Jobs today...

Where do you want to go today? I am not sure if slide #20 in Krugman's Nobel lecture was intended for current economic situation, but it refers to

Decline of "good jobs"

Whether today we are in Depression or not, the fact is there are no 'good jobs'. Am I talking of 'high class' or 'low class' in jobs? All jobs are equal but some are more equal than others :P At least in India, there is abundance of jobs for people with less than 5 years of experience. Rest have to sit on the bench AT home or some park. Yes, people with more than 5 years of experience are 'safe' if they had already become 'leader's or if they are 'yes men'! If people like me are more intent on self-esteem and pride, then 'Pulp Fiction' said it

Fuck pride! Pride only hurts, it never helps.

There is, at least was, some talk of 'moving up the value chain' in Indian software industry. It is an easy proof that Indians are/were only 'servicing' what the white man wanted. Desis probably think that they have become 'white' themselves and try to exercise their 'authority' over the 'lesser brown' mortals in India. So they act as if they do 'higher level' jobs and grant 'lower level' jobs to their comrades in India (pun intended of course). The comedy is that even in the 'headquarters', desis seem to play the sycophant. It is no surprise that very few, if not none, desis have really made it 'big'. Desis seem to be content in being in payrolls of someone. Always the bridesmaid, never the bride!

I think the problem is that people are not calling spade the spade. I mean, even in college days, some of my classmates used to look down on 'testing' jobs. There is some truth in this because in some sense, it is like HOTS and MOTS. This is like petty-bourgeoisie - where India itself is thrown some crumbs from abroad and dogs here fighting on who has the sweetest crumb of those. As I always say - நாம புடுங்கறது பூராவுமே தேவையில்லாதது தான்! I don't see any reason why people should do PhD or M.Tech for such low-level job. I came to the conclusion that MBA is the biggest rip-off in entire world, not just India, quite sometime back. This reasoning is what I explained in my 'The limits of schooling' article that was accepted by IEEE Potentials (when will it get printed? :o). Jobs that demand HOTS were done in a 'foreign' country and 'MOTS' was relegated to countries like India (only India?). If it is MOTS, then why pay more to higher experienced people, when 'junior' people can do the same and also 'juniors' will do more to IMPRESS the seniors. If you dont have pride, then even better! I have told atleast two of my managers in different companies

We are working overtime to make ourselves redundant.

The job calls/mails that at least I get, demand 'tool expertise', 'international footprint' etc. 'Tool expertise' indicates that no firm wants to spend on 'training' the employee - rather they expect the employee to know that we are in deep if not edge of the abyss.

One thing’s for sure: The next administration’s economic team had better be ready to hit the ground running, because from day one it will find itself dealing with the worst financial and economic crisis since the Great Depression.

Before 'recession' set in, tool expertise was unnecessary and in fact, looked down upon, because it was considered that the person is sound on medium rather than the message. Now companies want only medium experts, pun intended. 'International footprint' is mostly valid only for those who studied abroad or who were 'Jakkuboys'. Despite 10 years of experience that too in semiconductor industry, that too in top global companies, it may be surprising that I didn't stay abroad for more than 6 months TOTALLY! In fact, I wouldn't have resigned from my first company, Texas Instruments, if I had gone to US (for just few days) to present MY paper (it had no coauthors!) but my manager said that the company had no money and to rub salt into injury, few 'yes men' were sent to US for 3 months!

Technically, I didn't learn anything new since 2004. The companies use only improved version of tools, which probably gives the illusion to some that we are working on 'cutting-edge'. I had attended a lecture at ICAI (I usually look up 'Engagements' section in The Hindu when I am in Chennai and go for 'free talks' when I am free) - where an ex-bureaucrat was talking on Budget presented a day before. His basic point was - India's administrative machinery has matured reasonably. We don't need brahmas, we need only Vishnus. In other words, we don't need to (cant afford to?) create new things; rather we have to focus on executing the existing machinery. In semiconductor industry, I heard of 'layout factory' in 2003. Basically all 'design' centres are being converted into factories where ANYONE can be replaced. Companies can survive only by making the workers sweat their blood out and more importanly, dispensable. Long hours are now mandatory for everyone, at least in India. Globally, of course companies can only close down as they are Running Out of Planet to Exploit. There is no room/time/money to question anything - we simply have to follow the 'apes in the cage' paradigm. Don't question, JUST DO IT!