BANGALORE: An Indian engineer tries to jump quickly to the managerial side, because that's been the only path to career progression. This is the reason why many also rush to obtain MBAs.
But that's now changing. Indian IT services companies are creating technical ladders for engineers who are keen to focus on their engineering skills rather than manage projects and people. And the Indian arms of global technology companies, which already have such ladders globally, are now actively pushing engineers to climb those ladders.
Wipro has created a four-level technical ladder that goes up all the way to a Distinguished Fellow, a position that is equivalent to the grade of a CEO. TCS has created designations such as technical architect and chief architect, the latter being equivalent to a client director or a segment head on the business side.
"Earlier, a VP meant you have to have a large team under you. Now you can reach an equivalent grade even if you remain an individual contributor," Saurabh Govil, global head of HR in Wipro, told TOI. The company internally calls the initiative The Distinguished Member of Technical Staff (DMTS) programme. It was started earlier this year, and the company said it intends to make significant investments, and provide mentoring and focused assignments, to enable career advancement opportunities to those who are passionate about pursuing technology.
Ritu Anand, deputy head of global HR in TCS, said the company wants to encourage employees to take on technical roles at the senior level.
This is becoming important as IT companies move to offer more sophisticated and differentiated solutions to their clients. Their traditional applications development and maintenance services business, based on large scale use of people, is becoming commoditized, and there is pressure to create innovative and automated solutions. Newer technologies like cloud, mobility and analytics are adding to those pressures, to create solutions around them.
Newer technologies are also putting pressure on global tech companies to raise the quality of their talent in India. For many of them, the Indian engineering and R&D operations are the biggest outside their home countries. "The technical competence we require is much higher now because of the nature of work we are doing," said Jitendra Chaddah, director of strategic relations & operations at Intel India.
Intel India, which has about 4,500 people, is using training programmes, courses and managerial guidance to encourage engineers to move to the technical ladder. The first major rung in that ladder is principal engineer. A talented engineer could take 10-12 years to reach that step. Intel in India now has 18 principal engineers and 4 senior principal engineers, the next step on the ladder.
EMC began what it calls the TechEdge programme two years ago to develop its engineers to reach the principal engineer level. The programme is now into its fourth batch, and each batch has had about 25 engineers. "We call for self-nominations. And each time we have been oversubscribed by many factors," says Niranjan Thirumale, CTO of the EMC India Centre of Excellence.
Principal engineer has now become a coveted position in organizations that have this or an equivalent designation. Selection is based typically on the candidate's depth and breadth in technical expertise, demonstrated technical leadership, strategic contribution to both engineering and management needs, communication skills, and their being a role model and mentor for other engineers.
"Aspirants typically go into a global pool, and the selection is rigorous," said Chaddah. The selected ones are the people who go on to obtain patents, and influence the technology vision and direction of companies as they rise to positions like Fellow or Distinguished Engineer, ranks that are equivalent to leading positions on the business side such as Director, Senior Vice President or even CEO.
Ritu Anand, deputy head of global HR in TCS, said the company wants to encourage employees to take on technical roles at the senior level.
This is becoming important as IT companies move to offer more sophisticated and differentiated solutions to their clients. Their traditional applications development and maintenance services business, based on large scale use of people, is becoming commoditized, and there is pressure to create innovative and automated solutions. Newer technologies like cloud, mobility and analytics are adding to those pressures, to create solutions around them.
Newer technologies are also putting pressure on global tech companies to raise the quality of their talent in India. For many of them, the Indian engineering and R&D operations are the biggest outside their home countries. "The technical competence we require is much higher now because of the nature of work we are doing," said Jitendra Chaddah, director of strategic relations & operations at Intel India.
Intel India, which has about 4,500 people, is using training programmes, courses and managerial guidance to encourage engineers to move to the technical ladder. The first major rung in that ladder is principal engineer. A talented engineer could take 10-12 years to reach that step. Intel in India now has 18 principal engineers and 4 senior principal engineers, the next step on the ladder.
EMC began what it calls the TechEdge programme two years ago to develop its engineers to reach the principal engineer level. The programme is now into its fourth batch, and each batch has had about 25 engineers. "We call for self-nominations. And each time we have been oversubscribed by many factors," says Niranjan Thirumale, CTO of the EMC India Centre of Excellence.
Principal engineer has now become a coveted position in organizations that have this or an equivalent designation. Selection is based typically on the candidate's depth and breadth in technical expertise, demonstrated technical leadership, strategic contribution to both engineering and management needs, communication skills, and their being a role model and mentor for other engineers.
"Aspirants typically go into a global pool, and the selection is rigorous," said Chaddah. The selected ones are the people who go on to obtain patents, and influence the technology vision and direction of companies as they rise to positions like Fellow or Distinguished Engineer, ranks that are equivalent to leading positions on the business side such as Director, Senior Vice President or even CEO.
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