The severe lull in the software or IT sector seems to be dying down slowly. Experts feel that there may not be a cracking boom, but the growth is going to be slow and steady. As per a NASSCOM estimate the annual growth is likely to tick around 16.4 per cent, when compared to a rate of 23 per cent during the boom period from 2003-2008.
“The pick up is predicted to be a steady one and it is the domestic software sector that is going to herald the growth, rather than the overseas market,” says the Director of Millennium Software Solutions Sridhar Reddy.
Basically, the IT sector can be classified into three areas: Software programming, hardware and networking and animation.
According to G. Ram Babu of APTECH Computer Education, the areas or platforms that are hot and demanding right now are Java, .Net, Database Management (oracle or SQL Server), System and Network Management.
“The growth in the Java and .Net is about 23 per cent, 19 per cent is for Database and 19 per cent for System and Network management. Last two years were very dull, and the flow has just begun.The admissions at the institutes are looking up,” says Ram Babu. In case of Java, which is a language designed by Sun Microsystems, the opportunities directly corresponds to the competition. The competition is very stiff and so is the demand.
“In India about 6 lakh engineers pass out every year and out of which 2.5 lakh are from Andhra Pradesh. Over 70 per cent of the engineers, especially the ones from the streams of IT, CSE and ECE have Java as a subject in the syllabus. Hence the competition directly corresponds to the opportunity. Whereas, in the case of .Net, a language designed by Microsoft, one has to learn the language in an institute outside the college.
Hence the competition is less compared to the opportunity on hand,” adds Ram Babu.
Though the general perception is that the IT sector is opening up for engineering graduates, company like Mahindra Satyam has proved the thought wrong. In the last one year their focus was on B.Sc graduates with computer language skills.
Even commerce students can make a mark by Oracle database management or ERP packages, as the demand for such professionals in the domestic market is on the rise.
Dropouts from the graduate level can also try their hand in hardware and networking by completing CCNA and MCSE certification courses.
Sumit Bhattacharjee
in Visakhapatnam
