Campus Conversations Goes to IBA!

Trailblazing through NED and FAST, CIO Pakistan landed at IBA today to bring the budding youth of yet another institution at crossroads with the industry. At the event representing the industry, we had Kumail Dehradunwala, CIO at UBL; Adnan Siddiqui, Country Sales Manager from IBM Pakistan; Jehan Ara, President of P@SHA; Shahida Saleem, Chairperson of the Standing Committee on IT at FPCCI and Raza Ali, Director Architecture at TRG Tech.

One the other side of the table, the academia consisted of BS(CS), BBA(MIS), MBA(MIS) and MS(CS), alongside the IBA faculty, being moderated by Rabia Garib Editor-in Chief of CIO Magazine in Pakistan. Members of the faculty who must be acknowledged for helping CIO arrange the session include, Dr.Sayeed Ghani,  ZaheerUddin Asif and Dr. Shakeel A. Khoja. We’d also like to thank the Infosys Society for helping organize the students and other details at the venue.

Adnan Siddiqui- CSM  for IBM Pakistan. Graduate of IBA. IBM had been in Pakistan for the past 60 years, launched a global Delivery System in Pakistan with 200 people, expecting to grow up to 1000 people in 2 years. This program is responsible for delivering products globally.

Kumail Dehradunwala is the CIO at UBL, one of the largest financial institutions to have more than 1100 branches in Pakistan and worldwide. After having lived in the US for such a long time, UBL was his first job in Pakistan. When he gets down to hiring people, he looks for different kinds of a skill set in the human resources. Looking for an open-minded individual.

Jehan Ara is the President of P@SHA and represents 400 software, IT and ITeS companies. According to Jehan Ara, IT companies look for ‘passion’ in the people they hire. The benchmark should be way above average. Also, looking to take in the fold students who are in the process of finalizing start-ups,

Shahida Saleem is the Chairperson of the Standing Committee on IT at the FPCCI. The FPCCI represents more than 120 trade organizations and Shahida began her side of the conversation with a complaint that IT seems to be a world of its own. That it operates and exists in isolation which is something that needs to be stopped as IT graduates are hired across all industries.

Raza Ali, Director Architecture at TRG Tech, which is the technology arm of TRG and has 250 branches worldwide. TRG Tech hires developers and programmers. His area of concern is that there isn’t enough stress on problem-solving and hands-on skill development of focus areas that need to be developed.

Common Concerns
The areas of concern that were pointed out by the students were similar to the ones that have been brought up in previous sessions of Campus Conversations – the GPA and the Internship experience. While there might exist a general disconnect between the academia and the industry, perhaps there is a more critical disconnect in terms of expectations. As Shahida said, “Very few students are actually willing to take the initiative. The exceptional students are those that come up with project ideas to bring value addition to the company. It is the student’s job to add value to the company, do your homework and not just come there to learn but also earn the job.”

But then, as a few students pointed out, how are students supposed to ‘break into the market’ to land that internship or be noticed by a company?

One of the ways, believe it or not, is still the GPA. Raza commented, “We look for people who have taken their studies seriously and GPA is a good measurement yardstick for it. It you went out your way to do something truly innovative, that is taken as a plus point” And once again to be fair to all those who are reading this and shaking their heads in disbelief, what would you suggest BE the yardstick. There has to be a basic criteria for companies to ‘shortlist’ people. If you have a better idea for the filtering process, please do share.

Raza continued to comment, “We’re looking for problem solvers. The problem with interns I feel is that internship is not given that much importance. It should be full-tine the way it is in the US.” And this comment is only emphasized by the students who said things like, “How can we give our 100% to the internship if we’re only being paid Rs.5,000?” and “We hardly get any experience in the internship period. It’s more about software installations and dealing with hardware issues.”

But here’s the thing – is it realistic for students to expect that they will get a chance to work on mission critical applications that run organizations in their first internship opportunity? Obviously not. But then where does this expectation originate from?

“Dr. Sayeed Ghani, Associate Dean of the Faculty of Computer Science at IBA, commented, “Our focus is not on producing top quality techies, but complete management students. Techies are not ‘well accepted’ in the industry.” And that comment pretty much summarizes what the basic confusion is all about.

The industry claims that they are looking for problem-solvers…. Grads that might know programming, but know a little more about other functions such as business and management. Students, through the course of their comments, point out that when they apply for jobs and internships, they get asked unrelated questions during the interview process, and then end up doing something seemingly insignificant to their learning. It does appear that the ideal circumstance isn’t replicated in the real-life setting.

Opportunities… or Not
I asked how many students thought that jobs awaited them when they completed their degrees. One girl raised her hand. And yes, this was the same one who had done a wonderfully successful project during her internship at Continental Biscuits, so much so that they have given her a standing offer to join their IT department when she graduates.

