Top 10 IT jobs that can give best ROI

The job market is open. Everyday we hear the news on companies hiring in thousands. However, the engineering graduates just out of college are still struggling hard to know about the best jobs that can give them the best return on investment (ROI). Making it easier for them, we interacted with various IT firms and consultants to put forth the top 10 IT jobs that can give best ROI; in terms of salary as well as a career option.


Ethical Hacker
Hackers and the practice of hacking have over the years acquired a taint, but to counter widespread cyber crime and put hacking back in its rightful place, computer geeks have taken up the cudgels against such malicious attackers and are training themselves in the art of ethical hacking. For instance, one of the India's leading ethical hackers, Sunny Vaghela has helped security agencies crack several cases using his prowess in hacking into systems. Jobs where hackers are particularly good are: Systems administration, Programming and Design. Also, one can do the certification program to be a certified ethical hacker.

Systems Manager
Playing pivotal role in the execution of technology within the company, systems managers are seen as the pillar of any company's growth. They plan, co-ordinate, and implement any technology -related activities of firms. And, with the increasing use of computers and information technology, the job of system managers is being considered as one of the leading jobs in terms of the percentage of growth across the sectors.

Network Engineer
A network engineer handles all of the "plumbing" for a company's computers, hooking them up to the Internet, and configuring all internal systems such as net routers and firewalls. In the last few months, the importance of network grew, as most of the chief information officers have said that transaction volumes and communications requirements continued to grow, making it imperative to focus on network technologies. "It's a 'noodly' job; you have to be able to think your way through problems and understand how stuff works," said Nikhil Arora, an engineer from TCS.

Firmware Engineer
With chip becoming an integral part of any device around us, the need for software to be programmed on hardware devices, which provides the necessary instructions for how the device communicates with other computer hardware, the demand for firmware engineers have surged tremendously in the last few years. Analyzing algorithms and its implementation in FW/SW modelling, firmware engineers also enhance the overall firmware capability and process within sensors and provide a local capability focus. Full-time firmware executives earn over an average $75,000 annually, depending on experience and specialties. According to experts, the demand for firmware engineers is expected to be in high-tech- and manufacturing-driven regions.

Web Analyst
In the world of digital media and internet, undoubtedly, web analytics play an important role. Web Analysts will typically focus on multiple business unit websites and support all facets of the decision making platform (clickstream analysis, outcomes analysis, search analysis, multivariate testing analysis). They will also work with the website technology team closely to identify gaps in the data capture strategy and collaboratively implement enhancements. That's not all, these analysts are also expected to partner outside the business units and outside the company to ensure that best practices in metrics and decision making are being exposed to the business management and core website decision makers.

Design Engineer
Design engineer as a career option? Yes, we are talking about the engineers who build the hearts of almost all the devices that surround us. Normally, a design engineer takes care of the inner workings/engineering of a design, and with the advent of CAD and solid modeling software (SolidWorks, Solid Edge, Autodesk Inventor, Pro/ENGINEER, NX, CATIA, etc, for example) the design engineers create the drawings themselves. In India, the Chip design has now moved into a big league, catching the attention of biggies like TCS and Wipro. Even Gartner had estimated that the design market between 2007 and 2012 would grow at a CAGR of about 22.3 percent, to reach nearly $830 million by 2012. Although there is an increased demand for the design engineer profession, several Indian engineering colleges train only about 250-300 very large system integration (VLSI) engineers every year.
Basically, to be a design engineer, one needs to have a degree in Electronics Communication. During interviews, firms look for a good sense of engineering with a sound grounding in mathematics, physics and electronics. Knowledge of different languages is not necessary.


Open Source Specialist
Becoming widely accepted among the Indian engineers, the Open Source Specialist profession is changing the IT in a fundamental way with regular increasing competition by connecting their developers directly. This has resulted in some of the most stable and widely used software products like Symbian (a real time operating system), Apache (HTTP web server) and many more. An open source specialist works on the open source technology that enables anyone to examine and develop the source code. This process has resulted in highly reliable, secure and high-performance applications."We are witnessing increase in the demand for open source technologies and frameworks," said Satish N Kota, Director of Heurion Consulting. Today, open source initiatives are equally competitive compared with any other proprietary solution frameworks or development platforms and profoundly leaping ahead by way of the approval of clients.

