The party ends?

ET reports: This may literally be a bolt from Big Blue! IBM is learnt to have delivered the pink slip to a sizeable chunk of its entry-level trainee programmers (ELTPs) across major offices in India.

Most of these ELTPs, who were engineering graduates, had put in nearly a year and were working in numerous technology practice groups under IBM India’s global delivery business.

Wonder whether this news is sending a chill down the spines of engineering students about to graduate. I've also heard of TCS showing the door to trainees who failed to clear the test after the training period.

IT companies are still recruiting in large numbers from engineering campuses. In the top end colleges like NITs they don't even have interviews, just a written test to clear. A significant number of people who join are doing so because:
a) I need one job in hand... but will keep looking for something better
b) Need a place to park for 2 years as I prepare for CAT/ GRE
c) No interest in core branch, would rather join software where work is white-collar and jahaan foreign jaane ka chance hai.

Which is all fine but now these folks will have to make more efforts to better acquaint themselves with coding and what not. Because companies are getting more stringent on the performance criteria.

What's intriguing is that companies get stringent only when times get slightly tough. With software margins being affected by the strengthening rupee, they are looking for ways to shave costs. In any time, good or bad, it's hardly advisable to keep people who don't meet your standards after training. But when there's a boom, you just sigh 'shortage of talent' and look the other way.

As far as students go, I think this is a positive thing. At least a few will think twice before taking jobs they don't want in the first place. And if they do join they will have a little less attitude and possibly learn more in whatever time they spend in IT.

As techie MS Vivek Chaitanya commented on the Jobokplease blog:

Due to competition, companies are campus recruiting students in 3rd year, 2nd sem itself. This is inducing recklessness in the students and slowing down their studies for in their final year. So there is no guarantee that the potential of the student at the time of campus recruitment is same as the potential once he finally comes out of his/her studies.

What say you, engineering junta?

JAM Survey Link propogation

If you're working in one of those companies which takes in hundreds of engineers from all over India, we'd be obliged if you could post a link to the JAM Engineering College Survey along with this small note on your intranet.

JAM Engineering College Survey
http://www.jammag.com/engg
Rate your college, help students make the right choice. Results of this survey will be published in JAM magazine's Blackbook on Engineering College Admissions in April 2007

Please take permission from your HR dept, if necessary. Or give me the name and id of the relevant person and I shall do so.

Secondly, if you're a student at an MBA institute, please post the above link on your intranet. Coz that's another haven for engineers :)

The reason I'm asking is we have a lot of responses but, in some parts of the country and from some colleges, not enough. Aapki thodi si madad se yeh kami puri ho sakti hai. Dhanyavaad - in advance.

Drop me a line if you do post the link so we can thank you personally.