In Pakistan we have all the talent available. But the question is, that why are we unable to create our own products. Why have we ended up in providing services only.

start thinking out of the box

After a massive survey everyone had a similar opinion, lack of exposure and lack of guidance are the main reasons why we lack development of innovative products in our Software Industry. 80 per cent of the talent ends up opting for jobs. Why jobs? because

1.        They have been conditioned in a way where job is the first and foremost priority.

2.        Lack of patience

3.        Lack of finances

4.        Lack of resources

5.        And most importantly lack of exposure

Here is what people have to say,

Mohsin Alam, a Software Engineer, working at a renowned software house of Pakistan said,

“I would disagree with your premise that we have ended in providing services only. LUMS-SEDC, Netsol, Rozee, Cricket Power, Facebook games, iPhone Applications and the list goes on … I would rather say we are warming up. Someone once said,

‘You have to follow in order to lead.’

We have some of the most hard working and dedicated software engineers in Pakistan; the only problem is of ‘scope’. We need to think out of the box, challenging the norms while keeping the target in sight.”

Junaid Sultan, working as an Associate Data Researcher, said

“No doubt Pakistan is extremely talented nation, but the main problem is lack of resources and weak infrastructure. Making new products require resources and capital. On the other hand, providing services does not require large sum of investment, it requires good skills. So providing services is an easy and cheaper way out.”

On the other hand, our friends from outside Pakistan did pose a valid solution as well,

“Maybe the focus can be on building a massive network of Pakistan Successful Professionals across the US/Globe. Once you have this network – then call for a summit and invite these key: CEO’s, Professors, Business Owners, Writers to the summit to speak. You can also turn it into a Career/Professional Development Fair or Business Expo – where Youth/Young Professionals that have not gotten exposure can display their craft, business ideas, inventions etc.” Natascha F. Saunders CEO, The Youth Career Coach Inc.

Adil Muhammad, Freelance iPhone Developer said

1. We lack exposure

2. We don’t have VC’s here

3. Universities and society teach us only to find another “job”.

Waqas Ahmad, Software Engineer, applauded us and said,

“Well! It is your good attempt to divert the attention of the Pakistani IT Professionals towards this issue.

I have worked with a product company for two years. While I was there, I critically analyzed their business model. We know that our own product is more beneficial for us in various aspects but the question is why we have failed in adopting this business model despite the fact that we have bright future in it. This is because as business men we don’t invest money and time without any promised profit.

Companies consider output before input. In case of services companies are secure (Risking factor is undersized). They don’t care about the success rate of the product once delivered. But in case of product companies, resources, time and man power needs to be invested for a specific period of time. They don’t really know the end result.

Some companies are following this particular business model, they are getting stronger and popular in the global market. I would like to conclude ,by saying that we need to change our attitude and should invest resources in products.”

Many gave their own comments in accordance with their own perspective. Some agreed while others disagreed. We have the talent, we have the exposure and we have the resources and there are places where these are being utilized and exceptional products are being developed. Our aim should be to create and not to depend. Because it is high time now that the world should know about the real talent which exists in our country.

Compiled by Ayesha Asghar

HIGHLIGHTS

TOP 3 EMPLOYERS

1. Strategic Systems   (14 Openings)

2. Visual Sparks (13 Openings)

3. i2c inc (11 Openings)

TOP 3 CATEGORIES

1. .Net Development

2. PHP Development

3. Software Quality Assurance

Ares Wise Ranking

1. Lahore   (108 Job Openings)

2. Islamabad  (41 Job Openings)

3. Karachi   (25 Job Openings)

JOBS BY EMPLOYER (9th – 14th March)

JOBS BY CATEGORY (9th – 14th March)

JOBS BY AREA (9th – 14 March)

TREND REPORT (By Job Categories)

Note: These figures/data have been extracted from Rozee.pk and specfic company website.

Note: The data gathered is from online records starting from 9th March to 14th March 2010.

Compiled by Ayesha Asghar

HIGHLIGHTS

TOP 3 EMPLOYERS

1. Nextbridge (Pvt.) Ltd   (21 Openings)

2. i2c Inc   (18 Openings)

3. Strategic Systems   (16 Openings)

TOP 3 CATEGORIES

 1. PHP Development

2. .Net Development

3. Graphic Designing

Ares Wise Ranking

1. Lahore   (162 Job Openings)

2. Karachi  (54 Job Openings)

3. Islamabad   (52 Job Openings)

JOBS BY EMPLOYER (1^st – 8^th March)

JOBS BY CATEGORY (1^st – 8^th March)

JOBS BY AREA (1^st – 8^th March)

TREND REPORT (By Job Categories)

Note: These figures/data have been extracted from Rozee.pk and specfic company website.