Health Records Systems Manager
Lack of coordination among health and human services organizations limits the reach, effectiveness, efficiency, and accountability of public programs and services. Scattered and incomplete medical records stored across multiple agencies can have unintended results, such as treatment oversights or conflicts, failure to take advantage of full benefits, duplication of benefits, and failure to maximize reimbursements. Here, the job of health records systems manager becomes important. Also, most of the healthcare firms are planning to increase its numbers significantly. According to CompTIA (Computing Technology Industry Association), around 70,000 new health record system managers positions are likely to be added in the next 12 months. The expected growth in demand is driving industry organizations such as CompTIA to find the best ways to educate and train IT workers on healthcare specific skills.

Business Process Engineer
Structuring the operation of businesses by process-based constructs with a concurrent emphasis on the term engineering has become a truism although the effectiveness of applying these ideas has been mixed. Business process engineers analyze and redesign the workflow within and between enterprises. Year 2010 seems to be the year of business savvy technologists, which will drive hiring decisions. Ajay Dutt, Business Head (Global) of AIM Plus Staffing Solutions said, "We are witnessing a lot of people using ERP systems and engaging in business process re-engineering projects. Combining the knowledge of the technical systems with business processes will help IT professionals get and keep key positions."

Capacity Manager
Besides optimizing your servers' performance and availability, a Capacity Manager monitors the utilization of your servers' resources, helps identify existing or future bottlenecks and makes recommendations for improvement. The capacity manager's predictive, proactive capabilities help reduce downtime costs and its built-in, intelligent features optimize server throughput, utilization and performance, maximizing your server investment. According to the Forrester, the role of capacity manager will be in demand for companies looking to optimize resources and accurately assign financial values to technology resources. or improvement. The capacity manager's predictive, proactive capabilities help reduce downtime costs and its built-in, intelligent features optimize server throughput, utilization and performance, maximizing your server investment. According to the Forrester, the role of capacity manager will be in demand for companies looking to optimize resources and accurately assign financial values to technology resources.

3 Indian IT majors hire 20k employees in Q4

With improving business conditions pushing their hiring plans, IT majors Infosys, TCS and Wipro hired over 20,000 employees in the January-March quarter. According to human resources experts, IT and IT-enabled services are expected to see a huge jump in hiring this year and major companies in the sector have already set the pace, reports PTI.

The three IT companies put together have made net additions of 20,014 employees (taking into account attrition) in the January-March quarter. IT major Tata Consultancy Services took on board a net 10,775 employees in the last quarter of 2009-10 fiscal. TCS' total employee strength has soared to 1,60,429 at the end of the last fiscal. The hiring momentum picked up from the third quarter of the last fiscal, when TCS had made 7,692 net additions, compared with just 320 recruitments in the previous quarter.

IT giant Infosys hired as many as 9,313 employees in the quarter, but the net addition after taking into account attrition was 3,914, according to the company's financial statement for the period. The hiring increased the total workforce of the company and its subsidiaries to 1,13,796 employees at the end of March this year.

Another Besides, Wipro made net additions of 5,325 employees in the Q4 FY10, taking its total strength to 1,08,071. According to a recent survey by staffing firm TeamLease, Indian companies are increasingly upbeat about their hiring plans across almost all sectors in April-June period this year, led by an improving business outlook. HR experts predict companies in the IT and ITes sector would hire 1,50,000 professionals in the fiscal year 2011

CA top salary zooms to Rs. 70 Lakh

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has created a record by placing three of its candidates at a record salary of close to Rs. 70 lakh with Singapore-based Olam International. This is the highest ever salary offered to fresh CAs recruited from the ICAI campus, the apex body that conducts the CA examination and places the successful candidates every year, reports Economic Times.

In 2007, a record salary of Rs. 38.25 lakh was offered in 2007. The three candidates who have been offered the record salary, were picked by the agriculture supply chain major from ICAI's Chennai campus. Olam plans to hire around eight candidates from ICAI.

