Training: the secret of India's high-tech success

Back in 2002, India claimed to produce 350,000 engineers per year. But this included “diploma engineers” who were not true engineers at all. India actually had only 102,000 real engineering graduates in 2002. This went up to 222,000 in 2006 and may be double that in 2011. Yet in 2007, India’s five largest IT services companies added 120,000 engineering jobs, and IBM and Accenture added another 14,000.  

Where did so many quality engineers come from? Indian companies were first disciples, learning from the best practices of Western companies in India (like IBM and Accenture). Then the Indians innovated and improved training and management systems much further, so that the disciples became gurus.

In any field, apart from theoretical knowledge, practical training is very essential even for small jobs. This considerably reduces the time taken by personnel to reach full efficiency and output.

While most people say they can handle any work, in effect, they somehow do the work. Very few people like to get training, or learn from others, as they consider it a waste of time and energy. But certification adds value to their career, and then they become willing partners in such exercise.

Just knowledge without it's practical use & lawful application is a speed breaker.

I am basically an Electrical Engineer with 32+ yrs experience in Risk Management in General Insurance in India, with an internation exposure of Insurance & Re-insurance to a limited extent when working in association with the international brokers for about 7yrs.

Two points I would like to share.

1. Even with Masters degree in Electrical Engineering, I scare to attemp electrical & electronic equipments repairs, because of lack of intrumentation & equipment knowledge. I feel ashamed at times when a non-SSLC electrician is sent by the branded companies & he repairs after detecting the fauls in "Electrical & Electronic Equipments". This is only because we in India are not given practical & application training of even basics. I remember in Engineering colleges students taking readings of circuitry when the suppy is on. Probably most may fail if they are asked to switch on themselves!? Same is the case with computer hardware ...they may not even know the simple connectivity, OS installations & trouble shootings.
2. Then comes my second experience in Genera Insurance. Insurers, when we joined in the era of Public Sector regulated market in 1978, were issuing policies without any regard to the legalities of land & had to be rejected. e.g. regeneration of data policy to one og the PUCs was issued, which cannot even be explained to the client by the insurers. Some policies are given with covers the risks client does'nt want & are excluded, which are required by the clients in the policy.

So in both the cases I have found that a mere degree or deploma without any application skills & practical knowledge of procedures & laws of the land are clearly visible & are the bottlenecks for free & natural development .

TRAINING - IN THESE AREAS OF APPLICATION IN NORMAL DAY-TODAY REQUIRMENTS & AS PER LAWS OF LAND will make every one happy, confident, useful & a big business model.

Krishna Burli

Mere degrees from colleges may not matter. One may require to know what Industry aspires from them. Mostly colleges lack in this field because Industry amd colleges have no tie-up in India.

Now Training may fulfill this gap. The freshers, after being shortlistrd, are trained by the Industry themselves.

In my thought : either Indsustry goes to the college with their skill or job hunters get training from the Industry in their own location and infrastructure.

Innovation is not only the mother of enhancing the business,but it  is the  result of will power to excel. Politicians have done nothing  so far as creating opportunities is concerned,but they deserve kudos for not interfering in the directional approach of companies.Indian companies put applicants through psychometric tests and regorous interviews to indentify the core abilities of candidates rather than specialised skills.The newly recruited were put  in training. The low cost training gave India a competitive edge in high tech exports like computer soft wares and R&D in the Iternational market.

THANK YOU DIYA,FOR YOUR INVITATION.

INDIA HAS ENOUGH OF TALENTS AND SKILLS AND THE YOUNG BLOOD ALWAYS WANTS TO ACHIEVE.TAKING GUIDANCE FROM THE SENIORS AND EXPERIENCED AND SHARING THEIR EXPERIENCE YOUNGSTERS CAN MAKE USE OF THIS AS A PLATFORM AND INNOVATE,IMPLEMENT,ACHIEVE AND SCALE NEW HEIGHTS.