There’s great excitement, satisfaction and learning opportunities in this high-value IT profession. It’s also a great training ground for start-up entrepreneurs –  Indra Gidwani

India’s IT (information technology) industry has been on a consistently high growth trajectory for the past quarter century, driven largely by software services and back office projects executed by leading IT companies such as TCS, Infosys and Wipro, among others, for large western multinationals (Microsoft, Intel, Citibank etc). Indeed, in the new millennium, India has emerged as the world’s largest outsourcing destination of the global IT industry, and accounts for approximately 67 percent of the $124-130 billion (Rs.806-846,000 crore) global BPO (business process outsourcing) pie, earning 14 percent of India’s annual exports revenue.

With its annual revenue likely to grow from $86 billion in 2014-15 to $100 billion in 2015-16, the booming IT industry employs 3.5 million engineers in IT services, engineering and R&D, IT-enabled business process outsourcing and development of branded software packages. However, the latter business, which is highest in the value chain, accounts for a modest 15.3 percent of the IT industry’s annual revenue.

But the number of software product firms, which have designed branded software packages such as Tally, Flexcube, Infosys’ Finacle, etc — and have aided and enabled multinationals such as Microsoft, Adobe and SAP among others to design multi-million dollar software suites (MS Office, Photoshop etc) — has risen from 100 in 2001 to 2,400 in 2013. NASSCOM expects the annual revenue from the software product development segment to rise from $2.2 billion (Rs.14,275 crore) currently to reach $10 billion in 2020. The newly-promoted software products think-tank iSPIRT (the Indian Software Product Industry Roundtable) is more upbeat about the prospects of India developing as a software products tech hub, which it forecasts will grow into a $100 billion (Rs.648,850 crore) industry in its own right by 2025.

Pay & progression

To qualify as a software product engineer, a BE/B.Tech in computer science, IT, electronics and communication engineering is the minimum qualification. These days, IT companies also recruit science graduates (computer science/maths/physics/statistics) and provide them the option of doing a Masters while in employment.

For duly qualified software product techies with a few years hands-on experience of software package design and development, career advancement opportunities are excellent. The demand is pressing with the number of software product start-ups having multiplied seven-fold during the past decade. Starting salaries range from Rs.4-7 lakh per year and career progression is fast.

“A career in software engineering in general and software product development in particular, has huge potential and provides a wonderful platform for creative software product conceptualisers and designers for career advancement. Typically, the more creative software engineers acquire product development expertise working with product companies and rapidly multiplying start-ups to design and develop branded software programmes and killer apps,” explains Dinesh Kumaran T.K, director of human resources at Aspire Systems (India) Pvt. Ltd, a Chennai-based company working with some of the world’s most innovative IT firms and independent software vendors, helping them leverage technology in product engineering, enterprise transformation, independent testing and IT infrastructure support services. An electrical and electronics graduate of Bharathiar University, Coimbatore with an MBA in human resource development from the School of Management, Pondicherry University, Kumaran joined Aspire Systems as a trainee and currently heads its talent management and acquisition operations.

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES

According to Kumaran, the greatest attraction of a career in software product engineering is the excitement and satisfaction of experiencing the product development process from start to finish. “Developing a scalable and robust product which can withstand the load of multiple users offers great excitement and satisfaction. This career is always challenging with plenty of learning opportunities. This is also why it’s a valued profession ever ready to tap tech talent. Moreover, it’s also the right training ground for start-up entrepreneurs looking for killer software products and apps which if commercially successful could transform them into CEOs of companies with billion dollar market valuations,” says Kumaran.

With India’s IT industry having earned a reputation for producing ‘techno-coolies’, entry into the high-value software product design and development industry not only offers an opportunity to correct this image, but to rake in big bucks as well.