According to Economic Times, ICAI started its first phase of placements through five out of 15 campuses on March 4. The first day itself saw 320 candidates being picked up. Companies which hired successful CAs on the first day include IOC, ITC, Tolaram, Vedant, S R Batliboy, Yes Bank, GE Capital, REC, L&T, Axis Bank, Morgan Stanley, HCL Technology and Delloite.

"We are very happy with the offers we have seen on very first day of our campus recruitment. It suggests that now we are out of the global recession and recruiters are ready to offer right packages to right candidates," said Subodh Agrawal, Chairman of the Committee for Members in Industry, ICAI, in a reaction to the record offer. "It is a 100 percent rise from our earlier best," he added. Explaining the hiring sentiment Agarwal said, "Now with the upturn, good candidates keen to work within the country. Therefore, companies need to pay a premium to hire them for global positions."

When contacted by Economic Times, Olam International confirmed the Rs. 70 lakh offer." Michael Joseph who handles global recruitments at the company said, "We are operating in a recession-free industry. So, there are really no limits now," he said.

Salary increase for 2010 in India is the highest in Asia Pacific

Salary increase for 2010 in India is projected to be 10.6 percent, the highest in Asia Pacific and up 60 percent from the actual increase of 6.6 percent in 2009. Indian owned companies are expected to outperform MNCs with a projected average increase of 11.4 percent as against a 10.2 percent by the latter.

Energy, Telecommunications, Pharmaceutical, EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) and Automotive are among the sectors projecting highest increases ranging from 11.6 percent to 12.8 percent. Technology and Outsourcing sectors have shown tremendous recovery over 2009, but are playing cautiously with single digit increases in the range of 8.5 percent to 8.9 percent. These findings were revealed in the 14th annual Salary Increase Survey covering 465 companies across 20 primary industries, conducted by global human resource services firm, Hewitt Associates.

Sandeep Chaudhary, Leader of Hewitt's Performance and Rewards Consulting practice in India, commented, "Organizations in India are positive and are looking at measured, realistic growth, with a keen eye on cost consolidation and prudence. The economy has shown faster recovery in sectors that rely on domestic growth and consumption, while recovery in sectors that have global dependence is expected to gain speed by mid 2010. This growth and the fact that 2009 saw a lot of salary freeze and salary cuts, are providing an impetus for healthy increase in compensation for employees."

In keeping with the focus on cost and performance, variable pay as part of total compensation continues to grow with 24.8 percent of Top Executive pay coming through this route and even the lowest rung Officer Cadre getting 11.3 percent of their salary in variable compensation. As per Hewitt's report, salaries will increase across all employee levels with Junior Manager/ Supervisor/ Professional level expected to receive the highest increase at 10.9 percent.

Increased privatization in the power sector, the Government's unrelenting investment and stimulus into infrastructure and increased competition in telecommunications, have earned these sectors the highest salary increases of 12.2 percent - 12.8 percent. These are closely followed by steady performers like pharmaceuticals at 12.1 percent. The automotive sector has sprung back with increased demand and sale over the last two quarters and is strongly positioned at 11.6 percent average salary increase for 2010.

Technology and outsourcing sectors have had a big positive swing from 2009, but still stand among the lowest salary increases at 8.9 percent and 8.5 percent, followed by Shipping and Logistics at 7.6 percent which has continued with the same careful watch from 2009. Also, banking and financial Services have seen a positive recovery with salary increase projection for 2010 at 10.5 percent. This is also the sector that was most adversely impacted by global recession and had minimal bonus coupled with salary freezes.

The Indian retail sector, which was hit by weak consumer sentiment, tight credit situation and unhealthy cost structures, has bounced back, investing in compensation with 11.1 percent projected salary increase for 2010.

Public banks yet to fill 22,000 vacancies

Despite a recruitment overdrive that saw government-run banks adding around 15,000 people last year, over 22,000 posts are yet to be filled, reports Economic Times.

As per the Finance Ministry's data, around 11 public sector banks including Punjab National Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Bank of Baroda and Central Bank of India are currently facing shortage of staff. "Banks have full operational and managerial autonomy regarding manpower planning and recruitment. The filling up of the vacancies is an ongoing exercise and banks make their recruitment as per their own needs," a Finance Ministry official told Economic Times.

