My Return to India (R2I) story > R2I Chapter 7.2
This section highlights a few key observations a returning Indian expatriate might find interesting
Traffic and long-commutes
Indian traffic jams and gridlocks in urban cities are not
just stuff of memes. It really hits home if you decide to move back to India
and work in a large metropolis like Bangalore.
For about a month after I joined Conduent, I got our driver,
Raju, to drop and pick me up from office. The 12+ kilometer journey took nearly
an hour in the mornings and about 1.5-2 hours on the way back. This was on a
good day without an extreme traffic blockage. The corridor in and out of the
tech-park between KR-Puram was a known bottleneck and unpredictable traffic
jams would occur at all times of the day.
Raju would drop me at the office and wait at the parking lot
before picking me up for the drive home. It wasn’t practical for him to head
out of the tech park and get back in time to pick me up and he began to murmur
about the boredom waiting through the day.
Our drive would take us on a major section of Bangalore’s ring road, and
I would see a number of Blue Airconditioned busses crisscrossing frequently.
Raju explained that these were Bengaluru Transit’s Vajra A/C service introduced
specifically for the tech community.
A month after I started commuting to work, I decided to try
the Vajra service. I began taking an auto-rickshaw to the local bus terminus
near Hebbal for the long ride to the Tech Park. The bus-stop was at the
entrance of the facility, and I would walk about 700 meters into the campus to
my office building. Door-to-door, the commute would amount to almost the same
time as taking our car.
The silver-lining in riding the bus was that I would commute
in relative comfort in a noise proof airconditioned bus. Watching the traffic
outside with insistent honking, zig-zagging of bikes and occasional potholes
and driver-rage made me all the more resolute on continuing with this mode of
commute. The long commute also gave me time to sit back and catch up on my
reading and writing. I also got into listening to podcasts and
audio-books.
During the year of commuting in that route, there were times
when the long commute would extend by a couple of hours due to some unforeseen
accident or some public event on a major road. All this is par for the course
for Bangalore commuters but something one has to factor in if you decide to
return to India and work here.
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| Illustrative Photo - can't be more realistic! |
Indian work culture
In my narrative, I have downplayed the cultural impact of
relocating back to India for a couple of reasons. If you are of Indian origin
and grew up in India before going abroad, you are already aware of the culture,
at least aspects of it you grew up with.
Given the global nature of the Indian diaspora, those of us planning to relocate “back home” are likely to have interacted with desis in our adopted homelands. We may also have worked with expatriate colleagues like you who migrated west and are probably part of your social circle. A few observations based on my experience
- Indian work culture continues to be hierarchical, at least the hierarchy is a lot more visible and obvious than in some western societies. There are practical advantages to recognizing this: On a conference call, the most vocal, opinionated speaker is likely to be your boss.
- Indian managers and executives are more likely to be passive-aggressive. While interacting with global colleagues, clients and superiors, they may sound reconciliatory and passive while showing a more aggressive stance with their teams and subordinates.
- The culture, especially in the tech sector is also rather bottom-up. As a mid-career professional, you are likely to be the most ‘senior’ employee in age while homegrown talent may be relatively younger.
Ageism in the Corporate India
Those of us who have been in the IT sector for any number of
years have probably observed the Goldilocks paradox at work. According to the
popular fairy tale, “Goldilocks and the Three Bears,” little Goldilocks tries
the three bowls of porridge and sets aside the big bow as it is ‘too hot,’ the
second as ‘too cold’ and eats the porridge from the third bowl that it thinks
is ‘just right.’
Recruiters and hiring managers are like little Goldilocks,
wanting their candidates neither too young, nor too old, just the right age.
The media and analysts have been focused on the high turnover in the Indian
corporate and IT sector, but a closer look shows how this Goldilocks paradox is
playing out – the demand is highest for those with at least a few years’
experience in a specific technology, gradually tapering off for more
experienced candidates who are likely to be higher paid, hitting a glass
ceiling at the top.
One of the reasons for this is the cost to company (CTC)
that candidates expect. Indian IT has evolved an archaic “Years of experience
and salary” formula that recruiters seem to use, with an equally obtuse number
of two-hundred thousand rupees for every year of experience.
The glass-ceiling for experienced (read older) workers is quite
pronounced. Most recruiters are unwilling to evaluate candidates with 15 or
more years’ experience creating an implicit bias against older workers. Social
forums like Quora, Reddit or even LinkedIn groups frequently debate about such ageism
with a common theme: when is a person ‘too old’ to be hired at a tech company?
Are folks in their forties or fifties considered ‘too old to hire’?
Having explored a job-change while in my forties after
relocating back to India a few years ago, I am probably well-qualified to
answer this question. My job-search was unique in another way – unlike many of
my peers out to showcase their credentials in managing ‘large,’ teams, I was
essentially selling my skills as an individual contributor, albeit one who
could help organizations navigate a breath of technologies.
It took me a few months of serious networking, contacting
hiring managers and recruiters before I began getting calls for interviews. I
had to emphasize my business partnering skills and the knowledge of a breadth
of technical skills.
The message is simple: If you plan to return to India and
begin job-search, be prepared for ageism and related bias. While recognizing
this fact, you need to be persistent and thick-skinned while putting your best
foot forward
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