The Hindu Business Line : IT companies prefer engg grads

However, Polaris Software Lab, the Chennai-based software firm, seems to be betting more on diploma holders, post graduate diploma holders and graduates than on professionals such as engineering graduates or MBAs.

So much so, 64.08 per cent of its total employees (as on March 31, 2004) were diploma holders, post-graduate diploma holders and graduates. It is quite the opposite in large software firms such as Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Cognizant Technology Solutions, Wipro and Satyam Computers. They recruit more number of engineers and fewer graduates and diploma holders.

For instance, as on December 31, 2003, out of the 28,797 employees in TCS, 56.9 per cent were engineering graduates. Those with Masters qualifications constituted 28.9 per cent, post-graduates in business or management 6.8 per cent and others (diploma holders and graduates) 6.5 per cent, says information in the company's Red Herring prospectus.

Mr Patrick David, Senior Vice-President and Head-Corporate Human Resources, Polaris, says the company hires for capabilities and potential. For Cognizant, graduates and post-graduate engineers constitute 81 per cent of its total employees. This includes B.E/B.Tech (64 per cent), M.E/M.Tech/MCA (17 per cent) and MBAs (5 per cent). Graduate and post-graduate science majors and others constitute 13-14 per cent and Ph.Ds were less than 1 per cent. The US-based firm has over 14,000 employees, and a majority of them work in its development centres across India.

Mr Bhaskar Das, Vice-President, Human Resources, Cognizant, commenting on the high preference for engineering professionals says, the rigour of the engineering disciplines of study is much higher than that of fundamental science disciplines.

This rigour helps engineering professionals to look at a problem holistically, disaggregate the problem into smaller chunks and analytically and empirically solve them.

Likewise, the process rigour is higher with engineering graduates, which plays well into the culture of Cognizant, he said.

As of June 30, 2004, for Wipro 70 per cent of its IT workforce was graduates (BE, B Tech, BBA, BCA and BSc), 26 per cent comprised post-graduate (MBA, MSc, MTech and MS) and 4 per cent was diploma holders and PUC and SSLC (basically the admin and support staff).

It was a similar situation at Satyam Computers, with 59 per cent of its employees BE/B-Tech holders and 12 per cent MCA graduates. B.Sc/M.Sc graduates constituted 10 per cent, ME and M.Tech 6 per cent and others (diploma holders) 13 per cent.