However, though banks are facing an acute manpower shortage created by large scale superannuation, they are not willing to expedite the selection process. "There is a need for specialist officers, clerks and probationary officers. We'll be soon hiring around 1,250 clerks, but you need to get eligible candidates for other posts," said a senior official with PNB.

Banks are also looking to hire employees in sectors such as agriculture, economist, Planning, Research, Legal, Security and Information Technology. But, the recruitment process in almost all public sector bank takes around six months.

Oriental Bank of Commerce, which has already recruited 1,290 people this year, plans to add another 1,600 this year. "We are looking to hire around 400 specialist officers. But you need to get the right candidates," said a senior official with the bank. Other banks are also firming up their recruitment drive and have already initiated the process. According to the Director of Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS), M Balachandran, the staff shortage may far exceed 22,000. "The banks have more stringent in their recruitment process, but given the expansion that banks are looking for they'll far exceed these numbers," he said.

Income Tax Ready Reckoner 2010-11

	INCOME TAX READY RECKONER
	INDIVIDUALS
	Taxable Income	Tax Payable		Savings
		Currently	Post Budget
	160,000	-	-
	300,000	14,000	14,000	-
	500,000	54,000	34,000	20,000
	700,000	114,000	74,000	40,000
	800,000	144,000	94,000	50,000
	1,000,000	204,000	154,000	50,000
	1,200,000	264,000	214,000	50,000
	1,500,000	354,000	304,000	50,000
	2,000,000	504,000	454,000	50,000
	2,500,000	654,000	604,000	50,000
	3,000,000	804,000	754,000	50,000
	NOTE: The above calculation do not include education cess.
	WOMEN
	Taxable Income	Tax Payable		Savings
		Currently	Post Budget
	190,000	-	-
	300,000	11,000	11,000	-
	500,000	51,000	31,000	20,000
	700,000	111,000	71,000	40,000
	800,000	141,000	91,000	50,000
	1,000,000	201,000	151,000	50,000
	1,200,000	261,000	211,000	50,000
	1,500,000	351,000	301,000	50,000
	2,000,000	501,000	451,000	50,000
	2,500,000	651,000	601,000	50,000
	3,000,000	801,000	751,000	50,000
	NOTE: The above calculation do not include education cess.
	SENIOR CITIZENS
	Taxable Income	Tax Payable		Savings
		Currently	Post Budget
	240,000	-	-
	300,000	6,000	6,000	-
	500,000	46,000	26,000	20,000
	700,000	106,000	66,000	40,000
	800,000	136,000	86,000	50,000
	1,000,000	196,000	146,000	50,000
	1,200,000	256,000	206,000	50,000
	1,500,000	346,000	296,000	50,000
	2,000,000	496,000	446,000	50,000
	2,500,000	646,000	596,000	50,000
	3,000,000	796,000	746,000	50,000
	NOTE: The above calculation do not include education cess.

Union Budget 2010-2011 Highlights !

