Chen Venkat

Yes the labor arbitrage is huge. In the last five years since I started out in software, I have seen an increase of 8 times from my first job.. I am in my third company... I wouldn't say that i am highly overpaid or so but it maybe around 90% percentile if you take a normal distribution among software guys with similar experience.. but still my salary is one third or less of what a big US product companies / investment banks tech division pay for the same work everyone does there (well I was in new york for couple of years with an investment bank's technology division too)...
So the labor arbitrage is huge in India

Hi Sangeetha,
I dont think BITS provide job assistance for distance learning programmes. I did my undergrad there.
[ October 21, 2008: Message edited by: Chen Venkat ]

Ninad,
The market in India is quite bad now. Lots of freshers and even experienced grads are in bench and from Oct to Jan or so there is budget freeze and planning for next year during which most of the companies freeze hiring. I would suggest you to pick up job with a small company to get experience rather than waiting for biggie call. And invest in improving your skills, datastructures and problems (a lot is expected from freshers in this area) and your strengths. Keep trying using your contacts, through you college alumni who can forward your resumes to their company.

I think 6lpa is very much on the lowerside.. For 4 years one can expect say in the range of 7-9lpa if you are strong in java and depending on your experience.

I think discussing companies by name is not allowed as per javaranch forum rules. Moderator please check this post.

Well the market is quite bad and you may not have very good negotiation powers but still there are some openings out there. I would say the better offers can be around 15-16 lpa if you want to be in the same domain. Product companies give you better than that though. Again it depends on your graduating college and you stuff skills everywhere.

Well the bank currently I work still recruits for positions in India as we have number of java openings to fill before this quarter (we also had special 'walk-in' sessions for the 'bankrupted' i-bank also). So if you are interested PM me your details.

[ September 22, 2008: Message edited by: Chen Venkat ]
[ September 22, 2008: Message edited by: Chen Venkat ]

Java has lots of good packages for numerical and financial calculations... we do all sorts of financial modelling, black and scholes , quantitative stuff and pricing algos on Java!

Hi Lok, Front office is not a software Any trading environment can be divided into front office (traders facing, trading terminals), middle office (algorithms, trade routers, OMS etc), backoffice(risk management, data storage) applications.

Most of the applications are highly propritery for each investment bank so you may not get it unless you work in that particular division.

To get a similar idea there is a open source order management system Marketcetera. It can give you a decent idea about the workflow and technology.

Originally posted by Lok Manick:
Thanks Chen.
Is there any place where I can get a trial version of Front office� And place where I can learn basic of it???

Omi,
I have already completed MBA in Systems and HR . Thanks for the input.

Well.. I also don't like Swings much.. but unfortunately I do swing programming for my day to day job Well lots of front office trading applications in investment banks still use to create the trader terminals for traders! And I am in this area.

I am in front office side working for investment banking division on forex options..
If you are keen on certifications - CFA is good.. would take 2-3 years to complete.. and may help you to switch careers into finance if you are good in it..Other option is FRM which also has good reputation...

In India Parttime MBA doesnt count that much especially when you are competing with guys from top colleges like IIM's... I know ppl from ICFAI, SYMBIOSIS etc who had done their part time mba but mostly it is there for namesake only... And I havent heard of Azahagappa university's reputation for parttime mba if you want to climb up the ladder...
The steps in various parts of ladders are held by people with full time mba's that too in top 10 odd colleges... so bigger companies may not even consider value for your mba.. maybe very smaller companies may consider you...in US parttime mba has good value... but thats not the case in India.. Most of my friends are full time mbas from IIMs and US.. so better to write CAT and try to get into a top 10 college...

Well I work for investment bank division of one of the biggest banks and I feel moving from pure technology to business is quite a challenge unless you have a masters degree / mba to show off. And you may need significant numbers of experience before things may work out as banks expect a lot in terms of experience qualification in business side... For example my manager is a PHD in in Mathematics & Finance and he designs stuff like pricing models etc while we implement the same. And after working on core stuff like pricing models I can definitely say that the learning curve is quite steep to know the functionality and how it is being used by traders. But if you can take it up as a challenge there is always a possiblity to get what you want.

My cousin lives in Edmond just closer to Oklahoma city. She doesnt face issues regarding Tornadoes etc but cold is a concern especially during winters as it is extremely cold! So most of the winters she takes couple of months off to India (Well she is a professor and can do so - but in software I guess its a problem!)
I had been to the place... well going there from NYC/Chicago I felt strange to see huge openspaces.. beautiful landscapes... just that lots of driving is needed to get around just to buy groceries etc which I am used getting in couple of mins walk in a place like NYC..
On my opinion, the place is damn cheap and nice to live for families!

I would opt anyday for IIT Mtech than [company] job!
With an M-Tech the kind of jobs you would looking is way different from your current offer.. You can get into core tech companies etc etc and have a much better profile than what you would be if you take up current offer...
[ July 25, 2008: Message edited by: David O'Meara ]

For 5 years anything less than 45k Pounds is lower... 45K is just sufficient... technology guys in investment banks with 5 years make from around 58K pounds onwards from the lower side