Infosys: Powered by Intellect, Driven by What??

Ya, I Quit!

I quit Infosys, India’s Second Largest Software Company, 9th on Wired Top 40, World’s most valued IT Firm, India’s Best Managed Company, always in the news for good.

Today when the company is raking accolades from everywhere, why do I feel the company is not paying enough thoughts to the very values and intellect that has given Infosys the reputation of being run by heart. Everyone (as i believe) believes in the leadership, but the middle management is the one screwing the each other over and the company’s core in the process.

My Theory: Infosys started in 1991 with the very conservative values. When they grew to about 5000 around the time when the Y2K gold hit the streets, they collected employees by driving trucks and vans to the colleges and filling them in with graduates. Now after seven/eights years after the bubble, the cream of the employees moved to other opportunities and what is left is the bottom scum. Because of Infosys’s ‘No-Fire’ policy, these jack asses have become the bosses coz they had no one left to promote!

During my tenure, I saw people who insulted the IQ of a meatball get promoted. Not that I’m near likes of Sabir Bhatia, but a beareaucratic crap about seniority gives me a headache.

and moreover what pisses the hell out of me is the hipocracy!! all this crap about “Performance Based Growth” in every goddam meeting!

And in all fairness to the organisation, I had the opportunity to work with one of the best technical people, one of the best motivators during my three year stint.

But, unfortunately, working at the bottom of the corporate chain of morons is not my cup of tea.

Is anyone hiring?

47 Comments

  1. Arjun

    well said!

    Thursday, March 16, 2006 at 06:03 pm | Permalink
  2. Harikrishnan.J

    Fud for thought…really. As an Infoscion since last 3 yrs, I can empathize with this.

    Tuesday, May 16, 2006 at 05:22 am | Permalink
  3. elias

    even after 15 months ..those opinions still hold good…..
    I am working with Pm’s who don’t even know how to work with MS excel…And the funny part is have joined a day after this was posted..

    Sunday, September 30, 2007 at 03:17 am | Permalink
  4. Anil Goel

    Fuck..like wow…powerful…powerful post…and I reached it thanks to the magic of google, searching for something else…would lvoe to connect with you to know where you are after all these years and whether your view of the world has changed since then or you still feell the same :)

    You can always write to me on anilrgoel@gmail.com

    Best,
    Me
    http://anilgoel.rediffiland.com

    Friday, November 16, 2007 at 06:13 am | Permalink
  5. neo

    you guys need to implement “No Ass hole rule” ..
    All indian companies are shit… and specially those with the full of “T” factor

    Thursday, May 1, 2008 at 08:33 pm | Permalink
  6. Aditya

    what T factor?

    Thursday, May 1, 2008 at 08:35 pm | Permalink
  7. nitin

    Absolutely true. infosys has become a government company.
    * Same salary, whatevr banding u get in appraisal:)
    * promotion depends on seniority only not performance. worst people couldn’t gt job in other company, so they stay.they get senior and get the JB changes.WOW!!!!!

    Thursday, May 22, 2008 at 04:08 am | Permalink
  8. Saurav

    I believe that instead of visiting college campuses, companies like TCS or Infy should concentrate more on hiring educated female software engineers who are married. .Undoubtedly,these Housewives will become the best managers
    However,their respective HR MUST implement a policy for Risk Mitigation.The IQ of the Housewives must always be tested,and in any CASE Housewives with above average IQ must NOT be given a chance to work for these companies.Such people are advised to crack CAT or search for a job at companies like Google! This will effectively curtail the attrition rate.

    Friday, July 4, 2008 at 05:55 pm | Permalink
  9. Trailblazer

    How do you quit? I am in Infy and I feel the same.

    Monday, September 15, 2008 at 09:20 am | Permalink
  10. Aditya

    @Trailblazer i think the easiest way would be to flick your manager or a client :)

    Monday, September 15, 2008 at 09:40 am | Permalink
  11. Vinay

    All said is very true,

    Actually there is no need of skillful people in the company. It is the those who are smart in googling.
    You will see so unprofessional things like what ever you want you have to ask for it. It doesn’t matter how knowledgeable and expert you are. Maintain good relation with manager who’s talent i dont need to explain and get onsite, CRR Band change.
    Now lets come to HR they are most useless resources i have seen in infosys.Helding competion like painting slogan,logo, poem they don’t have anywork.

    I quit TATA Motors i joined infy under assumption that instead of working with workers in Tata motors i should work with smart people like infosys and it was totaly false.
    INFOSYS WAS ONE OF THE BIGGEST MISTAKE IN MY LIFE AND WILL MAKE SURE NONE OF MY RELATIVES OR FRIENDS WILL DO IT.

