Career

Butter Your Manager for Onsite Opportunity in USA – Is That True?

Continuing the thought  provoking discussion, here is a comment posted by a reader at 20 Fascinating Differences Between Lifestyle in India and USA

*****

I have been in IT industry last 6 years , it was my long time plan to higher study in USA due to some family influence .

But after being in the IT industry my interest has grown up.

I see the reality every day, I  have been in 2 biggest IT company of India.

90% of the projects are full of corruption.

Every one butter their manager just to go an onsite (mostly USA).

But onsite opportunities are very less  so people start playing dirty and nasty politics.

Who gets the chance to go US or UK or other country they try hard to be there as long as possible.

When they don find any way to be in that country only that time they find many good things about India (this reminds me grape is sour).

I have spoken with many people regarding this. Indeed at least 90% of them do not like USA only when they don’t find any option to be there.

Coming to salary in India

…..not ask any one who is working in the IT industry being a software engineer..

To be honest salary sounds huge but you have no life.

What money u get all go when u buy one small size 2-3 bhk house which just cost 50-60 lakhs and when u buy a car say a swift then you end up saving nothing .

Coming to education of child

Guys few days before I was reading an article in The Hindu .. will try to find the link and post .. u will understand .. how pathetic it is.

When u compare your salary and u children’s school fees its not at all cheap.

Most of the school cost 50 k for a class V student and it grows every year. This is the life in Bangalore today.

But I believe at least in another 50 -60 years later India will have better life style than any other country.

*****

Onsite, Salary and Education

Reader has posted his views on 2 different topics

  • Nasty Politics to get onsite opportunity
  • Salary and No work life balance for Software Engineers
  • Cost of Child Education in India

How far do you agree on the above 3 issues?

Here’s my take on those issue.

I have seen my share of politics in  the companies, but if you have given specific example, it will add value to your argument.

Work Life Balance and Salary

During my recent trip to India, I was amazed to see the cost of electronics and every day items at Grocery store.

I told to my wife that we have to earn in US Dollars to live in India.

Right before we came to India, we purchased so many items as Gifts for family members. It would have been 3 to 4 times that cost, if we would had to buy the same items in India.

Someone attending interview with family and kids will usually ask for following questions to the person who is interviewing

  • How is your work life balance?
  • Do you love working here?
  • What do you like about working here in this team?

School Education Cost

Public Schools are Free in USA. There are Private Schools that cost around $600 to $1000 per month.

Parents some times prefer Private Schools when their school doesn’t have good rating.

But, majority of parents send their kids (even in our neighborhood) to Public Schools. It doesn’t cost anything in school fees to send the kids to school.

No need to pay donation or high fees to get good education.

Here is the assignment for 3rd grade student in USA.

middle school assignment
Click on Image to Expand

Some of you might argue, education till high school is better in India. Both education systems are different and they have their pros and cons.

But, I don’t think school students in India get assignments like the above. I wish education system is bit more practical than rote memorization.

Post your comments about Politics in the company, work life balance and cost of education in India.

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17 Comments

  1. What you guys say is absolutely true. I have been putting my ass in a project for 1.5 years, hoping that an onsite comes. It didn’t happen. Some stupid guy who is rated less to me is identified and the reason is he is very close to the leads.

    Thanks for all you valuable comments. Truly if you want onsite butter butter butter, dance, sing, praise. Not everyone has got that talent.

    I have to start learning it.

  2. Not only in IT its a truth in every industry…depends on supply demand..
    out of team of 10 people if only 2 can go to onsite and their are 5 strong contenders..there has to be something more than fair decision…
    well its the truth of the industry as soon as we learn and master it or find out a way to manipulate it such a way that u get results u need..it will better for us

  3. I completely agree with the writer of this article. Onsite in IT industry without buttering your manager is very rare scenario. I can tell one incident. A new girl joined our project where I was working from past 1 year. The girl hardly knew any basics of coding. However she played all sort of dirty polities to please the PM. Full time buttering, spending most of the time gossiping with the PM in his cabin in his while the rest of the team worked hard meeting tight deadlines. She used all her ‘skills’ to please the PM.You can guess now who got onsite at the end… This is the case of IT industry.

