Transcript Expectations from a freshman Software Engineer

Expectations from a freshman
Software Engineer
Tathagat Varma
Engineering Manager,
Huawei Technologies India Pvt. Ltd.
Bangalore, India
[email protected]
Tathagat Varma
MoTSE2003, March 10-12, 2003
Disclaimer
• The views represented in this presentation are
author’s own personal views and do not
necessarily represent the views of his employers
• All facts, data, research material referenced from
the Internet web sites is gratefully acknowledged
to their respective site addresses to highlight their
ownership
Tathagat Varma
MoTSE2003, March 10-12, 2003
The last Decade : Business Growth
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MoTSE2003, March 10-12, 2003
The last Decade : Manpower Growth
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Business Distribution
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Indian Software Industry - Process
Maturity Status
SE I Q u a lity
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N o te : So m e co m p a n ie s h a v e m u ltip le ce rtifica tio n s.
S ource: N A S S C O M
Tathagat Varma
MoTSE2003, March 10-12, 2003
This Decade
• A NASSCOM survey on industry employment indicated a
growth of 24.4% in 2002-03, to touch 650,000 IT
professionals from previous year’s headcount of 522,250.
Of these 205,000 are working in the IT software exports
industry, 160,000 are employed in IT Enabled Services,
25,000 in the domestic software market and over 260,000
in user organizations.
• The survey also highlighted the potential shortfall of
235,000 people by 2008 if current trends of intake of
technical talent into the IT workforce continue. The
demand for software professionals is expected to be
approximately 1.1 million people by 2008, however the
supply of software professionals, based on current trends,
is projected to be 885,000 by 2008.
Tathagat Varma
MoTSE2003, March 10-12, 2003
Reality Check #1
• “…Students who have recently completed their
courses are facing a reality crash. Riding a wave of
optimism, they have just completed their education.
But the fat salary packets of a year or two ago and
international assignments have disappeared. Let alone
jobs, they do not even get interview calls. The soughtafters have become seekers. Companies are swamped
with "bench strength" and thousands of resumes on
their websites—waiting to be processed.
Shyam Malhotra
(http://www.dqindia.com/content/guest/103021902.asp)
Tathagat Varma
MoTSE2003, March 10-12, 2003
Reality Check #2
• Tata Consultancy Services CEO S Ramadorai says,
"Looking at this against the backdrop of Nasscom’s
$87-billion target for the IT industry by 2008, we
would need a ten-fold increase in management and
leadership talent. Hypothetically, if an individual is
able to earn $40,000 for the industry in 2008-09, we
need 25 people for each million dollars, 25,000 for
each billion dollars and close to two-and-a-half
million for an $87-billion industry. The challenge lies
in our ability to find, train and meet the aspirations
of such a large set of talented people."
Tathagat Varma
MoTSE2003, March 10-12, 2003
Reality Check #3
• “The level of professionalism in the software
engineering field has suffered greatly over the past 5 to
8 years and today appears to be reaching a new low. The
consequences of this dive are larger project cost
overruns, more missed deadlines, lost revenue and
greater opportunity costs, lower staff morale, and poorer
quality software in general. Unfortunately, little is being
done to change the status quo except to continue to hire
more young and underqualified programmers with low
salaries while the experienced 'mentors' continue to
leave the industry in frustration.” - 10 Attributes of a
Professional Software Engineer - Alan Partis
Tathagat Varma
MoTSE2003, March 10-12, 2003
Reality Check #4
• Amidst the global economic slowdown and cuts in
technology spending, NASSCOM and McKinsey
revised the 2008 target figure from $87B to $ 77B.
Tathagat Varma
MoTSE2003, March 10-12, 2003
Moral of the story ?
• We are still in the middle of slowdown / downturn
• Not too many new jobs in software development
• But the future looks great ! Forecast 2008 is still very
positive !