Note: The data gathered is from online records starting from 1^st March to 8^th March 2010.

Success In Husnain A. Khan’s Words- HR Manager – DatumSquare IT Services (Pvt.) Ltd.

With an intermediate from Aitchison College, Lahore, and an MBA from Coventry University, UK, Husnain Ahmed Khan is on his way towards the ladder of success in the IT Industry of Pakistan. Currently, he is working as a Human Resource Manager at DatumSquare IT Services (Pvt.) Ltd, Rawalpindi. Lets hear about the definition of ‘SUCCESS’ in his own words,

Husnain Ahmad Khan: “Every accomplishment starts with the decision to try.”

Husnain: ‘SUCCESS’ cannot be defined in words. It basically depends upon individual’s expectations, plans and achievements.  I still have a lot to move towards to. I believe success is a dead end; a person has to move on and on, as there are no limits to the need of self-actualisation. I believe I have a lot to achieve yet.

I consider myself an ordinary human being who believes in only one formula; whenever you are on to something, you need to follow it till the end. Concentration with hard work is the key. Talent and skills come along with experience.

CodeWeek: How has your education contributed to your present career?

Husnain: Having studied from one of the most prestigious institutions of Lahore “Aitchison College”, I have been fortunate in attaining an early luxurious start of my educational life. It turned out real tough when I entered into my university life. The stories we use to hear in childhood about how some of our great leaders struggled their way up. We need to put value in ourselves and be proud of everything we achieve in life. That was when I started believing in those famous quotes “Every accomplishment starts with the decision to try”, so I am going through that ‘trying’ stage for now.

CodeWeek: How did you land in DatumSquare?

Husnain: How I landed in DatumSquare is quite an interesting story. I was interviewed on MSN by an American entrepreneur, who intended to start an IT organisation in Pakistan. It was something very different and amazing for me to get appointed through an online interview. It was more like some sort of a joke for me, but hats off to the World Wide Web. I went to their office for a second interview; impressed with their business structure and finally I made up my mind.

CodeWeek: As an HR Manager what is your opinion on, Scope of Human Resource Management in Pakistan, especially in the Software Industry of our country?

Husnain: In my opinion, Human Resource Management is that pillar of any organisation, which defines its culture. Current IT Industry situation in Pakistan has made the role of  human resource department extremely difficult. IT Industry is booming in South Asia due to global economic downfall. Global Economic downturn has proved fruitful for South Asian IT Industry. During last 4 or 5 years a lot of new Organisations have appeared, producing more jobs and competition although many other sectors have worsened. Our priority has always been quality client services and this fact keeps us is an expansion mode.

CodeWeek: What are the different ways that you use, in finding suitable candidates for jobs?

Husnain: Online community is very active these days. Mostly professional networking sites, blogs and IT publications are the reliable sources to find the finest talent. Whenever I go for hiring a Software Engineer, I usually target their professional circle. Interact with them, study their interests and communicate accordingly. I have my own circle of professional people, so when I need to hire someone; I do so through recommendations and references. Adopting the right advertisement technique is very effective.  This ensures that the resource hired is the best fit for my company’s requirements.

CodeWeek: As you said you target online communities? Has there ever been an incident which you will term as ‘weird’?

Husnain: A weird interview! Of course yes, there are many, but I will only quote one over here.  A highly experienced Website Designer was invited for an interview. Now that individual was not really interested in what I had to offer or ask. He was not willing to switch his job and blatantly denied to answer any interview questions. At the end he said, it was nice meeting you and I had great ‘fun’ interacting. After having a cup of tea he decided it’s time for him to leave.

Since CodeWeek is another amazing forum where I can reach out to people, so here is my request. Please avoid such attitude, it shows lack of professionalism on your part.

CodeWeek: Suggestions for them.

Husnain: Do’s

• Be Professional
• Be prepared
• Be active
• Be up-to-date
• Research and planning is the key to every success

CodeWeek: What is your opinion on the talent we have in Pakistan? And how far recruitment firms have been successful in reaching out to them?

