Jumping jobs in IT

Its time now for me to comment about how anyone would want to switch to a new job. what really inspires or motivates or pushes one to do that?
Now in my 3rd company in the software field. I spent 7 yrs serving my first company, but only 6 months with the next. With the current company, its so far so good'.
My first job, Infosys, I never imagined would ever get a reason to quit. My dad served the state govt for more than 30 yrs until his retirement. And, to get into Infosys was ofcourse my wildest of dreams, especially because of Mr N. Murthy then. It was after so many flop shows in the campus interviews that i got this thru off campus at blore. Was on cloud 9. It all added when i got into the training center at mysore where i confronted every reason to sign my bond with the company for ever. And after 4 months of training, got into the real IT life, into the projects that pays the company and myself.  It was the first year appraisal cycle that came in as an eye opener to me. Did hurt me very badly.
When your colleagues or friends whom you find as you work along of having just similar skills and ability but getting better appraised for the only reason that you were innocent and ignorant of the real software career, it is that moment which was my enlightening moment. I agree i did get the simpler job almost equivalent to documentation but i thot i just did the job that was given to me, dint know i shud have gone for more. Expectation i thot was to perform the job given. I lost the race. It did strike me for gud. Either managers if self centered exploit the ignorant for their sole benefits or they just couldnt have done better with their level of managerial skills. But why did I worry so much about the appraisal, because that tells you how much your salary is hiked and how well you are recognized and your position amongst others. More than recognition, it was the salary difference that hit me bad personally. After 2 yrs, i got to projects of Java in retail domain and thats when i started my real career. With Java, i neednt depend on others to know better, its all there when you google. I had witnessed my friends/colleagues who I believed in my view were not fair and were too much show offs, actually flourished as the days passed.
I realized that its not gonna be practical even in the dream companies to have an ideal work environment, for it is all finally the same humans who are mostly programmed to live even at the cost of others' lives. In other words its not just about doing just your job sincerely but a dirty white collar job. The harm to you, some do it intentionally and some do it unintentionally. Though you would never want to play the games, you still have to be smart and if required even play politics to get  through all the games unhurt.
So, any company is just same with its own plus and minus and you have to wake up at the least after hitting the wall, if not before. In the sense, you will sure know when you cant grow anymore in the company after you are exhausted with everything you could. If with your skills and ability, you know you can get a better work and pay by getting outside and the binding reasons dont stand valid anymore, then thats what i mean by hitting the wall. In my case, i just waited for an onsite opportunity to earn dollars, and after return i took 1 yr because of my laziness but still got out.
If you still want to stick to the company for the only reason that you just dont want to go out or not prepared for a change, you are either cheating yourself or the ones who are dependant on you. This is exactly what pushed me get out of Infosys. Ofcourse, i am not against the valid reasons for getting bound, for example if you have settled your home with family near the company and cant afford a move or something like that. You should really have a long term vision as well on any change on how it would have the impact. To get out of TCS, i had actually no reason to stay except the brand name. Somehow was never comfortable in the 6 months, the work culture, environment, the project, daily 40kms drive to and fro to office.....nothing convinced me and everything pushed me...And when i got the option, i just went ahead!

Its not a sin anymore to jump a job,

Signing off with the famous quote
"Love your job, but never fall in-love with your company because you'll never know when the company stops loving you"

Choosing a Software Career - For a fresher

Recent news that Infosys has deferred the joining dates for its on-campus new hires prompted me to revive  a deep thought that i have been having about the choice of a software career for a fresher. Whether to stick to an offer from a big brand or to go for a small but promising brand? Here, am not talking about international brands like FB, Google, Microsoft..etc. my view is limited to my knowledge and experience, Indian companies. Based on my experience, I personally think that the best option is to go for a promising career than a big brand.
With big brands, the good thing is that it is easy to enter, i mean the interviews/recruitment process and also the initial training especially with Infy, but after getting in, it is difficult to grow, by grow i mean the career/technology, it can happen only if you push your self against all odds or have the guy Mr. Luck by ur side. In simple logic, the big company with a lakh (lets say)employees, has to someway restrict the growth of its employees to limited numbers only then can it show a better financial result for its self. But ofcourse, that limited numbers (employees) will be the most benefited as they work for the best organization with best facilities and a great growth, the question is, how long they themselves could sustain their growth? There is always this politics that could pull you down, even the best techy if he isnt smart politically. I dont mean that a career with big company shouldnt be considered at all, infact such an experience with a big company is a must for a software guy, but he better have it for a shorter period only and not necessarily as a fresher

