He doubled as the marketing manager, the administrative support person, the installation coordinator and sometimes even, the customer support engineer. You could distinguish him in a crowd from the fact that he always wore a tie and suit to work. He chased you all over town, trying to sell you one magic box that cost 40 times your annual grocery bill. He spoke passionately about "specs" and how his were better than the competition. But his competition also said the same thing. It was all very confusing. You were wary of him and in a word, you thought him a wee bit shady. Then came the EDP managers, the database administrators, systems analysts, programmers and operators who actually worked on these machines and coaxed them into doing something. You understood them even less, but you regarded them with a little more respect.

Then came what came to be called the ‘Knowledge Worker’. He spoke of Y2K and Java and swimming pools in offices. He didn’t wear a suit, but casually spoke of going to California for a few months on a project. He bought a car at 20 and a house at 25. So you went to training institutes and technical courses. Because now you wanted to be him.

The story of the IT pro
That’s it—the story of the Indian IT professional. A story that starts with humble beginnings that most of today’s generation does not remember. Dataquest did one of its first salary surveys in 1984. At the time, EDP managers at the top of the food chain earned about Rs 4000 per month. Programmers were the bottom of the food chain and started at about Rs 750 per month. Average salaries across the industry were about Rs 2500 a month. There were no perks to speak of. Of what were available, tellingly—the public sector offered better perks than the private sector did.

There is one appointment advertisement that appeared in September 1983. Usha Computers—a fairly big name of the time—was hiring three General Managers (Marketing, Technical and Works). And they decided to use salary as the USP. "Salary & Perks over Rs 1 lakh per annum," the ad read. A general manager today makes twice that in one month. Most entry level professionals make twice that in a year.

By the time we did the next salary survey in 1989 salaries had risen to an average of Rs 4,500 per month. Three years later—in 1992—they were still about Rs 5300 a month with marketing professionals being the best paid in the business. IT was still not the best paid profession in the country. In fact, it wasn’t till the second half of the 90s that IT salaries suddenly exploded.

One could see the change coming on the covers of our own magazine. In 1994 Dataquest did a cover called The New Knowledge Worker. In October, there was another cover called Look After Your People or Someone Else will. Clearly, times were changing—for numerous reasons that you will read elsewhere in the magazine.

The "be-suited sales rep" image of the industry was being replaced the "be-spectacled nerd." By the time the stress on software exports began and the Y2K boom happened, the Knowledge Worker had arrived and he was demanding to be better paid and better treated.

And he is. Most entry level professionals in the industry today make Rs 2 –3 lakh annually. By the time they have five years behind them, they double their salary to about Rs 4-6 lakh annually. Within 10 years they’re earning up to Rs 12 lakh after which there are, almost literally, no limits. What the IT industry in general and the software sector in particular has done to the HR environment in the country is both fascinating and path-breaking. Salaries are only part of that change. The bigger change has been philosophical—making money is not a dirty word for the first time ever in socialist India.

The gyms and the swimming pools and the tennis courts at office were only superficial manifestations of the new environment – one where employees were no longer just a part of the wage bill. But were instead crucial assets that companies did their best to keep.

Not that the new "knowledge capitalist" has had it easy. In one of the worst downturns, the industry also witnessed largescale layoffs in 2001. That was a price that had to be paid for becoming an asset—you get allocated to your best use or you get ousted. Most, however, think that the price has been well worth paying.

TEAM DQ