    1. Hi Frind, thanks for sharing your view and I truely understand your concern.. bt, the fact is – pls recall the buzz words “Customer is king” or “Client is God” bla bla.. So, managers try to send onsite, those people who can entertain client (if u compare, two fresh engineers, ps.-<2 yrs. work ex. is also considered as fresh)..
      But, when companies send consultants or analysts onsite, quality in terms of domain expertise and attitude both are required; because they create value to the customer's business and they have responsibility to run the show well from company'e point of view aswell to get more projects, earn more revenue..
      If you observe it carefully, the engineers are basically sent onsite following a rotational porcess n not generally in long term.. so, it doesnot depend on any gender factor..
      Some times, companies don't want to loose any key resource, that's why, they offer that employee with an onsite opportunity..
      so, we think – "Onsite is ment only for quality employees only"..

      where as, the truth is something else – on an average, more no. of quality people work closely with their managers from offshore only.. So, in initial level (till 3yrs.), people who is in good book of manager gets more onsite opportunity.. 🙂

  4. Yeah. I too agree with the above post. I am working in an IT company around 3 years and like all I also had so many dreams before coming into this field. I got assined to a project where the managers were keep on changing and perceptions as well. I used to ask more questions since I joined there as a fresher, at that time they encouraged a lot saying that your questions are helpful to learn about the domain. But they told ‘you asked too many questions when you joined that’s why your rating has gone down even though you are working excellently after then’ and they refused to give promotion. Moreover they extracted all the work from me and told some crapy reasons (saying that you are not much experienced) for not giving onsite or promotion. I got frusturated because of this and got released from that. And now from the same project one girl joined before six months I leave from that project and she got Knowledge transition from me. she is relative to my previous manager and my manager is friend of him. And obviously you know who has gone to onsite now? while she entered in to the project only the easiest modules which everybody can do were in scope. As said in the above post, she did all the dirty things and went to onsite. Later I joined in an another project in a different location and gotta chance to speak with Assistant project Managers since some of them are my friend’s roomates. one fine day they boozed and told that what’s happening exactly for promotions, onsite and recognitions, they usually give promotion to the people who go hand in hand with them (like buttering, licking their asses and so on), for onsite they’ll do some dirty and nasty politics and for recognitions, they’ll awards/rewards to the people those who are frusturated or people ready to quit and so on… He also added which surprised me very much that one girl she joined very recently into a project and doesn’t know anything about the project. People from onsite they are calling her only because she looks very beautiful and dresses sexy.
    After the came to know they are doing some other work/business in the name of IT. Don’t know how it’ll be eradicated. so that really skilled people will get satisfied?
    Still I am dreaming about my onsite and don’t know when I’ll also resolve my all debts around me!!!
    Two things which I’ve learnt from these guys, one is patience – Be patience whatever they do or else – quit the company 🙂

  5. This is completely true. People in IT organizations can cut throats for an onsite opportunity or other benefits like that. Many of them are sent there on B1/B2 VISA by their companies which is not even legal. Then they earn money on the name of fake taxi bills, laundry bills, get themselves pictured in nice backgrounds with preferably white skinned people in the background, come back with those accumulated pennies and show off.

  6. A nice eye opener for the current economic depression which is raving its tyranny into the middle class peoples life. I also used to advice many people to react in accordance with the salary they get
    & the way they expend. Do we are living in a country which fought for freedom with a fine grip of non violence?., Monies are sacked to the personal belongings of politicians , our taxes are worthless.

  7. This is true… Before entering IT i thought it’s all right and fair here, but no. More or less, politics are same everywhere – govt or private. It’s not just onsite opportunity but also promotions and all…

    Salary looks good but yes, no life – lets forget about balance. The work is good but not that great, that it can mask all the negatives attached with it.

  8. Let me add few points regarding politics in the company.
    My close friend works for a major service based MNC , his H1b visa was initiated last year .
    In his current project there was a requirement for an onsite test lead in NEW YORK!!!
    Every now and then his manager would discuss regarding this oppourtunity and make him get exited about it and extract extra work from him . there was point when his manager came up and told that the requirement was immediate and they would have to intiate premium processing of the visa as normal processing is getting delayed. But his current visa status was RFE and hence could not initiate premium processing , it was the duty of his onsite manager to provide accurate evidence and a client letter to USICS , but he kept delaying the request for evidence and continued to promise him to send him to the US. All the managers/leads would say to him ” YOU WILLBE GOING TO NEW YORK MAN , YOU WILL BE WORKING IN TIMES SQUARE!!!! ,wat else you need??? keep up the good work n al crap , but on the other side they did nothing to intiate premium processing but comntinued to give him false promises. One fine day while he was attending a status call , his manager introduces a new test lead who took up the oppourtunity which my frined was supposed to take up. He was utterly dissapointed and the same mangers who used to brag about New york and times square are now saying new york is expensive , its good u didnt go there, etc.. etc.. , you can look out for an oppourtunity in another project.

