
industry (Banks, Insurance, etc.)
• Moving from entry level roles to mid-level roles, – expand skills to include project and people management
• Knowledge of industry (domain) and mastering platform / tools become critical for growth
• Prepare to relocate to metros for opportunities– 80% of new SW space and jobs are in
Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune and Chennai (20% Rest of India)
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How to get a good job after B.E./B. Tech.?1. Master technical skills• Master fundamental topics – data structures,
algorithms, programming, databases and networking
2. Follow technology trends• Keep up with key enterprise vendors (IBM,
Microsoft, Oracle, SAP etc.)• Hard to change technology platform mid career
(10- 15 years of experience)3. Increase self awareness• Intelligence Quotient (IQ)• Personality and work style• Emotional Quotient (EQ)
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1. How do I master technical skills?
• Supplement your classroom knowledge online– Free computer science video courses at
• Stanford Engineering Everywhere (see.stanford.edu)• MIT Open Courseware (ocw.mit.edu)• IITs and IISc. Courses (nptel.iitm.ac.in)• KhanAcademy.org
• Develop software in college– Paid or unpaid positions on campus– Research for Professors (no task is below you)– Publish applications on Apple AppStore,
Windows Phone Marketplace, Android Market (one to two week effort)
– Publish websites for your community using free tools (WordPress, Facebook, etc.)
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How do I learn about software industry?• Company websites, blogs, newsletters and press
releases
• Social Media– Facebook (Like company page)– YouTube (Watch speeches of key industry leaders,
events, TED)– Twitter (Follow Tweets)– LinkedIn (Reviews)
• Books– Autobiographies for historical perspective– Books by major players in the target industry
• Movies (Dramatize, still better than no knowledge)– The Social Network, Pirates of the Silicon Valley, Wall
Street
• Industry Association and Conferences
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2. How do I learn about technology platforms?• Learn about shift to common industry standards
in specific areas, e.g.:– HTML5, CSS 3 etc. for front end application development– Java and C# for programming– TCP/IP v4 vs. v6 for network protocols
• Enterprise application space currently dominated by IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, SAP etc.– Review company websites for free training for engineers– Like IBM, Microsoft, Oracle and SAP company page on
Facebook for latest news (Facebook is new RSS feed)– Watch online videos of supplier user conferences
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Not all Employers are SameCareer Progressive
OrganizationsLarge IT Service Providers
Work 70% work on new applications, smaller projects
70% work on maintenance and support, larger projects
Technologies Anything older than 2 years is obsolete
Likely to be older systems
Processes Agile and Daily build model (CMMi not relevant)
CMMi and highly restrictive processes
People Computer Science/ IT degree required
Most engineering streams accepted
Idle engineers (bench)
Less than 10%, cannot afford idle employees
30% to 50% of India employees on bench (72-75% utilization)
Growth/ Learning
High due to rich work experience on projects
Different
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After Engineering: Job or MBA?
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Management Education in India• Proliferation of MBA programs to meet growing
demand of business graduates• Established IIMs increased capacity (~400
grads/IIM)– Following patterns of US MBA programs, IIMs requiring
students to gain good work experience before MBA
• Top programs consider quality of work experience• Quality of graduates, jobs and salaries drop
drastically as you move beyond top 10 MBA programs
• For many aspiring managers, good long term investment to do MBA from top 10 programs
• Many MBA graduates are paid less than a good engineer with 2 years of work experience
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Progression at IT Services Cos.
Software Development
Engineer
Senior Software Development
Engineer
Project Lead/ Associate Project
Manager
Project Manager
0-2 years
2-4 years
3-6 years
6-12 years
Master technical Skills
Strengthen technical Skills + Learn project mgmt.
Strengthen technical Skills + Learn project mgmt. + Gain people mgmt. skills
Management Skills required for which MBA may help
Logical jump to
accelerate your career
through MBA
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After Engineering: Job or MBA?
• Why MBA? – Change Career (e.g. engineering to sales?)– Accelerate Career (Individual contributor to
manager)
• Curriculum design and case studies designed to take advantage of work experience of students
• Majority of MBA students (90%+) are engineers
• For some aspiring managers, OK to wait for MBA and gain good work experience– 40 years of professional life ahead– 2 years of work experience + 2 years of MBA = 36
years of successful career
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Top MBA Programs and EmployersPrefer students with good work experience
InstituteGraduates
per year
Students with more than 2 years of
work experience
Established IIMs 2,400 30% - 75%ISB, Hyd and Mohali 900 100%
XLRI, MDI, JBIMS, IMT 1,500 ~50%
S. P. Jain, NITIE 600 ~50%
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Questions You May Ask Before Accepting a Job!
• Will I develop new applications, support applications or test applications?
• Will I work on current or obsolete technologies?
• Will you teach me how to learn new technologies?
• What is typical number of years before engineers are given ownership of a project?
• What percentage of current engineers are on bench?
• What will be my date of joining?• What will be my salary on IT Form 16?
(unclear CTC in the offer letter)
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Recommendations
• Own your own growth– Watch Stanford/ MIT courses to get different perspective
from different professor (Even if all your teachers are great!)
– Maximize learning by offering to work on challenging projects (Do not sit idle, you will not grow)
• Look for long term success, not the immediate salary– Focus on quality of projects offered, overlook
designations– Sometimes companies offer a high package for
unattractive jobs (e. g. hours, timings, traveling job etc.)• Give examples from relevant technology or
projects during your interviews
• Everyone gets only 24 hours in day– Use time wisely– Avoid peer pressure
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About MAQ Software
• Focused on Digital Marketing and Web Analytics• 300+ employees worldwide• 3 development centers: Redmond, Mumbai,
Hyderabad• About 15% of the team focused on adopting
Cloud Computing, Mobile platforms and Big Data
• Use Agile – Lean Software Development techniques (daily build model)
• 98% of all projects are from repeat customers or their referrals
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Company recognitions
Microsoft Partner Network since 2001
Inc. 500|5000, the Fastest Growing Private Companies, five consecutive years (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011). Rare honor for companies.
Puget Sound Business Journal’s 100 Fastest-Growing Private Companies in Washington state, six consecutive years (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010)
Microsoft Preferred Vendor for seven consecutive years (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011)
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THANK YOU
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