    Thursday, September 25, 2008 at 08:05 am | Permalink
  12. Aditya

    @Vinay I will have to disagree with you on that.. Infosys was one of the best things that happened to me. for any started in the IT industry, it provides you the best view from the top. And the access to resources they have.. i doubt you would have had at tata motors.

    I think there is a difference between a ‘job’ and a ‘career’. Infosys was a job not a career.

    Thursday, September 25, 2008 at 09:38 am | Permalink
  13. Pradeep Chaitanya J

    Wow man, this is true. Even years after this post has been ublished, this still remains the same. The same fucking useless middle managers, who doesnt know a shit either technically nor domain wise. And its better not to speak up about their managerial capabilities.

    Added to that, from last few years, infy started a enw concept called SEZ, where in you recruit entire set of ppl from outside. So, not even some of the good infosys virtues like good campuses, facilities will be missing.

    Also, they started hiring lots of women.. and lots of lateral women too.. who got into IT by chance, not by brains and become managers now.. They use their kitchen tips and tricks at workplace…

    The scum accumelated over years, and now is complete shit that exists in infy.

    And i am becoming one of them…

    help me “out”!

    Tuesday, November 4, 2008 at 08:51 am | Permalink
  14. harry

    very well said!

    Sunday, December 21, 2008 at 03:01 pm | Permalink
  15. Kalbavi Praveen

    This has been always true. I was at Infosys mangalore and I have found that place was full of ppl who were located irrespective of their “Intellect” or “values” which infosys so much takls about in its logo !! The whole finance department in infosys is filled up with the Pais from mangalore who are in some way connectede to Mohandas Pai. In many ways infosys is nothing but a family business. I have seen Delivery managers who are good for nothing.

    One funny thing – Mohandas Pais salary in 2007 Annual report was 60 lakhs per annum and in 2008 reports its upwards of 1 crore.. Thats more than 50 percent JUMP !! And he was seen on the TV mentioning the main crisis in Indian IT salaries . Right said !!

    Infy Mangalore is a shithole of all the Infosys units I have seen in Bangalore,Hyderabad and Pune.If you have a name ending with Bhatt,Pai or Shenoy you do great in infosys mangalore.not to mention some HRs who have hardly 3 years of experience buttering the management and moving onto to ERP positions in the US as Principals !! and then doing the green card from there. Performance takes the back seat.
    I think this cant be much different in TCS,Wipro etc although I only know this through few friends.

    Lukcy me , I quit infosys in 2006. Happy to live freedom and employed in a company where I can use my brains :-)

    Sunday, February 1, 2009 at 10:39 am | Permalink
  16. alexutzova

    Today I submitted a report for review. It came back with this written note from the reviewer: “Signed, but not approved” + signature under “Reviewer’s approval”. That was the moment when I had to ask myself: “Where’s the intellect from the company’s logo?”

    Friday, February 6, 2009 at 02:12 pm | Permalink
  17. pura

    The whole CRR process is a scandal in infy. You butter your manager and you will be in the top 5% of CRR 1

    Friday, April 10, 2009 at 04:06 pm | Permalink
  18. Lakshmikanth V

    Although a lot of what is written above holds
    true, but guys give me a break.

    If u r so unhappy with Infosys why are you
    still sticking to it. It is a pvt company not
    a college, so why grin and complain and do all
    this stuff.

    Coming to those who claim that brainy work is
    not there, if you have the brains walk out and
    find a so called brainy job in Indian IT industry
    . It is very rare in Indian IT space. Very few
    companies do research and development work.
    If the above is a fact then why blame Infosys
    alone, why not blame entire IT industry

    Infosys has some facilities and some policies
    which it can really boast of. Such facilities
    wont be available in other good corporates
    of India.

    Thursday, May 28, 2009 at 10:14 am | Permalink
  19. Aditya

    Lakshmikanth – I fully support your argument. More than the people who make a place bad to work, are people who do nothing more than crib about it.

    I’m not encouraging people to quit and I did work with very talented people. If you think you deserve better – find it. If you can’t it – you deserve no better.

    Thursday, May 28, 2009 at 10:20 am | Permalink
  20. ashu

    Infosys is shittier than shit. It’s not that people here are not talented because I too have worked with some very smart and very good people here and I am respect them to the fullest. But if the company is concerned mainly the corporate,higher management and ofcourse the pathetic and inhuman HR than no one beat current Infosys.
    Infosys pays to Times of India and Economic Times to write only good things about it but the worst policies which they implement to harass the resources (not employees) here are never out.
    Now someone above raised that if we are so disgusted towards Infy then why are we working here? Wowwww…. there are many things which are not good in our country – the politicians, corruption everywhere but do we leave India? NO we stay here in the hope of improving it.Many among us work in NGOs or in private to improve the society and make other Indians more aware but they don’t leave India because they are proud of it and want to improve it.
    Similarly, I joined Infosys leaving other MNCs offers just to work for a world recognized Indian company and help in every way I can. But I regret that joining Infosys is the biggest mistake of my life and as one of the above comment says that Indian IT firms are crap – I second that.
    Indian IT giants (so said ofcourse), like TCS,Infosys,Wipro are bullshit and one word which best describes them is CHEAP.
    With 3 yrs of exp in this shit company I still don’t know what I have learn’t or done here. There is nothing called technical work or even something like quality work in Infosys.

