Starting your career as an IT Engineer? Here is a self-check about expectation Vs reality!!

Come May-June and most of the engineering colleges will have a fresh batch of brand-new engineers ready to face the IT world. The recruitment teams from major IT companies are in full “josh” to get hold of the best candidates to fulfill their high resource demands. But this year is going to be special for the following reasons;

1. First, after the pandemic, all industries, especially the IT industry, are starting their pre-COVID full-fledged operations. This has given a huge jump start to the market and it’s exploding at full power. There are abundant new and exciting opportunities for young engineers which are going to see a huge surge in the next few years.

2. Secondly, this is going to be the first batch of engineers who have completed more than half of their engineering education from homes yet will be physically going to offices and start it all upfront on their own.

Related – 3 Golden Steps That Make Freshers Get Hired Instantly

But are these “freshers” ready to tackle the challenges of today’s corporate lives after an academic lull of more than two years?

I have been working in the recruitment team since last two years now. I have talked to numerous fresh graduates and watched their highs and lows during their first year in the industry. Some are real gems who understand, adapt to the situation and get an exciting jump start. However, some unfortunately get stuck between their own ideas about the corporate life and reality. It is disappointing to see technically/academically bright freshers falling short on emotional intelligence and lose out on amazing career opportunities. In such a scenario, it is very important for the freshers to have very clear eye openers before they jump onto the bandwagon. These eye openers will not just give them an understanding about what to expect when they start but also avoid unexpected heart breaks.

I have listed below some crucial and interesting aspects which can prove to be the deal makers (or breakers) if worked on consciously.

1. Expecting Everything On A Platter

It is a proven fact that most of the Indian engineering curriculums are not at par with the IT industry standards. To replenish the knowledge gaps, all the major IT companies in India provide 2-3 months of an induction program to the freshers before they start working on real projects. However, most of these programs are very fast paced and require freshers to study around 12-13 hours in a day. While there are trainers available for some part of the induction programs, majority of the curriculums today are self-paced. Freshers are expected to learn on their own, understand and as much as possible, resolve their doubts by self-studies and discussions. Of course, the trainers are available for support, but there are no shortcuts here. Freshers who are used to mugging up the answers and scoring well in the exams find it very challenging to cope with the new methods. Also, as they expect everything to be “taught & explained”. It takes time to adapt to learn, understand and then finally implement the same in projects. This is a “break or make” point for freshers and some of them just let go of a bright career only because of their inability to adapt.

Perspective: Its very critical for the freshers to understand and recognize the fact that the spoon-feeding days are over. Especially in the IT industry, self-learning “IS” the way throughout their careers. This is an extremely dynamic industry where everyone needs to keep on updating himself/herself like a software to survive and succeed. So sooner the freshers get into a habit of taking ownership of their knowledge and their work, the better. It not only makes one independent, but it also highly enhances individual skills, confidence, and agility.

2. Assumptions About Technologies/Projects

To understand about their work, many of the freshers talk to their friends and seniors who are already working. So many of them form some deep-rooted assumptions about the technologies and projects even before starting their work. These assumptions are on different levels and areas. For ex. Implementation projects are better than support projects; a particular technology is better than other technologies; I like dot net and I don’t want to work in Java and so on.

Perspective: While there definitely are certain “high end” technologies at a time, they are not end of it all. Most of the technologies and platforms used in the industry are extremely interesting to learn and obviously very much in demand. Technologies and platforms keep on evolving all the time and people get many chances to choose and switch. Same with the projects – where implementation projects do have some advantages, major revenue of the industry come from support projects. Support project also give a lot of flexibility and space for learning new things. In addition, most of the companies are very accommodating of their employee’s technology choices and after a while can help with the required change. However, the freshers should first try and perform well in their given technologies and projects and then put forward their request for change. Not everyone will be able to work in the desired technologies and projects because every single recruitment is done as per the projects/technologies available. A little patience and a good performance can however help freshers achieve their goal.

3. Reluctance To Travel/Relocate

I have come across around 10-12 very talented freshers who have lost on good opportunities only because of their unwillingness to travel to a different location. Most of the projects today are not based out of a single location. The team members are spread across multiple cities – some of them even in foreign countries. However, there are some freshers who have rejected project offers for not wanting to shift to a different office even within the same cities – which is extremely unfortunate and to some extent stupid.

Perspective: Relocating to a different city for project gives a person a great opportunity to travel, learn, interact with their team members, develop contacts and experience a brand-new life. Especially for freshers when they are free, single with no family responsibility, this can be a very exciting phase of their lives. Isn’t it wise to keep an open mind and go stay in the new city? Who knows; it can bring in a great breakthrough for the career in addition to all the advantages listed above.

4. Lack Of Curiosity

There are many intelligent freshers who don’t progress faster in-spite of being more skillful than their peers. One of the major reasons for this is their lack of curiosity. Most of the freshers don’t want to understand, learn or explore more than what they have been asked. They will always keep “apne kaam se kaam” and would not try to understand the overall business process or technology. This leads to stagnation, loss of interest and lack of progress.

Perspective: One habit which the IT industry encourages and which I am personally very proud of is “asking questions”. Whether it’s the CEO, or the AVP or a fresher, everyone is encouraged to ask questions. Even the CEO will not shy away from asking a question to the fresher if he/she doesn’t know something. There is defined learning goal for all the employees of the company to ensure that there is always a knowledge upgrade in the functional, technical, and behavioral areas. It will not do if a person knows or does only what he has been asked to do. Its crucial that a person understands the business and has a holistic view of things. This is the only way a fresher can do some value addition to the project and enhance his/her own skill and knowledge for a faster and better success. Remember its no use if you know the price of everything and value of nothing.

5. High Monetary Expectations

This is so far the most common reason for young professionals to leave a promising job. Every single fresher must have been depressed thinking about their pay scales at some point of time. In fact, many freshers fall into this pit after comparing their salaries with their friends, seniors or reading it online. They sometimes also have an incorrect evaluation of themselves based on this comparison.

Perspective: While money is one of the major attractions of an IT career, its not the only thing to vouch for. Of course, there will be many people who will always get higher pay then you, but its not going to stay forever. Like mentioned earlier, IT industry is a highly dynamic field, and the trends keep on changing all the time. There will be a time when everyone gets the desired pay scale; provided, he/she has the right talent and experience. However, its also important to do an honest self-evaluation occasionally and not expect something totally unrealistic. Stable and regular increase in income is much better for a long term career.

About The Author – An engineer by profession and writer by passion, Janhavi has been writing on subjects like motherhood, parenting, relationships, corporate life and culture for the last 10 years. She is a top blogger on various platforms like Momspresso, Womensweb, Youth ki awaaz and has won several awards. She has a personal blog called Entirely Indian.

Discover more about Janhavi at;

https://www.momspresso.com/user/86e62da8dfdd4704b26222e25b3005a6

https://www.womensweb.in/author/janhavi-ukhalkar/

https://entirelyindian.wordpress.com/

“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” —Confucius

Also Read – Adaptation Is The Only Way To Succeed In Life And Work

Disclaimer – The views expressed here are the author’s personal views.