IT industry is quickly becoming filled with fake resumes. It recently appeared in the papers that

Satyam computers has terminated 500 of its employees because they had fudged with their documents

Several industry experts have expressed their concerns over this. Mohandas Pai, CFO of Infosys said

Second peculiar challenge in India is that our ecosystem doesn’t support the growth we are experiencing. It is not matured enough to create a large body of people with high quality domain skills and leadership capability. As a result there is a shortage of people who have managed large industries, or have the domain expertise of complex systems.

The problem is being attacked in war footing, NASSCOMM launched the National Skill Registry program last year so that every company can keep a record of its employees in a database accessible to the whole industry. With the high attrition rate people find it convenient to lie about their experience and skill set and get into a job. The problem, I think, however is more deep rooted.


With more than 112,000 engineers graduating every year, it is important to consider their skill levels. Mass recruiters like Infosys and TCS employ engineers from all discipline, so its also important to answer whether the IT industry is that skill and talent driven or not. I had an opportunity to talk to the HR who had come to our university for placements as to why Infosys employs people with no IT exposure and background. The reply was something I was not prepared for, it seems that there is a tacit understanding in the industry that IT is something similar to number crunching and with a three month training a person is prepared to do exactly what a four year degree holder is capable of doing. With this attitude it is quite natural for the Indian IT industry to keep loitering in the services sector. Expecting intellectual products from an industry comprising make shift engineers is like asking for the moon (with good roads).

Phenomena like the brain drain are usually not connected with this massively under producing environment but in my opinion employment of an incompetent workforce contributes a lot in making the industry sluggish and incapable of innovating. VCs and angels have started to drift to India to decrease their seed capital but the problem persists, it is easier for an individual to go to the valley and get some experience and startup, than to work inefficiently with the mediocre workforce and this is not the case with just IT pros who do not hold an IT degree, it is found even with IT engineers coming from reputed institutes. The pedagogical structure, lack of industry exposure in student years, no exposure to entrepreneurship or other fields like research contribute more to this situation. Institutes like NIIT are making hay while the college system of education is failing. Though I mean no disrespect to NIIT, it is important to consider what a college offers in four years in comparison to what an IT Training institute offering a diploma offer.

To be honest I do not offer any solution, cause quite frankly I do not completely understand why any companies would employ someone and spend time and money to train a person and use his/her cramming skills in programming. I can ask students pursuing engineering to take care in actually studying and learning IT and Software than just pursuing and degree and do at least two internships in college life. They quite simply change the perspective of an individual. After an industrial internship you suddenly start analyzing yourself in terms of man hours, efficiency and deliverance etc. They essentially help you to

  • Gain exposure to a particular career field.
  • Learn about your own likes, dislikes, interests, and values.
  • Build your skills and your resume for full-time positions.
  • Expand your network of contacts and gain a professional reference.
  • Develop insight into what skills and abilities employers want.

There are some very good portals like hellointern.com aimed specifically in getting you the required industrial exposure.