[stextbox id=”info” caption=”Advice from industry experts”]“Attitude is the secret sauce of this model. Associates should be flexible and have an innate curiosity; this is a quality that we treasure and nurture.”
—Sridhar Parthasarathy, vice-president, telecom business unit, Maveric Systems
“Going through networking fundamentals, programming in ‘C’ and Java would help. Look for finishing schools that help with this. I think the most important aspect that engineers should remember is that corporate world is very different from the academic world. You are exposed to real-world problems and you need to face customers who complain about the issues they face with the products and solutions. Most freshers join with the expectation that they will get to work on cutting-edge technology every day. It may not always be the case. You need to develop newer products and solutions, and at the same time support them when the customers face issues.”
—Venugopal Sharma, senior manager, software development, Cisco
“Whilst engineering, it might just be enough to scratch the surface of any subject because you get introduced to dozens of new topics which you would have never read earlier. Take time on the subject you like the most and excel in that one subject. The Internet provides a lot of opportunities to get connected to your role models in that field. You are evaluated more on your performance than certificate. Be cautious of killing time in doing some certification courses. If you are not self-disciplined and need help, joining courses is a better option.”
—Janardan Revuru, project manager, Hewlett Packard
“If the freshers have undergone training in foundational competency programming language, embedded systems, operating system and software testing, we will be in a position to groom them faster.”
—George Abraham, head-talent acquisition, Sasken Communication Technologies
“No matter what sector are you targeting to make your career, you should always be aware and should always stay up to date on the latest happening in that particular sector. This will not only help you in understanding the latest dynamics for that particular sector but may also act as a positive point during the interviews. Emotional intelligence quotient (EQ), the cluster of personality traits, social graces, communication, language, personal habits, friendliness, and optimism that characterise soft skills are substantially important. These complement hard skills (part of a person’s IQ), which are the occupational requirements of a job. If one possesses good EQ along with a decent IQ, that makes the perfect mix.”
—Arshad Majeed, executive vice president, service delivery, Xavient
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He adds, “At Maveric, we are trying to address this by conducting assessments and counselling sessions at select campuses all over the country.”
Some of the reasons for rejection of freshers are poor communication/lack of soft-skills, very less or negligible understanding about the basic programming and database concepts, and poor logical and analytical conceptual knowledge.
“So for the companies to hire a desired number of freshers who are employable means more investment in terms of time, money and resources,” says Majeed.
Short-term courses as an option?
There are several short-term courses for the telecom domain. But, again it depends on the vertical that you intend to join. For example, for the position of software programmer, some institutes offer special training in telecom signaling. For back-end customer care, a separate course on technical support is offered.
Moreover, every company has its own in-house training department and procedures to train the new entrants, but it is always better to sharpen communication skills and enhance one’s personality for future challenges. Companies focus on providing on-the-job training for about six to twelve months, where they are exposed to technology in a phased manner, which helps them understand and familiarise with the real-time scenarios. Focusing on practising and enhancing their logical, analytical, soft and interpersonal skills would take aspirants a long way in the telecom industry.
The author is a tech correspondent at EFY Bengaluru