    These are the dirty politics which are being played in the companies , nevertheless his RFE is submitted to USICS , hope he gets his visa soon.

    1. I totally agree with you. This happened with me twice in span of 2 years. First I year asked to raise request for L1 and after 15 days asked me to not to submit docs because there are lots of rejection going on. Very next year asked me to prepare for H1B petition and I submitted the documents (all doc such as client letter, usa export compliance approval etc). After one month the travel desk people of my organization sent mail that my nomination has been withdrawn please contact your manager. Now my delivery manager has not yet responded to my query on why nomination was withdrawn, this was the case this year Jan’13. I was told by my proj manager saying he is not having any knowledge about this its all higher management decision.
      Now I hear one of my junior has got approval for L1 petition. What I feel is if you are not willing to send onsite then you should not ask us to prepare for visa. And ask resource of your community (yeah community, if you work in MH then MH manager will send MH guy onsite; If you work in BLR then Karnataka guy will send karnataka guy onsite; I am not getting racist here but it is truth; You can ask anyone from IT industry.

  9. @ Sandeep- Dude there are many universities where you can complete your education or MBA program in 12-15 lacks. So, look for state universities and apply. If youw ant to do it then juss blindly go for it. Dont feel in later stages..
    Cheers !!

  10. hi ,
    I think no need to play nasty politics to grab onsite opportunity beacuse most of the thing in IT company protocol is pre planned & well settled . if you r working with the same potential like your colleague but your colleague have same native state like your onsite manager then you can guess who will get the opportunity of onsite .
    these type of thing you can face in your IT company ,this is common every where but luck always better than everything .
    I think untill you go onsite you can not book your own flat in IT city . salary is enough only for daily expenditure you cant pay emi on the basis of these salary .

    If you can play Nasty Politics to get onsite opportunity than play & get it , this is the only solution to make your life better .

  11. With the current pay conditions u’l have to live a v.avg life, n be conscious abt ur savings n all being not able live like thy say ‘live ur heart out’. If it was not for the pay, I don’t think there are other big reasons anyone should consider migrating to other places.
    Ya u’ll have drivers honking at ur behind the same milli-second traffic light goes from red to green n all(i mean many around ‘ll treat u like s*** from roads to gov offices) but its ok, u wont be that bothered abt it after a limit.

  12. Hi

    Like thousands of Indians I am also a Software engg and totally agree with the writer of the above post. In India People ahrdly care about work and learning .Only motive is to lick ass and to go onsite to earn in dollars.Which is mine too but the only problem is I cant butter my manager or lick asses and play nasty politics. Due to this habit of mine I have been screwed a lot of time by not providing onsitie oppurtunities and promotion. Specially in delhi n ncr situation is severe.
    Here people are unneccessarily agressive,rude , pretentous and seld absorbed. Which hell lot of times of makes working here impossible . Due to this I have changed around 4 companies in in around 5 years of work ex. Though I could say my salary is in double digit now but work n job satisfaction is more then lacking. Also I know as soon as I would get marries this salary package would appear to be peanuts considering the rent,school fees n all. Like others I also intend to study abroad for better eductaion,better work life balance and a quality life. But again for a MBA in USA it requires hell lot money atleast 30-40 lakhs which I am not able to gather in 5 years.
    Lets see where we land up 🙂

    Thanks
    Sandeep

    1. what you said is very true… People who manage their managers move onsite than people who really work hard… I waited for three years working and helping my team to its best but i was disappointed.So I moved to a company where managers give importance to work . I was happy working now , going to onsite now and then .
      Putting the money I earned aside…I am having satisfaction end of the day…

      This is the main reason iteration rate is very high in top IT companies in india where there is internal politics but nothing is posted or discussed outside because of company policies.

      Many companies treat people as resources , they don’t treat a person as a living being with feeling and people need appreciation and recognition for reaching heights. I hope this behavior
      changes one day

      Thanks
      Vinod

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