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Friday, 29 January 2010 12:57 |
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One of the most common questions I - as an entrepreneur - get is: "Why did you choose Belgaum? Why not Bangalore?". Yes. It is true that Bangalore has established itself as the IT hub aka the Silicon Valley of India. Indeed, Bangalore today is known the world over for the IT presence in the city and not the numerous gardens it hosts. So why did I choose Belgaum? or rather why would anybody choose Belgaum over a much better alternative i.e. Bangalore? This article attempts to help our readers understand the IT industry the way it is today and in the process eradicate some of the myths surrounding it.
Is location important?
Everything in this world today is wired. Over the years internet technology has matured so well that one can not live with out it especially in the IT industry. Any offshore development done is delivered via the network. Software like any other commodity item can be sold online through websites. So then the question: Is location really that important? Absolutely not. There are companies in Belgaum whose employees virtually work in the UK and USA while physically they are still in Belgaum.
Cost Factor
For a company/business that has just started it is important to keep its running costs as low as possible. Belgaum being a second-tier city provides the low-cost advantage over other major IT hubs such as Bangalore. Cost of leasing/renting an office in Bangalore compared to one in Belgaum is way too high. Such higher running costs builds up pressure on a small startup to start making profits. Pressure is not good for business.
Time Factor
Bigger cities provide loads of facilities to people living there. These include access to ultra-modern shopping malls, cinema houses, international airport, etc. However, all this comes with one major problem and that is heavy traffic. Such cities are overly populated and their roads full of vehicles plying each way. My friend's working in such bigger cities take at 2hrs on a average to go from home to their offices. That amounts to 4hrs in the traffic each day. In addition to this, they have to start early in the morning else it take even longer.
Time is an important factor of growth in a early stage startup. One has to give it the maximum time and attention. You cannot afford to feel tired because of all the day-to-day traveling. Working in a smaller city like Belgaum saves a lot of travel time. Today you can reach from one end of Belgaum to the other end in about 30mins in peak traffic. If you choose to have you office closer to your house like I have, thats even better. You can afford to have a good sleep, wake up fully rested and give your best to your working day each day all year along.
Business Opportunities
People seem to think that if a company is in Belgaum then it only caters to local customers. This is not true. These people need to open their eyes and wake up and embrace the new age, the new technology, and the new ways of global businesses. Another common myth is that if you are in a city like Bangalore you are more likely to get new customer leads. This totally depends on what service one has to offer in the business. If you have established good networks all around leads can fall in place from anywhere on this planet.
Career Prospects
This one is particularly for the young and hungry job seekers. The feeling is that if you work in a city like Bangalore that hosts thousands of companies you are more likely to progress faster in your career than by working for a company in Belgaum. In the IT industry the way people progress in their careers is by changing their jobs i.e. switching companies for a better offer. This is good for the bank accounts but not so good for the bad days that are now coming around every so often. By jumping jobs one becomes "the Jack of all trades and Ace of none" kind of a person. During a recession period this is the guy a company will look to get away with. Unfortunately, except a few the whole IT force in India falls in this category today.
My advice to the youth coming out of college is to look for that one thing in IT that interests you, go for it, learn it and master it. Be an Ace not a Jack and you will see employers flocking to you (not the other way around). Go for the knowledge rather than money. Go watch the movie - "3 Idiots" if you haven't got it yet.
Belgaum startup or any startup for that matter might pay a lower salary but there is a huge potential to learn. You are going to be a core member of a team where your say really matters unlike being one amongst several thousands an MNC or a big service giant already has. Initially you might feel left behind by comparing their friend's salary which could be 2 or 3 folds more than yours. However, unlike your friend's, your career growth is directly proportional to the company's growth. You put in more effort, the company does well and in turn you do well in the company. Your work will be much much rewarding. Being small allows the company to share its profits with its employees easily. That is to say if the company makes millions in profit you make millions too! It is always better to join a company which is small and be counted.
I think I made my point. Having said that please do comment if you have anything to add to this or you feel otherwise. Please note that I in particular have nothing against Bangalore or people living in Bangalore. This article was an attempt to show the reader what lies beyond Bangalore in a place like Belgaum.
Author:
Dr. Ameet Patil founded Spundhan Softwares Pvt. Ltd., a software company, in the year 2008 in Belgaum, Karnataka, India. Ameet is an expert in Embedded Real-time Systems particularly in the area of hardware design, software timing analysis and real-time operating systems. Ameet is keen to promote IT in Belgaum and the surrounding region and is always willing help budding entrepreneurs to bring their ideas to the real world. For more information visit: http://www.spundhan.com or http://www.ameetpatil.com. For job related queries please email your resume to
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Wednesday, 13 January 2010 14:54 |
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Eight essentials to make the right hiring decisions.
1. Define. Say short, say sweet. Keep it simple. Specify roles and duties.
2. Study. Do a study of your best people (past and present) and find out what characteristics they have in common. One of the best ways to do this is by using a tool called the Profile XT. The Profile XT is much more than an assessment. It gives you customized Job Match patterns, suggests relevant interview questions, yields a percentage match when comparing a candidate to your top performers, provides a detailed positive analysis of the individuals you assess, and can provide thousands of "experienced" Job Match Patterns for use in developing your own patterns. With this tool you will come up with a job match pattern that will provide a benchmark for prospective candidates.