Husnain: Pakistan is full of talent; the only mistake we do is relying upon recruitment agencies. In IT industry there is not much margin for errors so hiring the right resource is extremely important. I would recommend an appropriate human resource department rather than reaching a recruitment firm, as only an organisation knows what its human resource needs are. Online recruitment firm could result in huge overheads, risking the required skills. If nothing works out, these firms should be the last resort.

Your Message for CodeWeek

Husnain: As I have already said, CodeWeek is doing a great job. We, the IT professionals, need such platform for promotion of IT industry. I wish CodeWeek all the success. Keep up the excellent work…!!

With this we ended our conversation with Husnain Ahmad Khan. With a remarkable personality he did make his mark on our team members. We do plan to hear more from him in coming future. So join us for more views and people.

Cliché: there is always a successful woman behind every successful man. But have you ever given it a thought that this successful man might be a woman herself?

This week’s post stands as the second part of one of our previous posts unsuccessful Women In Software Industry of Pakistan. It is a follow up of a point which was raised in the discussion and in the comments. So coming back to our question.

Was Einstein a Woman?

Since we have been able to gather attention of many out there so here it goes. The question raised above is not just a question; it is the question of the week. It is a Hypothetical the reason and idea behind which is just about to be revealed.
This question has been raised with a very strong base. It can be marked as an example from literary history of Great Britain.

Einstein Set to Work

Not just any developing nation but The Great Britain. George Eliot is a very famous novelist. He completed almost seven novels in his lifetime, followed by poetry and translations. One of the leading writer of Victorian Era, made his mark through his keen insight in realism and psychology.

It is believed that women are mostly interested in psychological insights as they are sensitive and emotional. This became true when we found out; rather the world realized the truth that George Eliot was actually Mary Ann. A woman, disguised under the pen name, George Eliot.

Disguised in such a way resulted from the fact that women in 19^th century Europe were not allowed to work. They had no rights whatsoever. Those who wrote were not allowed to publish their written material.
Thus Mary Anne chose a pen name hiding herself under the blotches of ink, and wrote as a male writer for many years until her truth was discovered. When and how was it discovered is not the question. The question here arises then is
“Was Einstein also a Woman?”

In Search of acceptance or rejection of our own hypothetical question we took many examples from history again. We took the example of various scientists, mathematicians etc. as were mentioned earlier, but none of them has ever turned out to be a woman. Well we doubt it completely, how can so many men be successful without there being a single woman among them.

Aristotle, Charles Darwin, Leonardo Da Vinci, Benjamin Franklin, Galileo Galilei and Isaac Newton. All great scientists, great minds who left behind extra ordinary work behind them, which set the stage for generations to come. All were men. Their names are still known and repeated in many classrooms around the world.

If a famous male writer can turn out to be a female, then this can be true for many other professionals as well. The time we are referring to might have hidden many other secrets as well. This is where our real search begins.

Well this is a centuries old tale, repeated again and again. One thing is for sure, women these days do not need to disguise themselves behind any male member of society. They have their own identity and their own individual existence. Those who have passed the test of societal restrictions and succeeded professionally stand out in the crowd. They need no introduction and they need no explanation.

A few weeks back we posted an article named as, unsuccessful women in software industry of Pakistan? Which caught a lot of attention among our subscribers and readers, we highly appreciate everyone’s participation as it has helped us in improving in many ways.
So if one day you discover that Einstein was a woman, will you be shocked?
don’t be shocked, it was only a hypothetical statement and has nothing to do with reality.

As said earlier, those who are successful in this industry do not need any form of introduction. They are known and recognized by many. Women in Pakistan do not need any platform in order to showcase their talent.

Do We Have a Silicon Valley in Pakistan?

Pakistan still stands at the 20^th position and India enjoys the first as far as software exports are concerned. Do we need help from world`s IT giant, India? Should India act as a role model for our Software Industry? What is your opinion?

Most of the IT companies in Pakistan and India belong to expatriates. Some of these companies are run by foreigners and still others have investments from the West. But in case of India, IT firms, whose managers have worked in the West, are generally more expensive than those working in Indian firms, which creates problem as they demand high wages. The willingness of Pakistanis to return home, from the West, is in complete contrast to most Indians who attend schools or work in the West and never look back. But we wonder how India has top IT Industry than any other country in Asia.

Indian city Bangalore is known as The Silicon Valley of India as it is a major hub for IT companies. Do we have a Silicon Valley in Pakistan as well?

And then the question arises “Do we need India’s Help?”

