Backlong Post: Transfer in IT Companies!

Admin Announcement: This post is part of Stock Clearance series. I've many posts saved as draft for long time- they were not published for any of the reasons such as feeling need for further research/improvement or a feeling that the post is not useful/interesting etc. Now I'm temporarily out of fresh content, hence sharing some old not-so-good posts. Do read with minimum expectations or feel free to skip it.

Transfer in IT Companies

I often get this question: Your company has office in Bangalore right? Why don’t you take a transfer!

This post is a brief answer to such questions.

IT Companies do not operate like banks. In a Bank, every branch will have same roles- A manager, few officers, lots of clerks, few cashiers, attenders and so on. All over the country, each offers same set of products and services (with minor exceptions like NRI branch, Small Industries Branch etc). Essentially, a clerk or cashier can do the same work in any branch of the bank and transfers are fairly common (often mandated) and easier to adapt. Most of the Govt offices will also have similar setup.

IT companies do not operate that way. Though a company may have offices in all cities in India, office in each city could be serving different industries (verticals) and customers. Officers are usually set up client specific or industry/vertical specific. Each client/industry projects might involve a host of technologies, expertise for which is usually sourced from units focused on specific technologies. Those focused on an industry (business side) often stay put at one place, while those specializing in technology might move from project to project/client to client/city to city on need basis. Because of this kind of setup-programmers can easily find project in another city where their skills might be needed, but those professionals focused on specific industry/client might not be able to move to another unit/city easily.

Disclaimer: Unlike Govt offices where a transfer once in few years is often mandatory (also sometimes Transfer to faraway places is used as punishment and sometimes public servants seek posting at specific places due to its potential to give more additional income-read bribe) Pvt companies usually entertain transfers either because of employee request or due to business demand. Only idea behind this post is to give an overview on how operational setup of IT companies differ from a Bank or Govt Office. Finer operational details might change from company to company and not all companies might be structured in the same way as described.

Related: Satyam: 1 Year later * Joining Day * Trends in Displaying IT Cards * Best of 2006 *