For those like me, to get through an interview as a fresher was a nightmare and these big companies are a blessing. Adding to my personal fear with interviews becoz of my grt communication skills, with electrical engg, i just couldnt have dreamt of a software career if not for Infy. I couldnt then even afford for a software course and i was already struggling to get to daily internet browsing. And into the big company, it also gives you the opportunity to travel, yeah travel Onsite. I believe, this is one of the most important things which drives the success of the big brands in retaining its employees, where the company lets the employee earn in dollars/pounds. But this is usually influenced by the visa restrictions and the usual internal politics.. When it comes to the technology in work, as most know, its only a small percentage of projects that run on cutting edge and also big companies are proud on their dummy maintenance/support projects rather than intelligent developments as their most revenue is from them, you can even call it their backbone. An american/western company would never want to take such maintenance ever. Remember we cant deny though that it is these maintenance revenue which had paid so many software engineers, but we are restricted to discuss about an individual's career. Last but not the least, you have these appraisal frameworks with incapable, short sighted and self centered managers, which fights well to demotivate even a good employee.
When it comes to small companies, i dont deny that they do have politics and low pay.But some promising,  would pay you good, even if not, most of them get you prepared for a future as you would be taking more responsibilities with more interesting and challenging work. They might not give you the onsite opportunity, but the growth has to be certain to atleast retain you. Over a period of time, you would become more capable in a small company and the reverse could happen in the big company.The question is, how many good and promising small companies do we have? and how could we find the right one?Only way i cud think of is to get in touch with ppl who are in this career for sometime!
A single company in the whole career for a software guy, is practically impossible, but since am now talking for a fresher, i would still ask him to go for a small promising company to start with if he could get through their usual tough recruitment process and is ready to take big challenges in his initial career, all for a better future. If you are only looking for a comfortable initial start and a probable onsite after a 2/3 years, then ofcourse big companies are there, and at the least be smart enough to handle politics.
To comment on the source of this post again, deferred join dates for freshers, i would suggest the joinees to not waste 3 months (deferred period) of their career. In a software career, even a week might cost you bad, for eg: the promotions and yearly compensation reviews, are actually based on the joining date of the employee. And the company without even giving an option has asked the hires to take online training. is the company ready to pay them during the deferred period? oh yeah, you are lowering 2 months of training period, but is it possible for every hire to afford the online training which is supposedly 10 weeks, wouldnt it lead to inequality in getting access to the training? isnt it also not fair if not illegal to get them to your training without paying and also not counting it on their resume when the training is in fact gonna benefit the company directly?

Be aware of the scope!

This is my 50th post in the 5 yr blogging! :-)

Update:
Note: In the above post, I only encourage people to be smart enough to handle politics but not be the reason for one. I only wish and hope for politics free work life for everyone anywhere!

Snakes

From my childhood i have been taught to chase and kill whenever u confront a snake. Am sure had done it atleast a couple of times myself at my home (Vellore). The perception was built so strongly that a snake will always harm a human being though it was also shown to be worshiped in movies and hindu rituals. It wasnt pleasant or comfortable either while we confront a snake, not sure if its becoz of its physical features just like a lizard/frog or the perception itself. To kill a snake is also a 'Bravo' thing to do. But, in the recent days, on reading and watching related contents from Isha (Sadguru's), i start to realize that my perceptions might be wrong. I cannot deny the contributions by the Discovery or NGC channels either. A snake, just like any other animal wouldnt want to harm you simply for no reason. Its the unnecessary panic by us humans, harms both the snake and ourselves.I wonder why did anyone start a campaign against these reptiles? or is it just their curse?

Check the below links if u wanna understand them better:
Isha blog 
IshaVideo