Waqas Khaleeq, from Smart Logics said,

“Undoubtedly India is the Asian tiger when it comes to Software market. Firstly, Indians are more saturated in international software houses. As a matter of face 34% of employees in Microsoft are from India. Secondly, the strength of software professionals inside software houses is a measure of market capture. The largest software house in Pakistan has almost 250 – 300 employees while India’s largest software company (Tata Consultancy Services) has 140,000 employees.
Thirdly, Total revenue earned by software development, technical consultancy and software outsourcing of India is way far above that of Pakistan. India aims for 60 billion USD. And Pakistan touches 4-5 Billion.”

Bilal Ahmed, a Software Architect said,

“It is because in Pakistan multinational companies are afraid of investing due to the growing political instability. On the other hand, almost every software market leader has its office in India. We, Pakistanis are far behind in research as well. We are only concerned with the immediate money making things while research is a long term payback and we are neglecting it. India’s education system is focused mainly in what is new and innovative in the Software market and we Pakistanis are still following the same old syllabus. Which is not even practical any more.

But on the other hand, Pakistani Software professionals are better than Indian Software Professionals. I have personally worked with some of the Indians and therefore have an idea. (This should not be taken as true in all the scenarios). Pakistani Professionals are more focused on quality, while Indian’s are more focused on the quantity. When it comes to Ethical issues, we are much better than Indians. (Not all the fingers are equal, so leaving a few). They will easily sell you the ideas of other client and even the whole project with a little makeup.”

Waseem Hassan, a Software Engineer, said that, “Questions arise in our mind that whether the IT entrepreneur, investors, policy makers and also dynamic IT Industry in Pakistan and India are similar or not.

When we compare IT industry, it is clear to us that Pakistan’s Software Industry is relatively small in terms of manpower and employment. One study on this comparison shows the total employment at 60 of the most prominent firms, is around 5000 people. Last year alone, Indian exported over $17 billion worth of IT services to the world.

There are several significant differences which explain why Pakistan’s Software Industry is half the size of India’s Software Industry. First, the degree of concentration in the Pakistani Software Industry is much less than that of India’s. There are no Tatas or Wipros in Pakistan. The ratio of revenues between the most successful and the median firms in Pakistan is around 1:100 and in India it is 1:2000.  Second, Pakistan has seriously suffered (and continues to do so) from a weak human resource, both in terms of quality and quantity of its product. This, to our mind, is the single most important hindrance in the development of Pakistan’s software industry and the key differentiator between where it stands today vs. where India’s software industry stood a decade from now.

As we know we are lacking in IT industry so from my point of view it can be improved. Most importantly government should take interest in it and should draw an elaborate and long term plan. And for most of the organization IT should be on the top of agenda of CEO.  We should deploy IT in core industry to achieve competitiveness and for business promotion. IT should be used for solutions not for record keeping only. Awareness about IT in public sector should be enhanced and public sector spending on IT should be increased.”

But then again, the question arises, how long will it take? Do we have time for implementation of above mentioned options. Such solutions have been given by many, repeatedly. But still we face major problems. The greatest dilemma lies with the fact that the

“Government of Pakistan has failed to appoint a suitable minister for IT and Telecom. IT and Telecom sector has been playing a major role in our countries economy for the past seven years and has contributed over Rs300 billion to the national exchequer from 2005-06 to 2007-08. Various operators have invested over $8.8 billion in telecom infrastructure during the same period. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in telecommunications stood at around $5.6 billion, which on average was over 30 per cent of the total FDI between fiscal year 2005-06 and 2007-08.” The News

Farhan Khalid, a Web Specialist and Software Lead, said,

“A good website developer will get up to Rs. 25k for a beautiful website in Pakistan. The same developer can get up to $2000 dollars from the States! The choice is obvious, go where there’s more money. Organizations that are not computerized are mostly small and medium enterprises. Due to the declining economy these small companies do not have resources to purchase their own Point-of-Sale (POS) systems and ERPs.
The market is huge, there is competition everywhere. Pakistanis face competition from India (one of the biggest outsourcing engines in the world, if not the biggest) and several other countries. The sea is huge and even though we are capable to a considerable extent, there are a few sharks and we can’t always get all them.”

Many strategies have been implemented by the government over and over again, but ‘have we succeeded’? Yes we have (to some extent), but the credit of this success goes directly to the people of Pakistan and to the Pakistanis who are living abroad and providing employment opportunities for the people in Pakistan. With the growing cross-border competition one wonders about the future of Pakistan’s Software Industry.