work, industry., Should, worried?

 Starting in mid-2008 banks all around the world started failing. Then the credit market was frozen. Industries found it hard to buy new machinery. The whole world cut down on its spending and reduced consumption. This led to wide scale recession across countries. All sectors are facing severe pressure including IT.  IT industry which is the cynosure of all eyes is facing a severe downturn.

To see what the IT industry is doing let’s run through the list. HP has made it clear that there will not be any hikes next year. TCS has already added itself to the ‘no hike list’. Accenture has employed 9 hour work day. Infosys and Satyam are sending its employees on a sabbatical. Many smaller companies are either shutting shop or firing people.

If you work in IT industry and if you ask me should I be worried? My answer would be a resounding yes. The more appropriate question would be how long should I be worried? If I had the answer for that I would be minting millions by now.

Since we know that we should be worried and we don’t know how long, what should we do?

1. Cut down on discretionary spending. This translates to coffee day’s, pizzas and multiplexes.
2. Before you take that car out, try for other options like public transportation or car pooling.
3. Take additional work load. Take projects which no one else are trying to take or be the first one to raise your hand when the company is looking for bandwidth.
4. Be visible. This not the time for being an introvert. People are hired for technical skills and fired for people skill. So hone those people skills of yours.
5. Don’t jump companies. Unless there is a compelling reason don’t change companies now. At least for another 8 months. This applies even if the new company is giving a 100% hike (not likely).
6. Don’t buy stuff you cannot afford. This is an age old adage but still holds good.
7. Update your resume`. I know, it contradicts with point #5 but, this a just in case thing but very important.

Those are my 6 cents. Not an exhaustive list but a very good start. Let us face this blizzard and meet at the other side of the storm.

*Image source : http://www.flickr.com/photos/thepma/