• To achieve Forecast 2008, we must move up the value
chain
• To move up the value chain, we need to build stronger
professionals and stronger leaders / managers
• Tomorrow’s leaders are still in the colleges - waiting
for their first job !
Tathagat Varma
MoTSE2003, March 10-12, 2003
College Days
• Campus Recruitment
– Most campus recruitment happen when the student has
just entered the final year
– Most of the ‘real’ subjects are covered in the final year
– Unfortunately, many of them are ‘electives’ whereas
they all should have been regular papers !
• While joining the company
– Difficult to get good internship experience
– Not exposed to industrial work practices and work
culture
– Has inadequate ‘soft-skills’ to work in a team
Tathagat Varma
MoTSE2003, March 10-12, 2003
In a project team
• Strengths
– Knowledge of OS, Data Structure, programming
languages and maybe, some relevant domain
knowledge (networks, etc.)
• Improvement Areas
– Process Management – expose to quality processes
(process lifecycle, project management, etc.)
– People Issues - often, there is no real preparation to deal
with working in a team
– Perception Corrections - to understand that there is
indeed life before and after the coding phase !
Tathagat Varma
MoTSE2003, March 10-12, 2003
Indian Software Industry
• A World-class industry full of global opportunities,
global exposure - and cutthroat competition !
• Predominant work culture is based on US + European
work methods. A rising trend is based on Oriental
Work Culture (Japan, Korea, China)
• We are in Global Competition – not in a local race
• Growing emphasis is on ‘Smartness’,
‘Professionalism’, ‘Meritocracy’, ‘Growth Potential’,
etc.
• To compete well in this environment, one has to be
well-prepared and measure up to the expectations of
the industry
Tathagat Varma
MoTSE2003, March 10-12, 2003
So, what are we looking for ?
•
•
•
•
Fundamental Technical Skills
Software Engineering Skills
Basic Exposure to ‘Technology’ as end-user
Soft-Skills
Tathagat Varma
MoTSE2003, March 10-12, 2003
Fundamental Technical Skills
• Solid Technical Education
–
–
–
–
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Discrete Maths, Boolean Algebra, Graph Theory
Statistics, Probability Theory, Queuing Theory
Data Structures, Compiler Theory, OS
Networks, Graphics, Databases, AI
Good hands-on work in the lab in C, C++, Unix /
Linux, etc.
• Problem Solving Skills
– Ability to abstract a problem and apply problemsolving steps to find the solution
Tathagat Varma
MoTSE2003, March 10-12, 2003
Software Engineering Skills
• You must understand the software lifecycle well enough to
appreciate what you are supposed to do in each phase.
• You must know how to estimate accurately.
• You must know an accurate specification when you see one,
how to fix a poor specification and how to write a specification.
• You must specify deliverables so there is no question when you
are finished with one.
• You must know what constitutes adequate documentation for
both users and maintenance people.
• You must know what constitutes adequate quality assurance.
• You must know how to design and write professional computer
software.
http://www.csc.calpoly.edu/~dstearns/205/skills.html
Tathagat Varma
MoTSE2003, March 10-12, 2003
Basic Exposure to ‘Technology’ as
end-user
• Problem: An average freshman software engineer has
never really used the technology (= software-driven
systems) himself – except for VCR / DVD, PC, etc. on
limited scale.
• Impact: the fundamental capability to appreciate and
understand the technology is low
• Good Trends: using Cell phones, CD Writers, ATM /
Credit Cards, Internet Usage,
• Improvement Areas: expose to modern data and
telecommunications systems (both wireline and wireless),
railway reservation systems, newspaper / magazine’s data
networks,
Tathagat Varma
MoTSE2003, March 10-12, 2003
Why are Soft-Skills so important ?
• An independent study conducted on CEOs, by
Stanford Research Institute and Carnegie Mellon
in the US, found that long-term job success
depends 75% on people skills and only 25% on
technical knowledge.
