Insane number of low paying software jobs
Recently, I've been observing a concerning trend that I haven't observed before in my 5 years in this industry.
A large no. of job openings are coming up at mid-sized companies and startups that require 5+ years of experience but pay 7-12 LPA. One of these companies even used to pay a decent more when I'd applied to it a few years before
Does anyone have insights on the root causes behind this trend and how it will shape up the job market going forward?
My hypotheses on root causes:- (1) Bad job market (2) Advent of AI
CYCLICALITY. When I started as software engineer in 2007 I was paid 2.3L. I was from an average college in an average Services Co. I moved on to do an MBA and at the moment, I am in a Digital Sales/Growth Role. I know quite a lot of my colleagues/batch mates who are at 60L/70L+ with over 14 YOE.
I see many over here in deep tech or startups earning close to 1Cr with about 8-10 YOE and marvel at what is happening around in the market. If they manage to move out to the US they might be saved from disappointments. But if you are India then you have what we call Golden Handcuffs. You are unemployable from a compensation point of view. There could still be a few lucky people who might break out and move to established companies but the startup world with little to no cash flow is going to spit you out eventually.
I hope to be proved wrong but very few over here have seen a real downturn. Ask someone how it was in 2008/09.
What was 2008-09 like for engineers in India?
Well 30% of the fresh batch of 2008 were retrenched. In the bigger IT Services companies new hires had their joining dates delayed by more than a year. Many fresh graduates decided to go for MBA's to not remain idle.
Hub and spoke. Mode Keep leadership in big city, hire the best in small cities.
Have seen founders of small company hiring people people from indore, coimbatore, surat, Nagpur etc etc etc
Cost of living is less those cities and talent is capable and abundant, it's just about grooming.
AI also level played the gap between the avg and the best. Software job is now of masses. It's just start
Maybe I'm too young and stuff like this happens every 5-10 years cyclically
Oversupply... except T1 colleges.. others can rarely demand .. they have to accept what is given.