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• FM prunes tax rates:
  Income up to Rs 1.6 lakh - nil Income above Rs 1.6 lakh and up to Rs 5 lakh - 10 per cent
  Income above Rs 5 lakh and up to Rs 8 lakh - 20 per cent
  Income above Rs 8 lakh - 30 per cent.
• Income Tax department ready with two-page Saral-2 return forms for individual salaried assesses.
• New tax rates would offer relief to 60 per cent of tax-payers.
• Government's net borrowing to be Rs 3,45,010 crore for 2010-11.
• Additional deduction of Rs 20,000 allowed on long term infrastructure bonds for income tax payers; this is above Rs one lakh on saving instruments allowed already.
• A unique identity symbol would be provided to the Indian Rupee in line with US Dollar, British Pound Sterling, Euro and Japanese Yen.
• Fiscal deficit seen at 4.8 per cent and 4.1 per cent in 2011-12 and 2012-13 respectively.
• Total expenditure pegged at Rs 11.8 lakh crore, an increase of 8.6 per cent.
• Gross tax receipts pegged at Rs 7,46,656 crore for 2010-11, non-tax revenues at Rs 1,48,118 crore.
• FM appeals to "misguided elements" (left wing extremists) to eschew violence and join the mainstream.
• Planning Commission to prepare integrated action plan for Naxal-affected areas.
• Defence allocation pegged at Rs 1,47,344 crore in 2010-11 against Rs 1,41,703 crore in the previous year. Of this, capital expenditure would account for Rs 60,000 crore.
• Fiscal deficit pegged at 6.9 per cent in 2009-10 as against 7.8 per cent in the previous fiscal.
• Finance Minister to continue giving cash subsidy for fuel and fertiliser instead of previous practice of bonds.
• Non-plan expenditure pegged at Rs 37,392 crore and Plan expenditure at Rs 7,35,657 crore in budget estimates. 15 per cent increase in plan expenditure and six per cent in non-plan expenditure.
• Rs 1,900 crore allocated for Unique Identification Authority of India.
• Rs 1,73,552 crore provided for infrastructure.
• Need to take firm view on opening up of the retail.
• Government committed to ensure continued growth of Special Economic Zones development.
• Repayment of loan by farmers extended by six months to June 30, 2010 in view of drought and floods in some part of the country.
• One-time grant of Rs 200 crore provided to Tirupur textile cluster in Tamil Nadu.
• Allocation for new and renewable energy ministry.
• Clean Energy Fund to be created for research in new energy sources.
• Rs 500 crore allocated for solar and hydro projects for Ladakh region.
• Alternative port to be developed at Sagar Island in West Bengal.
• Allocation for National Ganga River Basin Authority doubled to Rs 500 crore.
• Government for competitive bidding for coal blocks for captive power plants.
• Mega power plant policy modified to lower cost of generation; allocation to power sector more than doubled to Rs 5,130 crore in 2010-11.
• Government proposes to set Coal Development Regulatory Authority.
• Propose to maintain thrust of upgrading infrastructure in rural and urban areas. IIFCL authorised to refinance infrastructure projects.
• Interest subvention for timely repayment of crop loans raised from one per cent to two per cent, bringing the effective rate of interest to five per cent.
• Bottleneck of public delivery mechanism can hold us back.
• Rs 200 crore provided for climate resilient agriculture initiative.
• Government to provide Rs 16,500 crore to public sector banks to maintain tier-I capital.
•  
• Allocation for women and child development hiked by 80 per cent.
• Government decides to set up National Social Security
• Fund with initial allocation of Rs 1000 crore to provide social security to workers in unorganised sector.
• Rs 1,270 crore provided for slum development programme, marking an increase of 700 per cent.
• Allocation for development of micro and small scale sector raised from Rs 1,794 crore to Rs 2,400 crore.
• One per cent interest subvention loan for houses costing up to Rs 20 lakh extended to March 31, 2011; Rs 700 crore provided.
• 25 per cent of plan outlay earmarked for rural infrastructure development
• Road transport allocation raised by 13 per cent to Rs 19,894 crore, says FM.
• Allocation for urban development increased by 75 per cent to Rs 5,400 crore in 2010-11.
• Indira Awas Yojana scheme's unit cost raised to Rs 45,000 in plain area and Rs 48,500 in hilly areas.
• Allocation for NREGA stepped up to Rs 40,100 crore in 2010-11.
• For rural development, Rs 66,100 crore have been allocated.
• Plan allocation for health and family welfare increased to Rs 22,300 crore from Rs 19,534 crore.
• Plan allocation for school education raised from Rs 26,800 crore to Rs 31,036 crore in 2010-11.
• Deficit in foodgrains storage capacity to be met by private sector participation.
• Exclusive skill development programme to be launched for textile and garment sector employees.
• Plan allocation for Ministry of Minority Affairs raised from Rs 1,740 crore to Rs 2,600 crore.
• Plan outlay for Ministry of Social Justice raised by 80 per cent to Rs 4,500 crore.
• Government to contribute Rs 1,000 per year to each account holder
• Finance Minister says Government hopes to implement direct tax code from April 2011.
• Kirit Parekh report on fuel price deregulation will be taken up by Oil Minister Murli Deora in due course.
• Government has decided to set up apex-level Financial Stability and Development Council.
• FDI inflows steady during the year. Government has taken series of steps to simplify FDI regime
• Market capitalisation of five PSUs listed since October increased by 3.5 times.
• Nutrient based fertiliser subsidy scheme to come into force from April 1, 2010.
• Nutrient based fertiliser subsidy scheme to come into force from April 1, 2010.
• Earnest endeavour to implement General Sales Tax in April 2011.
• Status paper on public debt within six months.
• Government will raise Rs 25,000 crore from disinvestment of its stake in state-owned firms.
• Government to provide Rs 300 crore to organise 60,000 pulse and oilseed villages and provide integrated intervention of watershed and related programme.
• Government to continue interest subvention of 2 per cent for one more year for exports covering handicrafts, carpets, handlooms and small and medium enterprises.
• Export in January encouraging.
• Need to review the public spending and mobilize resources.
• FM stresses on the need to make growth more broad-based.
• Need to ensure that the demand-supply imbalance is managed.
• Need to review stimulus imparted to economy.
• Government conscious of the situation of price rise and taking steps to tackle it.
• Erratic monsoon and drought-like conditions forced supply side bottleneck that fuelled inflation.
• Double digit food inflation last year due to bad monsoon and drought-like conditions.
• Figures for merchandise exports for January encouraging after turnaround in November and December last.
  Govt to raise Rs 25,000 cr this year to meet cap expenditure requirements
• GST and DTC can be introduced in April 2011
• Direct tax code will be implemented April 1, 2011
• Final figure may be higher if earnings in last quarters are strong
• 18.9% growth rate in manufacturing sector in 2009
• Concerned over emergence of double digit food inflation
• Export figures encouraging; pvt investments can be expected
• Double digit food inflation in 2009
• Need to review stimulus, move to fiscal consolidation
• Signs of food inflation going to non-food items
• Steps to reduce public debt, paper to be presented in 6 months
• 1st challenge: quickly revert to higher GDP growth path of 9%, cross double digit growth
• 2nd challnge: harden economic growth to make dev more inclusive
• 3rd challenge: relates to problems in government system
• Focus shifts to non-governmental actors
• Uncertainity was there on account of delay in monsoon, concerns about production and food prices.
• Government intends to make FDI policy user friendly by compling all guidelines into one document.
• RBI considering some additional banking licenses to private companies, NBFC will also be considered if they meet criteria.