• Another study done by Harvard University had
even more startling results – 85% of jobs &
promotions happened because of the
candidate’s attitude and only 15% due to the
facts and figures he packed under his belt. (In
fact, companies lose almost 10 - 15 % of possible
business due to their inability to meet the
perceived level of services linked to soft skills.)
Tathagat Varma
MoTSE2003, March 10-12, 2003
Self Management !
• Problem: An average 20-year old freshman has never
really been exposed to the self-manage his time, his effort,
his output, his deliverable quality, his commitment
management, etc.
• Impact: The fundamental ability to be a team member who
does not need to be ‘handheld’ is absent. This results in the
manager having to spend a lot of time with the newcomer.
Quite often, the newcomer does not realize why his
performance ratings are low despite doing a good coding the reason could be he is not self-managed
• Improvement Areas: Plan your daily tasks well, follow
the plan and manage your commitments.
Tathagat Varma
MoTSE2003, March 10-12, 2003
Taking Initiative / Being Proactive
• Problem: Most of us wait for instructions from our seniors
(having been molded in the thought that manager’s job is
the assign work and my job is to do it) - whereas the
expectation is that engineers are initiative-driven to learn
new things, try out new (and risky) ideas, etc.
• Impact: The newcomer is not able to generate a good
rapport with his manager and is not able to become more
productive
• Improvement Areas: Explore new ideas. When you have
free time, try out new things - install new OS, write some
new program, try out a new tool, learn new language, take
interest in your colleague’s work and learn it and help him,
etc.
Tathagat Varma
MoTSE2003, March 10-12, 2003
Teamwork & Groupwork
• Problem: The problem stems from the fact that our
traditional school curriculum focus on ‘individual
excellence’ (in exams and also in getting jobs) whereas,
once in the job, we must work together to achieve the
common goals ! The only place where teamwork is
emphasized is in sports
• Impact: Freshmen have no or limited appreciation or
preparation for teamwork
• Improvement Areas: organize mock sessions / war-games
on software project lifecycle problems, student projects
could be designed as a team effort, organize group
discussions, teambuilding sessions
Tathagat Varma
MoTSE2003, March 10-12, 2003
Time Management
• Problem: We suffer from the traditional mindset of Indian
Standard time – we assume that being late is not only OK
for the job / task, even others might not be expecting us to
be on-time. Probably except for the Defense Officers, no
one is either expected nor is actually punctual
• Impact: Globally, we are ridiculed and mistrusted for
being the worst in this category. This also results in some
workplace friction while dealing with foreigners
• Improvement Areas: Orient students to time management
principles, set the standards high and follow them yourself
!
Tathagat Varma
MoTSE2003, March 10-12, 2003
Commitment Management
• Problem: the “chalta hai” culture – we wrongly assume
that not honoring a commitment is not only perfectly OK,
even the other person might be only half-expecting us to
actually honor the commitment in the first place !
• Impact: We carry these bad practices to the workplace and
unknowingly use them at work, which results in unpleasant
situations with Customer, or Boss or even other Coworkers
• Improvement Areas: Improve oneself in commitment
management - it’s a question of self-discipline and one’s
own character
Tathagat Varma
MoTSE2003, March 10-12, 2003
Communication Skills
• Problem: Most fresh college graduates have poor written
and spoken communication skills, presentations skills
• Impact: It takes a lot of effort for the manager to train the
newcomers to be effective communicators so that they can
fit in the project well. Software projects involve a lot of
communication and poor communicators reduce the
overall team efficiency
• Improvement Areas: Organize weekly tech-talks,
seminars, go to schools and teach them computers, write
for college magazines / newspaper, etc.
Tathagat Varma
MoTSE2003, March 10-12, 2003
Attitude
• If there is only one skill you had to pick up, go for
Attitude.
