Good things highlighted in Green and the challenges in Light Brown.
The Best thing about TCS was that I got a chance to work in Computers though I was doing Mechanical engineering. But for the work I did what is required is just common sense.That was the best turning point that TCS helped me. The final year was good for me as I had a job, but there was a hurdle of medical test. Although I passed it, they do it at the end of the year and reject some students at the end of the year, Had they did it earlier, they would have got jobs in different companies. For confirmation of the job, they conduct a test, the question paper was always out and everyone knew answers for it. It was in COBOL and C. Most of the people finished it in hardly any time and one of the conductors of the exam boasted to say that he was aware that we got the questions. Whose mistake is it? It's they who were leaking it. That manager had an arrogant face.They trained us with a basic low cost training, but had a bond for 3 years at that time. Later I was assigned to got to Mumbai, where I worked for GE Capital Real Estate. They do not see how they can put an employee in a better place if possible. The assignment is absolutely on the basis of luck, some people who were better than me got bad projects and some who were worse than me got better projects. Luck factors matter a lot. You cannot change it. You have signed a Bond. It's all billing algorithms for them. They hired me to make money. They hardly spend a penny on training. It's get the work done and we get it done. They used to give one PC for two shifts, and Myself as beginner had to work during night shift. All these when you also need to search for a house in Mumbai/Bombay. There was a project manager who was a bit of arrogant attitude under his manager who was also equally arrogant. TCS was with Superiority complex, ego to show. Kick your Junior's ass to make him kick his Junior's and get the work done is the logic. Later after a year and half work, I got another good chance and got US offer for a Teradata Position for GE Capital Corporate and worked with the best managers of GE. the one thing which is best with TCS is if you get a chance to work in the US. It's a better pay and you can make good savings if you stay together with other TCSers, else nothing much. The drawbacks were, you need to do more work, you cannot depend on the resources in India as there would not be there a resource at all and they would bill on a name. They may be shared with other projects, etc etc and etcsss. The manager in US was the most arrogant manager I have worked and seen, who could be better called as a scold-er. Most people had to be afraid of him, as he threatened to remove from this US opportunity. We had to listen and agree. I worked with very good managers at GE and also it was a good learning. I know it's very difficult to get a chance like that. Later when I came back to Mumbai office, the appraisal was done in an illogical manner. The work place was so bad that there were hardly any good chairs to sit. They were mostly broken. One day I got a good chair which had all the wheels, later a lady manager came to desk and told me, "Can you see that broken arm of the chair?". I said yes and she said, it's hers. As she was my manager, I had to give her the chair and take another one. She was a manager because she was luckily blessed with a bit of beauty and a senior manager was in love with her. I had met her before she was manager and she was a calm person, later she had to change her behaviour to become a manager. The attitude of the managers were so bad that they used to show their selfishness. We all do lots of work, but the appraisal process includes how much work you do, how well you apply maska, apart from work, you need to do some initiative such as fill in timesheets for all, create a worksite for your group, send emails for team birthdays, create reports of how people are working and such things. That I was working in Teradata was also a good thing for me and I was one of the wanted person. My appraisal was screwed up, my promotion was pending for 2 years already and waiting for one more year was too much of a time to waste. I was not a person who would like to change jobs. But just a Bomb of Job change started in my team. My screwed up appraisal was such a nice trigger, which made me find my value. Many people left, I left and others left. We went very well saying bye to our GE customers, who were happy with our work. What GE gets with Indian workers is cheap labour, they work more than told or can be made to work more. I left TCS and my third level manager requested me to be in, not as I was good worker, but because they did not have a person in TCS at that time who knew Teradata. The discussion was for a good long time. Later the manager said he would not allow me to go as he would not give me the release letter. The answer to that question was known to all, I said, "I would report to your HR" and he accepted to give release certificate. I left TCS. Life in TCS is a bit stressful at certain accounts, as they tell lies, you need to cover it up. They always see you as if you did very less work, which is too much for a person who is starting one's career. It does good chances to work in US, with very good clients, work on different kinds of stuff, adds good experience, you need to do all work in a do or die approach and there is no balance of work and personal life. All the decisions are made on what they can earn, hardly anything for an employee. Do go there if you do not get a better one, learn to fight and get stronger if you are in TCS. Those who come from TCS, also after experiencing a bad work culture in the 90s, know how to live with it. I however hate the managers, attitude the so called leaders who were most selfish. I doubt when I see the products of TCS. Also when I was in the company, wherever external surveys used to happen about the work life, the employees were then trained to give the best feedback and trained how to answer good about TCS at those times.
I was in TCS, SEEPZ, MUMBAI ODC, GE GROUP during 1999 and 2004. Not sure how good it is now in various groups.... It always matters how you see it. it was a bit stressful job for most of them who worked with me.