TCS to hire 30,000, 70 percent freshers

Tata Consultancy Services plans to hire 28,000 employees in India and 2,000 abroad in the financial year 2010-2011 and about 70 percent of recruitment will be freshers. The company is currently seeing an 8-10 percent growth in revenue from domestic operations and is eyeing a double-digit growth in the next two years.

TCS CEO and MD N Chandrasekaran said that the company will hike salaries of its employees in the coming fiscal, but did not give details, reports Financial Chronicle. TCS, has not hiked wages in the current fiscal, but employees have received 150 percent VA payouts in two consecutive quarters - second and third quarters of FY10.

"We are on a path to hire 1,000 people. We have already hired 300," he said, replying to a query on hiring plans for the current fiscal. In Q3 of FY10, TCS had made 7,692 net additions, compared with a net addition of 320 in the previous quarter.

Asked about the extent to which India would be affected by the U.S. move to slash tax-breaks to outsourcers, Chandrasekaran said the matter is not an immediate concern. Also Chandrasekaran said, "China is a tough market for IT firms and the company was seeing business opportunity in Europe." Chandrasekaran said the company had signed a few large deals as well as a number of smaller ones. "The financial services sector will drive growth. We expect good growth from retail, pharma and utilities," he said.

Indian companies most trusted, IT sector tops the list

India headquartered firms have emerged as the most trusted ones, with the technology sector topping the list in terms of transparency and credibility, according to survey.

According to global public relations firm Edelman's 'Trust Barometer' survey for 2010, India-headquartered companies are trusted by a majority of people in the country. Indian based companies have been ranked as trustworthy by 78 percent of people surveyed in India, 63 percent of respondents in Mexico and 52 percent in United Arab Emirates (UAE). Edelman President and CEO Richard Edelman said, "Trust is now an essential line of business to be developed and delivered. CEOs who embrace this new line of business called trust have seen their credibility rise."

IT sector is the most trusted sector in India at followed by banks, automotive (79 percent), pharma (75 percent), healthcare (73 percent), entertainment (70 percent). The annual trust and credibility survey sampled 4,875 informed people in two age groups (25-34 and 35-64) in 22 countries.