• Recruitment mantra – “Hire for Attitude, train for skills”
• Attitude impacts the
– Flexibility to adapt to changing and adverse situations
– Initiative drive, especially when things are not clear
– Ability to continue even in the face of adversities, and motivate
others to also keep moving
• Other things being equal, a person will professional
attitude will grow much more faster compared to others
Tathagat Varma
MoTSE2003, March 10-12, 2003
Questioning & Interviewing Skills
• Problem: Is it our culture that discourages us to question
our elder’s commands ? Globally, people always wonder
why Indian engineers never ask questions and whether
they have really understood the things or not
• Impact: We lack Interviewing skills to facilitate the
acquisition of information during requirements elicitation /
analysis. We never question our manager’s estimates howsoever crazy that might be – this results in Death
March project deadlines remaining unquestioned
• Improvement Areas: Learn how to say ‘NO’ when you
have to, how to interview a customer for eliciting the
requirements, develop listening skills, etc.
Tathagat Varma
MoTSE2003, March 10-12, 2003
The Seven Super Smart Traits
• From Bill Gates in ‘The Microsoft Way’
– Capability of grasping new knowledge quickly
– Generating acute questions on the spot
– Perceiving connections between disparate domains of
knowledge
– Understanding code (or models, documents) at a glance
– Thinking obsessively about the code
– Concentrating with special intensity
– Photographic recall of code (or models, documents)
you have written
Tathagat Varma
MoTSE2003, March 10-12, 2003
Conclusions
• Success in corporate culture not only depends on just technical
brilliance or coding knowledge alone
• One must change the mindset from just being a programmer to
being a “Software Professional”
• For students, there is a long road ahead. To get that extra
mileage, you must focus on some key skill-building activities
from now itself
• The expectations from the industry are increasing every passing
day – you must be proactive and well-prepared to meet them
successfully
• Most of the expectations can be met by sustained efforts from
individuals
• If you don’t focus on these areas now, you are not increasing
chances of your success in the near- or long-term
Tathagat Varma
MoTSE2003, March 10-12, 2003
References
• Managing Technical People – Watts S. Humphrey,
Pearson Education Asia
• After the Gold Rush: Creating a True Professions of
Software Engineering – Steve McConell, Microsoft Press
Tathagat Varma
MoTSE2003, March 10-12, 2003
Web References
• Preparing for Your First Job BEFORE You Graduate Chen Ye (http://cf.acm.org/crc_chris/cri/articleview-cri27crc.cfm?art_id=3&CFID=11111111&CFTOKEN=2222222
)
• To Intern or not to Intern, that is the question Jagannathan Thinakaran
(http://cf.acm.org/crc_chris/cri/articleview-cri27crc.cfm?art_id=2&CFID=11111111&CFTOKEN=2222222
)
• A Professional Software Engineer - Alan Zeichick
(http://www.sdmagazine.com/documents/s=824/sdm0003g/
)
Tathagat Varma
MoTSE2003, March 10-12, 2003
Web References...
• SOFTWARE ENGINEERING CODE OF ETHICS
AND PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE - as recommended
by the IEEE-CS/ACM Joint Task Force on Software
Engineering Ethics and Professional Practices
(http://www.computer.org/tab/seprof/code.htm)
• 10 Attributes of a Professional Software Engineer Alan Partis
(http://www.thundernet.com/alpartis/articles/engineer.shtm
l)
•
A List of Important Points of Software Development Keiji Ikuta (http://www.iktsoft.com/study/se.html)
Tathagat Varma
MoTSE2003, March 10-12, 2003
Web References...
• Skills You Need: What Employers Want from You Therese Droste
(http://adminsupport.monster.com/articles/want/)
• Soft skills training becomes essential for India Software
Inc - Rajneesh De
(http://www.expressitpeople.com/20020610/cover.shtml)
Tathagat Varma
MoTSE2003, March 10-12, 2003
Questions ?
Tathagat Varma
MoTSE2003, March 10-12, 2003
Thank you !!!
Tathagat Varma
MoTSE2003, March 10-12, 2003