    Wednesday, June 10, 2009 at 12:29 am | Permalink
  21. Aditya

    I would disagree with the comment that it is the worst.. i presume you have not worked outside infy for long. other companies have similar problems.

    Wednesday, June 10, 2009 at 12:54 am | Permalink
  22. hfuhv

    Well said. Even I aggree with all this. Infosys is the worst mistake I ever did in my Life. Especially Infosys Mangalore , SEZ , MFGD IBU is the worst place to work and be with . It has a useless DM who doesn’t even know how to speak a proper sentence in English. And who howls at functions ;). I’m just trying my best to quit from this damn shit company.

    Saturday, July 11, 2009 at 09:15 am | Permalink
  23. trinity

    I think infy should put d new tag line as–
    powered by ctrl c, driven by ctrl v.
    this is wot happen during d training program.
    shitty educators who dont knw wot they are
    teaching d trainees, assignments r again, d
    copy paste things..
    all in all, d training is a bullshit…
    i m happy, i m not a part of infy anymore!!!

    Saturday, August 22, 2009 at 03:49 am | Permalink
  24. ramu

    Well said, Infosys doesn’t need people with
    great minds, but people who follows
    orders and doesn’t ask questions.

    Wednesday, August 26, 2009 at 05:50 pm | Permalink
  25. Avinish Mishra

    I have worked in Infy for 1.5 yrs as a Quality
    Auditor…. It was a grt learning experience.
    Offcourse Salary remains same, promotions are
    slow….and as per others those who cant find a
    better job for themselves stays…..
    Its a Govt co!!!! I agree
    But a Co is what its people make it…
    avinishm@gmail.com

    Monday, September 28, 2009 at 11:15 pm | Permalink
  26. Siva Charan

    Folks I too agree. The company policies are good but the managers are fricking very smart like even if you work for 24 hrs a day they will say why don’t you work for 25th hour? I never saw such an idiotic behaviours. CRR rating is one of the bl’fricking thing that all the people who work day and night will be rated low and people who wont work and makes their managers ass wet will be given CRR 1 and 2. If any one asks abt the low rating then they say some shit reasons.Infosys is “POWERED WITH INTELLECTUALS AND FOOLS BUT NOT DRIVEN WITH VALUES”.

    Friday, October 9, 2009 at 02:34 am | Permalink
  27. ayush

    well said.. all the performance based crap is true.

    Friday, October 23, 2009 at 09:26 pm | Permalink
  28. Ursa Major

    I think the problems mentioned here are typical for a company of Infosys’s size. It’s human nature at work – some people have more appetite than talent and find ways to get ahead. Typical those with talent/knowledge want to apply it and make a difference, and get rewarded; but that may not happen! And someone mentioned the T factor – how true! After conducting thousands of interviews in India and US – in person and telephonic, I have formed this opinion. I am sick of those fake resumes, poor communications skills and ratta-fied answerd. But then that’s how world works – these people are ready to take a lot of risks after all.

    Saturday, October 24, 2009 at 12:39 pm | Permalink
  29. oneIn100k

    Performance, ethics!! well what is that?
    they make no difference in infy.
    All these are spoken at meetings and
    gatherings and thats about it.
    The biggest blunder of my life.

    Saturday, October 31, 2009 at 08:36 am | Permalink
  30. depressed

    the crr process has deteriorated beyond any words can express.people who have worked hard and performed well are given crr 3 and 4 just because crr 3 and 4 are mandatory.crr is a process to demotivate.

    Tuesday, November 17, 2009 at 11:55 pm | Permalink
  31. Abhishek

    @Lakshmikanth V and Aditya->Please think and write.There are many talented People @Infy as well since it is a big company.Also,You cannot blame people for working at Infy,and ofcourse they do leave if they find things are not satisfactory.But does that solve any problem?

    Tuesday, December 1, 2009 at 03:08 pm | Permalink
  32. Aditya

    I don’t argue that infy does not have talented people.. infact in my post i talked about that.. my point in response to lakshmikanth was that.. if you are so unhappy leave. stop complaining. i believe people who are in infosys and complain about it are not needed/wanted anywhere else. thats why they don’t leave.

    Tuesday, December 1, 2009 at 03:33 pm | Permalink
  33. UDHAY

    YES, I also agree with him.

