Not Greater, but a more Creative Collaboration is Needed: Campus Conversations Goes to PAF KIET

Anoosha Parvez reports!

PAF Kiet is always an interesting institution to visit. Head by industry veteran Dr. Irfan Hyder, students of the first few semesters of the Computer Science batches made up the participants of the Campus Conversations session. Industry representation was brought up by Ashraf Kapadia, CEO Systems Ltd; Azhar Rizvi, CEO Tech Angels Network; Shoaib  Shakoor, Head of Production (Karachi), TRG Tech; and Kamran Meer, CISO at Habib Bank Limited.

Entrepreneurial Talk With Problem-Solving Minds
Does technology drive business or is it the other way around? Well, if it was the other way around, we’d all be living in matrixed world No matter how, the difference between a business school graduate and Computer Science graduate becomes obvious as one always craves the other. However, what is the sort of skill-set desired by the industry? That is a dilemma common to the average graduate of today. At the business’s end, the dilemma not only carries a financial cost but also the alternate candidate’s career opportunity. That is where CIO Pakistan plays its role by bringing together both the institutions, the academia and the industry, on a common platform to avoid dilemmas or make better choices via Campus Conversations whose station today was PAF-KIET.

Introducing himself, Mr. Kapadia mentioned how his association with the IT industry goes back as far as 39 years, of which the first 30 years were spent at IBM. That means he had an association of 9 years long with Systems Limited, the oldest software provider with a global presence and a workforce of 800 approximately in Pakistan.

The second panelist, Azhar Rizvi introduced himself with a rather swinging career that went through a learning curve before he ventured into something truly innovative. He   had started working with MNCs in 1989, which was a 10 year long affair before he set-up his first business in 1999. As could be expected, that didn’t last the dotcom bubble. He then started another one called Tech Angels, with an aim to develop the entrepreneurial community with MIT. As business activities, Tech Angel has been holding  entrepreneurial competitions with an aim to mentoring businesses here; launched the first technology fund in Pakistan to promote investment in early start-ups and recently started IBM-Invent to promote entrepreneurial competitions, with 200 business plans submitted so far under the IBM-Invent program open till July 18th, 2010.

Moving on, Shoaib Shakoor, Head of Productions at TRG Tech, briefed the business of TRG which is primarily a BPO Consultancy and Outsourcing, with software houses and call center representing the larger clientele. TRG Tech that is based in over 27 countries worldwide, is based in the three major cities of Pakistan, being Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi.

Kamran Meer, CISO at Habib Bank, introduced himself as having spent as majority of his working years in IT, before moving onto Information Security to indicate how the most suitable career track doesn’t dawn upon one, and requires time, patience and the willingness to learn and grow.

Getting to Work
Raising a discussion on exposure to the working environment, Editor at CIO Pakistan, tried to get a feel on how well the student body understood the on-ground working environment challenges. Taking a random poll, considerably few had internship/job experiences yet a lot of 20 students or so intended to start their own businesses.

Why is there such a divide? Is it because the hiring criteria are too tough to muster? Posing the question to the industry reps, Ashraf Kapadia and Shoaib Shakoor briefly discussed the hiring criteria at TRG Tech which are pretty much the deciding factors in every business that is hiring. Systems Limited takes in 20-25 interns annually based on recommendations of university, students’ interests, and their academic standing evaluated. TRG Tech on the other hand does not hire with a target in mind but the deciding factors are pretty much similar where each incumbent’s capabilities are weighed individually. In order to be able to judge the drive for excellence and competition in a candidate over another, cumulative GPA is usually the best indicator. Although it is not the only criteria, it does have a huge influence on the filtering process.

