Fresher Jobs in Infosys vs Startups : Please do some maths

As the current BE batch is passing out, we were approached by few students from college about jobs. Most of these guys already have offers from other companies and what they are looking for is best of both worlds: Better work + Better Package than their existing offers.

Meanwhile, we also have been thinking if we can afford hiring freshers, especially when the cream as well as average students already have one or multiple offers from bigger brands. And the first conclusion was not to hire any fresher from Engineering college unless someone who has already worked with us is interested to work with us at the package we are going to offer.

Note: We offer freshers between 1.8 to 3.0 based on their profile.


Of course the most favored company is Infosys as it has been the easiest take off point for majority of the crowd.

We had hired 3 freshers last year and our experience is not the most positive one. Surely the people we hired were dedicated and with right aptitude, but working in a startup means start writing bug free production code from day 1 (well almost). Simply speaking the people we hired last year have started delivering now after almost 9-10 months of mentoring.

So we were kind of surprised how come companies like Infosys pay package like 3.6 or 4.2 LPA and hire freshers in such large no. Of course their whole game plan is "human resources". But then we analyzed the salary structure and found how smartly Infosys have designed their salary structure for freshers such that freshers thinks that offer from Infosys is better than most of the other companies.



(note: this data is based on the information current BE students shared with us)

Students available to join the company: July 1
Infosys joining date: August/September/October. Lets consider September for general cases
Package Offered during training: 13,000 per month, inhand
Training ends: January
New Salary from Feb: 25,000 per month (only if you are a 5 pointer) , inhand
Total salary paid by Infosys for first year (Sep 2011 - Aug 2012): 13000*5 + 25000*7 = 240000
Average Salary received by a fresher in first year in Infosys = 20,000.



So if a startup offers you 20,000 or even 250000 from first year, I think it is a much better option than Infosys, ofcourse work is going to be much exciting than larger companies.


Now also consider the increments: (see the references)

Average Increments per year in Infosys = 15% (considering good company and individual perf)
Salary of person in year 2: 28750
Salary of person in year 3: 33062
Salary of person in year 4: 38021

In contrast to that, why not consider some startup which can offer an average scale on these lines:

Joining: July (or as soon as you can)
Starting package: Anything between 20K to 30K
Increment in first year: On 30% to 75%
Increments in subsequent years: average 20%
Other benefits:
a) Much better work experience
b) freedom (though too much is bad)
c) Ability to work with customers directly
d) What you can get depends on your capabilities.


Infosys is a great company to work for and I am not against joining Infy or for that matter any other bigger organization.I believe every person must work for a large organization like Infy, Patni, CTS, TCS for at least 1 or 2 years.But you must know when you are done working in a big company and when you must come out.

I wrote this article for people who join a company only considering the package. You must also consider the stability and work type of the startup before joining a startup. Though I presented that Startups could pay more, you must join a startup only for work and long term goals.If your ambitions do not match with the start-up company, you will fail.

We know people who are struck in very small startups and not able to grow. So please do your due diligence with startups also.



References:

http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2011-04-07/news/293926...

http://www.payscale.com/research/IN/Employer=Infosys/Salary

RBTL : Passport Application Submission

This blog applies to Indian nationals who wants to renew their passports which are expiring within a year time.

I am providing some finer details about submitting passport renewal application so that you can avoid going back and forth.

If you already have a passport and the expiry date is within 1 year, you can apply for passport renewal.

Know that you can not travel abroad if the expiry date is within 6 months of your travel date.

I submitted my passport renewal application at Pune. I had to stand in line for 2 days and finally I could submit the app with some docs still missing.
Both days I reached passport office at 9 am, office opens at 10 AM and I could get inside the main area only after 12 noon. After that another hour of waiting but under a roof.

Anyway, important details follow here
1. You would find all details on www.passport.gov.in.

2. Online registration is must and that does not mean that you do not need to stand in line for hours. Online registration is must even if you can not read this blog.

3. Do not go to agents, unless you know that they have good amount of expertise about documentation. you can get all details online and strictly follow them and you will be through. If there are missing things, the passport officer will tell you exactly what they need.

4. When applying online apply for a day you are sure you will have all document. Also take another appointment for the next day or next to next day also. This is so that if you have to return back on day 1 you can go again next day. Generally you get appointment after 4-5 days from current date.

5. When filling app form, you can not change details which are automatically filled by the software like name, address, etc. IF you have to change such details, you need to reapply online. But there are fields which are left blank by software and you need to fill those by hands

6. Rental agreement is not accepted as address proof. Original bank statements are accepted as address proof. Attached electricity bills as well.

7. If applying for tatkal passport make sure:
a) Take two copies of Annexure F (verfication certificate) from the officer. Two copied means two copies in original and not xerox.
b) Do take a photo ID of the officer issuing you the certificate. If its an Army officer, you must take a ID proof like Canteen card or mess card. (I got RSI card of the officer). Passport copy of the officer is not accepted. the ID proof has to be related to the officer's job.


I will be applying passport for my wife and kid also. So if there are any hidden points, I will add to this post.