3. Demo Pit. Get your prospective job seeker to demo his skills for you. Give him a short assignment. Assign a desktop in your office to him and ask him to execute a piece of code if you’re looking for a software geek, ask him a to source a few profiles from a database site should you be looking for a recruiter, ask him to make a couple of live cold calls impromptu to judge his selling skills should you be looking for a business developer. The key is to get every interviewee into the demo pit so that they can showcase their skills while you take notice.
4. Double Trouble Check. Mistakes can lead to disasters. To avoid making a disaster of yourself, you need to look back at people you’ve hired in the past (who didn’t work out for your organization for whatever reason) and ponder upon what common problems did you encounter? What traits or qualities are you SURE you NEVER want again?
5. Think Tank. Setup a Think Tank. Get a couple of your peers, seniors, juniors, cross functional staff to casually interact with your prospective employees. Always remember you’re no Superman. At the risk of being terribly clichéd, I’d like to reinstate, you can’t quite judge a book by it’s cover. Involve people you trust to talk to your potential candidates.
6. Interview. Interview. Interview. How many interviews will you hold for each candidate? Some companies hold several interviews for the short list of three to five candidates. The first might be with HR and yourself. The second may be with the department manager and the third might be after you’ve done an assessment or two. Assessments will always pinpoint areas you may want to question or clarify with the candidate.
7. The GIGO Terminology. In the interviewing stage always swear by the GIGO terminology. Garbage In – Garbage Out. GIGO is used primarily to call attention to the fact that computers will unquestioningly process the most nonsensical of input data and produce nonsensical output. It was most popular in the early days of computing, but applies even more today, when job seekers can spew out mountains of erroneous information in a short time simply because they’ve mastered the art of scoring in interviews. Spare yourself that extra time and extra thinking. Skip the clutter. Ask the right questions. Make the right decisions.
8. References Galore. Always ask for, and check references. A very small percentage of employers do this. Look over the list of desirable talents and skills you’ve identified as well as the ones you know you want to steer clear of. Develop a list of four to five specific questions you’ll ask those references. If you don’t get acceptable answers from the referees, it may be a clue that this applicant is not someone you want to hire.
1. Define. Say short, say sweet. Keep it simple. Specify roles and duties.
2. Study. Do a study of your best people (past and present) and find out what characteristics they have in common. One of the best ways to do this is by using a tool called the Profile XT. The Profile XT is much more than an assessment. It gives you customized Job Match patterns, suggests relevant interview questions, yields a percentage match when comparing a candidate to your top performers, provides a detailed positive analysis of the individuals you assess, and can provide thousands of "experienced" Job Match Patterns for use in developing your own patterns. With this tool you will come up with a job match pattern that will provide a benchmark for prospective candidates.
3. Demo Pit. Get your prospective job seeker to demo his skills for you. Give him a short assignment. Assign a desktop in your office to him and ask him to execute a piece of code if you’re looking for a software geek, ask him a to source a few profiles from a database site should you be looking for a recruiter, ask him to make a couple of live cold calls impromptu to judge his selling skills should you be looking for a business developer. The key is to get every interviewee into the demo pit so that they can showcase their skills while you take notice.
4. Double Trouble Check. Mistakes can lead to disasters. To avoid making a disaster of yourself, you need to look back at people you’ve hired in the past (who didn’t work out for your organization for whatever reason) and ponder upon what common problems did you encounter? What traits or qualities are you SURE you NEVER want again?
5. Think Tank. Setup a Think Tank. Get a couple of your peers, seniors, juniors, cross functional staff to casually interact with your prospective employees. Always remember you’re no Superman. At the risk of being terribly clichéd, I’d like to reinstate, you can’t quite judge a book by it’s cover. Involve people you trust to talk to your potential candidates.
6. Interview. Interview. Interview. How many interviews will you hold for each candidate? Some companies hold several interviews for the short list of three to five candidates. The first might be with HR and yourself. The second may be with the department manager and the third might be after you’ve done an assessment or two. Assessments will always pinpoint areas you may want to question or clarify with the candidate.
7. The GIGO Terminology. In the interviewing stage always swear by the GIGO terminology. Garbage In – Garbage Out. GIGO is used primarily to call attention to the fact that computers will unquestioningly process the most nonsensical of input data and produce nonsensical output. It was most popular in the early days of computing, but applies even more today, when job seekers can spew out mountains of erroneous information in a short time simply because they’ve mastered the art of scoring in interviews. Spare yourself that extra time and extra thinking. Skip the clutter. Ask the right questions. Make the right decisions.
8. References Galore. Always ask for, and check references. A very small percentage of employers do this. Look over the list of desirable talents and skills you’ve identified as well as the ones you know you want to steer clear of. Develop a list of four to five specific questions you’ll ask those references. If you don’t get acceptable answers from the referees, it may be a clue that this applicant is not someone you want to hire.
By
Dr. Aadil Bandukwala
Chief Evangelist
Talent Onions |
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