In this case, the grass is not greener at the other end as well asthere are not a lot of student start-ups surfacing in the market. Many students contributed as having had started online businesses that were eventually given up.  Addressing the scenario posed, Mr. Azhar Rizvi noted a lack of an early-age working culture responsible for the lag. In the U.S., by the time you start a business, one has worked at least at 5 jobs. A good business idea comes out of Market Research thatcomes from work experience. Furthermore, Intrepreneurial culture is also lacking, with acceptance of failure tabooed. These are all opportunity doors to enhance one’s learning curve, closed. When compared to U.S., technology funding is preferable for people with at least 2-3 failures.

Jack-of-all-Trades, Master-of-None?
Moving on, another important area issue how inter-disciplined of a candidate is sought during the hiring process. Addressing the issue, the panelists that candidates skilled in computer science with a business orientation are desired by the recruiter. Yet if looked at individually, it is the candidate skilled in business studies that has a higher chance to succeed as compared to a candidate skilled in Computer Science discipline.

This is not at all to discourage enrollment in Computer Science programs, but instead to focus on a true competitive edge that can be secured by having a bit of both. A broader scope is necessary when hiring which is why, it is up to the entrepreneur to bring together a team of people widely skilled.

Shoaib Shakoor from TRG Tech, explained how a true interaction takes place at the time of an interview. The individual makes a first impression by marketing himself/herself via his/her communication skills. Afterwards, his/her domain knowledge is evaluated, and the individual’s problem-solving skills/aptitude are checked to evaluate how ‘sharp’ the individual is, of which cumulative GPA is usually the best indicator. Every individual is be given a chance to learn and grow.

An individual’s cumulative GPA is usually a reflection of his/her seriousness towards the 4 years the student invested in his/her education. It helps the employer judge the student’s potential seriousness towards his/her job. It is quite possible that a student good in a few courses might not so good in a few others which is why many organizations including TRG Tech and Systems Limited have the candidates go sit through an ‘aptitude test’. The testing process helps the organizations judge the individual’s well-roundedness. For instance, a software developer might be asked to do report writing or prepare business plans other than just programming.

As pointed out by Azhar Rizvi, every business and every country is issue-prone which is why, it is good to be associated to an industry where your heart is. Addressing a question posed on whether MBA should be the logical choice after a Computer Science degree, it is necessary as long the student is trained in basic business courses including marketing, finance and communication skills.  Furthermore, a student should opt for an internship experience of at least 6 months to one year during one’s undergraduate years of study.

Academia and the Industry – Perception Lag
According to Dr. Irfan Haider, industry and academia often share a bitter spousal relationship.  Industry doesn’t always give academia credibility which is why a great divide between expectations of the academia and the industry. The student in the meanwhile fantasizes of a dream job at an MNC all along for which the degree is considered important not the education. Students needs to come out of the mindset of Rs. 35,000 with a car, guaranteed upon graduation. Industry on the other hand, also needs to move out of buying imported cheap stuff and highlight local success stories.

Now, PAFKIET is trying to reinforce good relations with the industry. As a result, many of the 4th year students are full-time employed. Apprenticeship during undergrad years is also a good way to start off a career. A program like such is being run by PSEB, with salaries also being footed by the software body.

As pointed by Shoaib Shakoor and reinforced by other panelists, any working experience be it internship, or apprenticeship gained in the early years gives an opportunity to the student to meet and learn from people, and knowledge platform. Ashraf Kapadia added that learning is a never ending process. In an organization, one learns work culture, work ethics.

The ball rolled back to the billion-dollar question of why is cumulative GPA is so important as it is not necessarily a very accurate indicator of a student’s learning potential. Addressing the question, Azhar Rizvi explained how that is a misconception as the in-take criteria for businesses is similar to that of academic institutes. A cumulative GPA of 3.0 indicates 75% learning and anything below that therefore, reflects an even lesser learning. It is the rule of Demand and Supply rules with the institution investing in a student with a good competition potential, reflected in the student’s cumulative GPA.

Furthermore, with around 200 students applying for a job opening, a student with a higher GPA make through the filtering process as is considered polished in the fundamentals. Therefore, distinctions make it possible to help the industry hire the best.

