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What do you do when you are 'On-Bench'?

 
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Browse "Meaningless Drive", all day long.
 
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Its "Drivel" man!! Pay attention
 
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Lucky me.Never in bench.I am good in creating work for myself.
 
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I wish I could go on bench for 3 months.
 
Rahul Bhattacharjee
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Originally posted by Chetan Parekh:
I wish I could go on bench for 3 months.



Why 3 ?
 
Akhilesh Trivedi
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Originally posted by v ray:
Its "Drivel" man!! Pay attention



hey ray! it was a meaningful typo man!
 
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What does "on-bench" mean?
 
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"on-bench" means you are on campanies payroll and you get paid but you are not on any projects. All big Indian companies have that concept so that they are in the ready state to deply resources[people] when they get a new project. Unlike other US companies which hire people on demand [just in time]
 
Rahul Bhattacharjee
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Going ahead to what Amit Tank has said , I have seen many people in such companies those who are in bench for more than three years and the funny thing is that they are apprised also.The person in bench also gets a timely hike in salary and change in designation too.
Isn't it amazing ?


 
Chetan Parekh
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Originally posted by Rahul Bhattacharjee:


Why 3 ?



I guess 3 months are enuff for me.
 
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Though laying off "on bench" employees has not started yet, it may start in near future.In recent economic conference ,IT companies CEOs discussed about companies cost cutting due to Rupee appreciation(which is good for country but bad for offshore projects! )
 
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I am in a project but like on bench (absoultely no work) :roll: tell me what do i do?
 
Dave Lenton
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What a strange concept. I assume that companies only do it because the money they can make from being able to rapidly solve a new project is greater then the money wasted paying programmers not doing anything.

I've never heard of this idea before, here companies will hire people when there is a greater need for programmers. It seems a bit rare that a large project would need to be completed so quickly that time couldn't be spared to go through the process of hiring someone.

So, what is being "on-bench" like? Nice to have time to slow down a bit and take some time out to do things like documentation and learning some new skills, or frustrating that you can't apply the skills you've already got?

I think I wouldn't mind some "on-bench" time to catch up on some things I've been putting off for a while, but I imagine it could get a bit boring after a while.
 
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"Bench" is widely prevalent in Indian companies as they have a lot of projects in pipeline . So instead of hiring afresh from the market when the project actually comes , they prefer to keep them on "bench" .

Everybody enjoys the initial time on bench when they can catch up with a lot of things and friends . However it can get really frustrating if it continues for weeks or months.

Usually people change companies if they are put on bench for too long fearing wastage of precious time.
 
Akhilesh Trivedi
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So, what is being "on-bench" like? Nice to have time to slow down a bit and take some time out to do things like documentation and learning some new skills, or frustrating that you can't apply the skills you've already got?


Dave! It much more depends on the time and situation you go "on-bench". It could be frustrating if you are newly employed, coz when you join a new concern you expect to rush in with enthusiasm and when you dont find the right opportunity to prove yourself, it all slows you down, a feeling like you come all prepared for world-cup final and match is rescheduled because of some bad weather. Even prolonged 'on-bench' could degrade your self-confidence, you start wandering about thoughts if 'do I really deserve this position?' or 'does the concern has enough projects to utilize me well?' and sometimes... 'is my future blocked?'

It turns out to be positive, if you have been working hard for your previous project, which turned to completion and suddenly you fall into bench because the concern is planning/waiting for new project to arrive, or taking its time to utilize you again.

There are both pros and cons of being 'on-bench', pay doesnt matter because no matter what he will be paid, however its upto the individual to handle the hard-time (if it is prolonged) by keep upgrading himself. He should be in position to turn the 'on-bench' time into 'experience' and stand on par with the guy of the same experince.
[ July 18, 2007: Message edited by: Akhilesh Trivedi ]
 
Rahul Bhattacharjee
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Originally posted by Chetan Parekh:


I guess 3 months are enuff for me.



 
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Being on-bench, I would devote my time to improve my knowledge. For instance, I could finish my certifications, which seem to be unreachable recent days.

But on the other hand, I'm glad for my job. Free time can be found easily (quiting), but I'll rather stick with a job I enjoy, which is much harder to get.
 
Akhilesh Trivedi
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Originally posted by Pavel Kubal:
Free time can be found easily (quiting), but I'll rather stick with a job I enjoy, which is much harder to get.



Loved it, simply loved it Pavel! [ ]
 
S Venkatesh
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I belive that its always good to join start ups or small companies. You can learn a lot and there is a scope for your technical growth. Beanch is a dream for people in such companies .
 
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Hmmmmm ... I am not so familiar with this "on-bench" thing, but I seem to be in one at the moment. Well I actually have a project at hand but I am just waiting for some developments so we can go ahead with the implementation. Anyway, I am thinking of creating an application during this downtime, but I am still not sure quite what. I am a web developer and I know it should be something that involves AJAX, Hibernate and JSF/Spring, as I would want to learn more about these technologies. :roll:
 
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Hmmm... We don't even hire people when we need them.
 
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I am on bench for next 2 days.. and the best option would be to update the skills and browse through javaranch.
 
S Venkatesh
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Originally posted by Raghavendra nandavar:
I am on bench for next 2 days.. and the best option would be to update the skills and browse through javaranch.



2 days on bench .. i would rather take a break and get off the city
 
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Originally posted by Dave Lenton:
What a strange concept. I assume that companies only do it because the money they can make from being able to rapidly solve a new project is greater then the money wasted paying programmers not doing anything.

I've never heard of this idea before, here companies will hire people when there is a greater need for programmers. It seems a bit rare that a large project would need to be completed so quickly that time couldn't be spared to go through the process of hiring someone.

So, what is being "on-bench" like? Nice to have time to slow down a bit and take some time out to do things like documentation and learning some new skills, or frustrating that you can't apply the skills you've already got?

I think I wouldn't mind some "on-bench" time to catch up on some things I've been putting off for a while, but I imagine it could get a bit boring after a while.



People who work for consulting companies at client site, return to their parent companies in-between contracts or next stages of the project. These people are termed to be on bench. This happens all over the world.
 
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I had 2 months bench time almost 10 years ago working for IBM in the UK. I had a holiday booked in South America later that year so I used the time constructively to teach myself Spanish! ...

It was a horrible frustrating time being so constantly aware of the totaly WASTE of the effort of gettign up each day and travelling ot the office simply to do nothing constructive. This was then offset by finally getting on some project work and having to do 80hr weeks euro-commuting out of Heathrow for a cople of months...
 
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