This explains the new title of the blog

It's that time of the year, appraisals are due and there's a lot of activity going on underneath the calm appearances that everyone is trying so hard to maintain.

Now, for most of the companies this happened in april but for some inexplicable reason, Syntel is always a good 3-4 months late. Last year, the new appraisal method was cited as an excuse and this year something else will be used.

However, I saw something in 'Coinage', the BNFS newsletter, that made me think. These are the word of Rakesh Khanna, president of syntel's BNFS verrtical :

"As we march towards end of 2nd quarter shortly - the heat is on (pun intended). We need to crank up the engine to push more revenues and better margins, especially since this quarter the wage inflation kicks in giving further dip to margins"

In an industry obsessed with growth, where the top companies grew at over 40% in 2005-06 and the industry grew at an average of 30%, what happens if you see the growth slowing down?

Isn't there a possibility that to keep it's record of Q-on-Q growth intact, the management would curb the wage increase? This wouldn't have been the case if the appraisals had been released earlier.

That the appraisals co-incide with the end of the quarter makes me very suspicious. It makes me think if there's more than meets the eye to the delay in declaring appraisals.

I guess I'll have to wait for the appraisals as well as the results of the second quarter to come out before I can draw any conclusions.

How to become a Great Communicator

These are excerpts from a Fred Pryor seminar called 'How to become a Great Communicator'.

When communicating face to face:
Body language makes up 55% of communication
Tone of voice - 38%
Words - 7%

For those who are virtual or using the phone:
Tone of voice makes up 80% of communication
Words - 20%

KEY POINTS

1. There are four main behavioral styles -- Relator, Socializer, Thinker, and Director. Relators and Socializers are open, while Thinkers and Directors are self-contained. Thinkers and Relators are slow-paced, and Directors and Socializers are fast-paced. When relating with a person from a different behavioral style, it is important to mirror their style. By developing the weaker parts of your own personality, you will gain flexibility in relating to colleagues and family members.

2. When dealing with difficult people or situations, it is important to assess the situation and view it objectively. Do the benefits of change outweigh the costs of putting up with the current situation? If you decide to make a change, formulate a plan before you approach the other person. Be prepared to be flexible and to ask for their feedback in designing solutions.

3. Whenever you meet someone new, you have one to four minutes in which to make a positive first impression. There are four main things to think about - your physical appearance, your voice quality, the topics you talk about, and how well you listen. It is also important to give a confident handshake, keeping direct eye contact.

4. In working a room, do not be afraid of small talk. Approach a group of three or more people, nodding as you approach to signal that you would like to be included. Try to circulate to several groups of people, rather than staying with one group for the whole event. Ask people about their favorite subject - themselves!

5. Negotiation skills are critical in almost everything we do. We negotiate with managers for better deadlines or better projects. We negotiate with family members about household chores or using the computer. The qualities of a successful negotiator include self-confidence, the willingness to ask for what you want, a win-win attitude, and willingness to practice.

Interviews again.. but this time with a difference

I believe I can set a Guiness record for attending the maximum number of interviews without accepting any of the job offers.

TCS, Capgemini, Amdocs, Mastek, Hexaware, HSBC, EDS, I-Flex.. the list is too long.

Everytime I thought of preparing for the interview(which didn't happen a lot by the way...) I would scrounge around for interview questions wasting more time on searching question rather than preparing.

The irony is, If I do a search on my PC for any topic related to mainframes I'll get dozens of documents. But some of these have repeated questions and some are plain useless.

So this time, I decided I would put on all the useful material on a site in a manner which makes this information easily accessible.

Thus began the creation of my Googlepages.

http://onkar.s.mann.googlepages.com

The work is still going on and I hope from now on there will be no effort wasted on searching for the questions.

Myth # 2 : The IT industry employs only Techies!

This post is totally written on the spur of the moment.

I had started writing this series about the myths floating around about the IT industry but never got beyond the first post.

Now, those familiar with the industry would read the heading and say 'That's so obvious'! I would've done the same till I met a guy called Puran on my way back home during the vacation.

I don't know much about Puran coz as it turned out, I was the one speaking at length about my work, my company, my industry.. blah blah and gave the poor guy a headache!! :)

Turning to the subject of the post... IT companies employ lots of people with different skills. Basically, it's like any other company which is out to sell... it has to have

1. People who make/provide the product/service.

2. The support function for these people... HR, Admin etc.

3. Sales and Marketing teams.

4. Project Managers and Business Analysts(usually MBAs but not always).

5. And companies who venture into the product sphere would need specialists from the field which the product will target. For example, if you want to create a software for maintaining the apparatus at an oil rig, then you need people who have worked on an oil rig and familiar with what the product would need to achieve to become successful.

This has been a short post but hopefully it serves the purpose that it was meant for i.e, every person from IT industry is not a Techie!!!

Cheers Puran!!! ;)