Circa 1995. Bangalore is bursting at the seams with its army of code writers. Every third person one bumps into is a software engineer. Projects at client locations in the United States is what every techie is craving for. A break from hot and dusty India for 5-6 months, working in outstanding campuses and then coming back with a neat sum of money enough to book an apartment, was the agenda on everyone?s mind. Bangalore?s super markets were full of them. A look at the shopping cart and one could immediately sense who among the lot worked for a tech firm. The IT man?s cart invariably overflowed and while you may think he?s bought stuff for a month, it generally lasted him only for a week. The matrimony market had the highest bids for such characters and as long as you worked for Infosys or Wipro or IBM, you were suitable.

Many of those who worked at client locations in the US, never came back. The trick then was to go onsite, work alongside the client for six months and find a job in a neighbouring outfit where you have a friend. A whole generation did the same and went on to become millionaires. A 15-20% hike, year on year, helped. That phase went on till year 2000 when the dotcom bubble burst and there was considerable anguish. Many of the dotcoms went belly up and the promise of easy money went out of the window. Many youngsters lost their jobs during this time, but there was still hope. Y2K stepped in and kept IT firms in the hunt. Y2K proved to be an issue for digital documentation and data storage situations which arose out of the practice of abbreviating a four digit year to two digits. World over, companies used Indian IT expertise to solve this ?millennium bug?. India?s software firms made a pile of money in quick time by sending techies out in large contingents to work at clients? sites and came up with a methodology to crack the issue. India?s profile in the IT world rose big time, and so did that of the Indian IT engineer. It was a great phase to be in the IT field and all went well till the recession in US hit Indian shores.

Circa 2008. Recessionary waves hit Indian IT in a manner no one thought was possible. Revenue streams of the sector started to get choked. BFSI, IT?s most crucial vertical, was the worst hit and all firms suffered equally. After a very long time, Indian IT started feeling some tightness in its guts. It was clear that manpower overshadowed business volumes, and jobs had to be cut. Next in line were the increments. Companies, cutting across the spectrum, decided not to give any reasonable hike in wages and even started to cut down on facilities and perks. IT started to look like any other field of work and may be even worse. There were no more trips to US to work on-site. There was no lure of working on any exciting, inventive project. It was just down to bread-and-butter stuff. It became a grind everyday for the average engineer, unsure of how long one could be on the pay rolls. Many left the big IT services brands to join software product companies and even start-ups, looking for greater satisfaction at work. The trend continues even to this day.

Circa 2013. So when Infosys, TCS and Wipro announced wage hikes earlier this month, there was a collective sigh of relief within the sector. Employee motivation levels were at a low point and such a move was very much in order. While a single digit pay hike is not any one?s dream, it?s certainly a sign that you are still in play. Software engineers, especially those in the middle rung, had started talking about moving to other sectors. Many were even contemplating leaving the country in search of better prospects, to take advantage of the depreciating rupee. IT firms are hoping that they can curb high attrition by way of these hikes, but such moves may not be enough in the future to hold on to good talent. Today?s techies are looking for a higher plane of work. Just extra bucks may not be enough to get them going.

The fact is that IT may never ever see the days of old. The ?90s constituted a beautiful era, when everything came together for them, but it may be difficult to recreate that magic again.