    Thursday, December 24, 2009 at 05:29 am | Permalink
  34. Vasu

    Perfectly correct all d opinions infy is thriving on the non daring and risk taking attitude of the Indian middle class by exploiting them to the fullest.
    The Human resources and Processes are crap…can you beleiev HR to forget her phone every second day and every second mail written and send to all employees having some error in it …man…just sucks….

    Thursday, December 31, 2009 at 10:16 am | Permalink
  35. Zombiedong

    9.25 hours?

    No A/C allowed for PAs on the ride to the airport – why dont they just send a bullock cart – oh wait, maybe they can – hopefully they will !!

    CRR – the less said the better.

    Tiewears on Monday? Well, maybe I should wear ‘only’ the tie next week when the Client comes visiting in shorts the next time. Maybe we can teach them how to dress ‘up’ to work.

    Sigh, even my fingers aren’t ready to type more shit about shit.

    Friday, January 15, 2010 at 12:13 am | Permalink
  36. Vijaya

    WOW!!!! It’s good to see that there are people who have similar thinking. ‘M working with Infy BPO… My manager promised me onsite opportunity then a promotion if i do six sigma projects and prepare Macro’s and takes initiatives. Now I have done 3 Six sigma projects, 2 macro’s (And no one in my manager’s team has done so many projects) but No Onsite opportunity (Other members already have been including my manager as well) and till today ‘m working as an advisor after 3 years.

    And now it has been officially declared that our project is going to different vendors. Managers are the one who are quitting coz they were aware of all this where they promised us for the deployment and now they are gone from Infosys we don’t know wats gonna happen to us   

    Have any one thought why this is happening??? I am not asking any one to change but have any one of us ever tried to take this up rather than sitting and enjoy cribbing about the company??? It’s true that ‘m also not happy working here… But yes as an advisor i have learnt a lot. I can say only one thing Company is not bad but the Management has made all this worst with their politics……

    Friday, January 22, 2010 at 12:51 pm | Permalink
  37. Sam

    I agree with the issue in mangalore.. it is locally ruled. I know people on my team who run a small lobby and push the other people out. Its really not how good you are at work. Its how good you are with your managers. I would like to believe that the other Infy locations are better, but mangalore sucks big time..!!!

    Sunday, January 31, 2010 at 02:05 pm | Permalink
  38. shashwat

    for all you guys, i am penning the thoughts… my book is in publishing and will be released soon… read for yourself :)

    Saturday, February 6, 2010 at 07:08 am | Permalink
  39. Vivek

    Its not only with Infosys…!!

    You can find such problems in every company…

    Every managers Ive seen till today are sadists… useless trouble givers…

    Friday, March 5, 2010 at 01:07 pm | Permalink
  40. pushpinder bagga

    Who troubled you the most there?

    Aren’t baseball bats available near your DC? Well of course you decide what it will be – his car or his leg :p it sure can be both!

    Friday, March 5, 2010 at 04:02 pm | Permalink
  41. Mohit

    I must say that i am lucky in that case as my team is simply great!
    Its fun to work with them, my managers are really experienced and full of knowledge.

    People in my team are friendly and helpful.

    The only thing that i hate about infosys is their idiotic policies, in most of the cases HRD don’t walk their talks. HRD and top management of infosys lie, this is what i hate the most!

    Saturday, March 6, 2010 at 05:55 am | Permalink
  42. Abhishek

    well lots of fire on infy..

    guys I got selected in infy and awaiting for my offer letter. Do you think I should join it or try for some psu’s.

    Monday, March 8, 2010 at 03:03 am | Permalink
  43. Saurabh

    This is not true. All managers are not same. I am the chosen 1 who got a chance to work with probably the ONLY best manager in infosys : Sachin Shankar Kalgude…
    awesome manager. he will do whatever he can do going extra mile.
    Now since i m no longer working under him, I am planning to quit infosys. for sure. Anyone still hiring ???

    Monday, March 8, 2010 at 05:23 am | Permalink
  44. Aditya

    @abhishek I personally think you should join.. its a great place to start your career.. and infy on resume makes you stand out. best of luck!

    Monday, March 8, 2010 at 10:04 am | Permalink
  45. horizon

    The worst part is from the past 2 years I am
    not workin under any manager….I am on bench.
    My career is screwed big time:(

    Tuesday, March 9, 2010 at 08:38 am | Permalink
  46. Kunal Yadav

    Perfectly rite guys… i m a trainee and got
    fed up from infy…

    Wednesday, March 10, 2010 at 01:02 pm | Permalink
  47. rajesh

    Wow you guys are really at it.

    Anyways I had just one query.! How many of you above here are actually IT graduates :)

    The MNC which few of you hold dear has screwed the point of having a degree in any other field. The main policy is find a monkey train him till he can code, the process goes on and on :) Well m happy i was never dragged into that mess :)

    Wednesday, March 10, 2010 at 01:19 pm | Permalink

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