One hand raised. That doesn’t say much for the industry creating a hype about how much opportunity there is in the local market. Do industry associations know how many job opportunities there are? Has work been done to convey this message to Universities? Students shouldn’t have to run out and approach companies for positions on their own. As long as they are enrolled in an institution, that support ecosystem has to be created by the Universities. They are students. We are the professionals. And while it is critically important for students to take the initiative, their placement offices have to play a key role in helping them liaise with SOMEONE in the industry.

Which is where the FPCCI has a pertinent role to play. Associations and trade bodies cannot establish clubs and expect them to run unless there is a system in place. Management processes dictate that we must have a set of processes so an ecosystem can take shape. The CIO Mentorship Nashtas session, for example, is something that is the kind of plumbing that runs under existing operational silos, and connects the missing pieces. FPCCI will hopefully, as per Shahida Saleem’s commitment, work with an existing department in IBA’s CS Faculty and establish a connection.

An interesting question was put out there by a student who asked, “Many companies are outsourcing their IT services now. These include the IT companies themselves. I want to know how secure is the job market for Graduates like us?” To that, Jehan Ara responds, “The security of jobs is very different now as companies constantly reinvent themselves and individuals should be similar. A lot of jobs have now become remote jobs and job security needs to be looked at in a different context. The continuous process of self-reinvention is what determines security and sustainability.”

And talking about sustainability, Kumail and Adnan both asked the students questions as to how much they know about the local market. “If you see an ad on television, have you tried to find out what role IT had in the launch of that product or service?” Considering the fact that there are so many companies in Pakistan that are not traditionally IT, but are very IT-centric, Adnan, Kumail and Shahida all encourage students to reach out and find out more about each company and how IT fits into the business sphere.

Show Me the Money!
Here’s a debatable point – tangible and intangible benchmarks for salaries for both Internships and Jobs. Should it be all about the money? While we wear our suits and have 10 years of experience under our belts, it sure can be. At what point should students expect money that matters? “If you’re thinking money and not value when you join a company, your career will end before it will start,” advises Adnan. Attitudes need to be kept in check and expectations need to be realistic… on both sides, comments Raza.

Commitments
Adnan Siddiqui, Country Sales Manager at IBM Pakistan: Offers his time and mentoring opportunity. Hiring for the next training program will also start soon and IBM will be sure and involve these students in that process. IBM will also work with IBA’s CS Faculty and help create more of a formal, structured knowledge transfer for students who need the opportunities the most.

Kumail Dehradunwala, CIO of UBL: Also offers his time for knowledge-sharing. UBL, according to Kumail, is looking for people with technology and business skills at the Management Trainee level and he will make time for students to visit and interact with the IT department at UBL and see what opportunities await the students who are seriously concerned about their careers. “Be open-minded and carry a challenge-prone attitude with you. We need analysts with strong problem-solving skills.”

Jehan Ara, President P@SHA: A P@SHA University Chapter to be set up at IBA and use the chapter to improve IBA’s representation in the P@SHA ICT Awards. The chapter is not being set up just to improve IBA participation in the ICT Awards. The main reason for setting it up is to create a connection between students and the industry. Since one of the problems identified by the students was that they had no way of interacting with people in the industry to show what they are capable of, I think this connection will ensure that they come to P@SHA events, participate in industry activities, attend counseling sessions and create an impression on industry leaders.

Through this channel I will also create mentoring opportunities for those who are looking to start businesses.

Shahida Saleem, Chairperson Standing Committee on IT at FPCCI: Ensure that IBA is in touch with the industry at all times and talks on different topics can be arranged. Plus, Shahida extends a career counseling program which will work through the Placement office at IBA.

Raza Ali, Director Architecture at TRG Tech: TRG is already part of activities at IBA however Raza extends the support of TRG to helping supervise student projects and guide them through their career prospects. Additionally, students can, as a group, make visits to the TRG offices and study how the business is done.

CIO Pakistan: As trade media, we’d like to work with the University to ensure that these activities actually do get conducted and the students do see some benefit in having attended a Campus Conversation. We invite some passionate professionals to the University campuses because they are interested in not just imparting knowledge, but reciprocating the benefit back to the future generations. We will also continue to work with the professionals and ensure that there is adequate interaction between their organizations, commitments and the Universities. And of course, the CIO Mentorship Nashtas have been announced and as soon as we have a formal word back from the IBA Faculty of Computer Science on how this can be incorporated into the everyday curriculum, we’ll be able to officially inducted them into the program.

[Show as slideshow]

123►

Part 1 of 3

Students, Faculty and Panelist Comments!

More videos to be uploaded shortly!