Life eej Hard?

It’s been a very long time since I wrote a blog post, let alone a meaningful one.

Have I lost interest in blogging? Have I no time? I really dunno. I’m not able to draw the line as to why exactly it’s been so.

Anyway, a lot of things have happened since then.

AUG 3rd 2008: I get hold of about 90 odd mock papers from Pavithra’s place.

AUG 4th 2008: I devise a plan of action for the next 3 weeks.

AUG 5th 2008: Implementation of the plan starts.

AUG 11th 2008: Infosys decides to call me for joining on Sept 8th 2008.

AUG 12th – AUG 24th 2008: I’m stuck in the worst dilemma of my life, so far.

AUG 14th 2008: I fill up and send the application for for MAT. There are no colleges worth applying under MAT. I’m just taking it to stay in the ‘exam mood’.

AUG 15th 2008: Landmark Quiz! yay! Going for a quiz after a really long time with LVS and Teal. We get about 21 on 40, a record high w.r.t our team.

AUG 16th  2008: The Times of India (Chennai Edition) carries a news story about the Society for Intellectual Thinking.

AUG 17th and AUG 24th 2008: A lot of new members of all ages and from all facets of society turn up for SIT meetings. Srinath and I are happy that things have finally kicked off big time!

AUG 24th 2008: I take the firm decision to set the Infosys offer aside and prepare hard for an MBA this year. A very difficult decision at this point in life for me. Also, a very difficult decision for the over-cautious and impulsive decision maker that I am. [ Of course, as always, I have the bus tickets to mysore and my Infy call letter hard copy. I can still take the offer if I want to! ]

Today, my typical day has a mock test from 9 – 12 AM, Sleep from 1 – 3 PM, Sectional workouts from 4 – 6 PM, TIME’s Crash Course from 6 30 – 8 30 PM, Sectional workouts from 10 30 PM – 2 AM. Finally, Sleep from 2 01 AM to about 8 AM. I squeeze in the Mock paper correction and analysis somehow somewhere in the middle.

Yours Skeptically,

P.S. This time I’m skeptical about the fact that I won’t be able to score very well in CAT 2008.

IT’s over!

We buy three newspapers at home everyday and a few more on Sundays alone. Out of the regulars is The Economic Times. I was prompted to read an article on the IT sector in India by my dad and it has proved to be quite an eye opener. You can read it here. It presents a slightly shocking picture. IT majors have stepped down the aggression with respect to recruitments. It is expected that campus recruitment can go down by as much as 15-20% from current levels. This is generally attributed to two main factors, the hike in value of the Rupee and the Sub-Prime economic breakdown in the US.

The hike in the value of the Rupee is due to several reasons. Exports in all sectors (actually, most of the important sectors) from India have gone up in this FY. Of course, it is also attributed to the weak economic situation in the US that is pulling the value of the Dollar down.

The Sub Prime breakdown is a very interesting one. The story starts with the September 11 attacks and the IT recession in the US then. The Government had no way to improve the economy because everyone was apprehensive about spending every dime from the pocket. It’s pretty obvious that only a positive cash flow can improve an economy. So, the Government decided to do something that it considered ingenious then. Now, however, it’s feeling the pinch. ‘Prime’ is generally something with paramount importance and quality. Sub-Prime is something that is not of paramount quality. Hence, ‘Prime’ loans are loans given to people with good financial soundness. Sub-Prime loans are loans given to people without proper collateral and repayment capabilities. The Government decided to give loans to all kinds of people from all facets of society to encourage them to shop and spend and thereby improve the economic situation of the country by creating a positive cash flow all round. This was where the Government got carried away and even instructed private banks to give loans to every Tom, Dick and Harry around! The problem here, again, is that the private banks in turn borrowed from top banks from all over the World (for loans that might never be repaid). Banks like ICICI had to write off a part of this money in their results QoQ. All this made sure that the Dollar doesn’t go up in value at all. The Government of US has to find a suitable way/ways to plug the loans and re-direct the US from it’s path towards economic insolvency.

As a direct result of these factors, the margin of profit for the IT majors has gone down. They wouldn’t increase their bill to the clients because of the fear that the contract might get shifted to other alternate firms from growing markets all over Asia. Thinner margins, lower reserves, high employee base. This is something that no company would love to encounter.

If you’re planning to look at IT in India as a career option, I strongly advice you to keep yourself up-to-date with trends in IT and remain competitive and aggressive throughout your career. Otherwise, chances are that you might get chucked out at any time.

Yours Skeptically,

uleadin

P.S. I would say that the healthy lifetime of the Indian IT industry would be another 5-8 years maximum after which it’s certain downslide would begin.