Where a good GPA is a measure of one’s knowledge, Internship teaches one how to use all skills together out of sequence, how to excel and become a star performer instead of just an average performer. Internet and technology, facilitated by consortiums has made gaining practical experience even easier.

What can’t be ruled out is that the interviewer usually prefers a candidate from his/her institute. Organizationally, the university name doesn’t make that much of a difference. Another area of concern to many students was an image associated with outside Pakistan-based academic institutions is excellence-guaranteed when that is not necessarily the case at all times and neither is the opposite. Ashraf Kapadia reiterated it, exemplifying Systems Limited where of a workforce of 800, a majority is of local graduates.

Other Important Considerations

Students at PAFKIET pointed questioned the panelists of whether the curriculum at PAFKIET had been looked at, so that the students can be better guided on how to go about grooming themselves in the right direction. Furthermore, a guaranteed hire on an internship/apprenticeship is more than lucrative that is even incentivizing to the student.

Addressing the question, Azhar Rizvi added that if a majority of 4th year are already full-time employees, then that means the students are already being guided right. Moving on, if the intern/apprentice is a value-adding resource to the employer, the employer will try its best to retain it by making a job offer. Ashraf  Kapadia further added that an industry-academia collaboration is already in process with many FAST graduates hired at Systems Limited.

A very good question was raised by a faculty member on if the Industry dynamics that have changed quite a lot in the past 4 years are expected to change furthermore ahead.   Ashraf Kapadia shared his bit

on how export market scenario in 2002-2003 was very flat leading to low enrollments in IT. Many businesses moved to Telecom and the industry started growing yet the academic enrollment in IT dropped. That is where the gap grew. That is why even undergraduates are hired at time but education is very important and good grounding is very necessary. PAFKIET committed to the cause of facilitating learning opportunity to working students, offers evening degrees offered to working students.

Going back to industry-academia collaboration, Shoaib Shakoor added how TRG Tech has been engaged in a program whereby, professors are invited to introduce their academia. Also, TRG has recently started out an ‘R&D’ initiative with NUST for a product concept the business is working on. Shoaib Shakoor exemplified NUST to indicate how the industry is always ready to make start a collaboration given it is win-win situation. Another important area of concern pointed out is training imparted to faculty. Azhar Rizvi pointed out how Tech Angels has a faculty development program in process to cater that need. P@SHA is also running an academia-industry collaborative program similar  to a Co-Op initiative to grow the student as per the Industry’s expectations.

Three Ingredients to Success

Where does funding tie in? With the question addressed at Kamran Meer, when a student opts to develop one’s own software, is funding more important or the skill-set? Carrying the discussion forward, Kamran Meer mentioned how funding is the most important of all and without it, no initiative is possible. Experience is important as it points your weaknesses. There it is a combination of a good team, a good idea and a good cash flow management that gives way to a business success. An initial investment is most likely to come from friends and family. Proving how good idea deployment always takes times, Ashraf Kapadia exemplified Iscribe that came out after development by a group of 4 people, now purchased by Adobe Systems. A good idea always takes time for deployment.

Pointing out differences between ITES (Software Houses) and telecom houses, Kamran Meer highlighted differences in industry dynamics. Software development can be started at home due to low barriers. These are either consumer –oriented solutions or business-oriented solutions. If software is to be consumer-based, consumer habits need to be  understood  and is accordingly the same for businesses.

Business solutions often relate either anchored towards better resource management or business process related. Another problem is network-related. Technology/Design Consulting can also be started. Good Network Designer’s capabilities are always handy for businesses.

Promise Making

As per the tradition, Campus Conversations at PAFKIET reached a closing with the invited panelists promising to offer internship/hiring/training and development opportunities to students
at PAFKIET.

And CIO Pakistan, like always made a promise to follow-up on the promises made to the student body and the faculty of PAFKIET, by the attending panelists.