Career Advice

I joined HSBC in 2008 as a TSE. And I'm still with HSBC, 13 years now.

It was the year of recession and many companies who recruited from college either didn't give the offer letters/joining dates or they just delayed it by months.

I was lucky in getting immediate joining, everyone placed in HSBC got it on time.

The package offered was 2.75 LPA for my college. My college is one of the best in MH amongst state level colleges. One guy from IIT Bombay (B.Tech + M.Tech I guess) was hired at 6.5 LPA. Don't know what was his take home.

I was getting some 20k in hand. Only professional tax( INR200), PF and gratuity were deducted. No hidden deduction/surprises!

Then, I requested for salary advance of 20k which is in policy. Against it, some 2k was deducted for 10 months. Yes, it's interest free advance.

I remember people from other companies with 3.2 LPA were getting far lesser between 20–23k!

I was good in C and Java programming but I was put in Mainframe programming. So, went through 3 months full day training. We had to achieve a particular score for continuing the employment with HSBC ( at least that's what was told to us…probably only to make us study seriously since nobody failed!).

After the training, we were immediately aligned to project teams. There is no concept of “bench” in HSBC. Everybody gets project!

HSBC also has tie ups with BITS, Symbiosis and IGNOU from where you can pursue Diploma and Degree courses. The only condition for reimbursement is that you must stay with them for a year at least. And reimbursement is after course completion so you need to pay first, study and pass the exams. The limit is of 1.5 LPA.

There are people who guide you. There are trainings which you can apply to. A monthly training calendar is published, and back then it was mandatory to attend at least 5 full days (40hrs) of training in a year. The topic could be anything - domain, technology, soft skills. Only leadership courses are not allowed to fresher, but to a particular list of designations only).

Overall, the projects are good. The kind of work is good. But, sometimes, it just happens that the work which is mechanical in nature is assigned; it's just temporary. Even established laterals have to do it sometimes..in any company.

The IIT guy was asked to build a website for some internal stuff. And probably he did it singlehandedly (at least FE stuff..not sure).

But, if you have the potential, and the leaders recognize that you are an asset, I think it's a great place to work. Just keep learning, keep positive attitude, don't get disheartened by the type of work assigned ( it could just be temporary). In the long run, I would always recommend HSBC, if you want to build your career.

For the first 3 years, I think I was underpaid. Then we got market correction, first significant uplift in salary. The department I was in, wasn't a cash cow. Otherwise, few departments offered almost 50% hikes in first appraisals to fresher's of my batch. And despite that my friends quit. I don't know if they made the right choice or not. We don't share package details with anyone after first 1 to 2 yrs of appraisals :-)

As of last year, HSBC is hiring strikers from top notch colleges with hot skills like Data Science, Python, R and what not. And, I heard they are offered 12LPA as fresher's!

Not many reach there after 8–10 years of experience too!

I did transition from Dev - Testing - BA - Operations. And this is the part I like the most about HSBC.

Yesterday only I got my revised pay. And I'm not going to tell you the amount!

And yeah, salary is credited on 26th of every month and if it falls on Sunday, then on Friday only I.e. on 24th. They are very keen in crediting salary as early as possible. Even hikes are applicable from April salary. Bonuses are given in March Salary. Many companies I know, delay it.

I hope, I tried to answer every point. And, let's meet if you are joining HSBC marketed rightly as a “Great place to work”.

Edit 1: I forgot to tell you about home loans. Even their IT staff is eligible for discounted home loan which is close to SBI rate…lowest interest rate in the market. 0.5% less than what they offer to non-staff.

#SwapnilThakur

#AlmightysEmbryo


Note: Below image is from Quora answer.

I was in a similar situation when I completed 4 years as a software engineer. I had a feeling that I was wasting my time. There is a lot more that I could do.

I had attended weekend CAT classes and hadn't done any good in exam. I had lots of business plans.

I had few pages of story that I wanted to write.

Then one day, I sat down with a pen and paper. I asked myself questions using “Why?” This is a famous “Why" technique.

One of the questions was regarding MBA. “WHY do I want to do an MBA". -> Ask yourself the same Q.

The answer you get, for that, again ask “Why" until you get the clarity of thought (roughly 3–5 times).

If the outcome is a convincing answer, “You want to do an MBA", explore options. Else, leave the thought permanently.

Assuming, MBA is needed. Here are the possible options -

  1. Part time MBA : I went ahead with this option. I appeared for IGNOU's entrance exam. And Completed MBA-Finance. The total cost is around INR 40,000 only spread over 2.5 yrs. This course/degree is authentic. And you can complete it only if you have burning desire to get your degree (Yes, its a degree and Not a diploma like IIMs!) You can study at your own pace and pursue it with current job. MBAs give you a broader perspective of everything but not the deeper, of any topic.

  2. CFA: Chartered Financial Analyst is a 3 level course and many MBAs from esteemed colleges pursue it along with their degree. Completing level 1 only gives sufficient weightage to your resume. And is as good as an MBA or even better if MBA college is of low repute. It has wider acceptance outside India than an MBA Finance degree. But, it comes at a cost. It's vast, time consuming. Needs dedication. Level 1 cost is around 1000USD. Fail and you pay full fees for retake. You can study at your own pace and pursue it with current job. It prepares you for career in Investment Banking. This is a niche skill.

  3. FRM: Financial Risk Management is another good option if you want to work in the Risk/Insurance domain. It is a two level certification. Many MBAs go with this certification as well. Doing it even without an MBA would add a good weightage to your resume. Average cost of each level is USD500, fail and you pay full fees for retake. You can study at your own pace and pursue it with current job. This is a niche skill.

  4. If the outcome of your “Why" is higher study (and not only MBA), you may go for online degrees in the field of your interest like Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, NLP OR online MBA from sites like Coursera, UpGrad etc.

    1. Online degrees are costly but for us, it opens doors of higher education, of foreign reputed degrees, that too without quitting the job.

    2. You will have options to choose degree in any area, not just Finance.

  5. If your goal is to move into Business Analysis and that's why you are thinking of an MBA, then you may consider IIBA's BA courses. And for domain knowledge couple it with NSE or BSE's online courses. No MBA needed.

  6. Pro Tip: Keep an eye on what's your organization looking for. If it means doing a certification related to the critical tool/application that is widely used in your role, just go for it instead of MBA. It will help you gain knowledge in the area that will actually be used on-the-job. And you won't just have theoretical knowledge. Thus, it would be valued more than any external degree/course. Think critically.

I hope this helps you make a decision. But, be sure about the “Why" first.

#AlmightysEmbryo

#SwapnilThakur

Well, let's look at the term “Software Engineer” from role perspective and not from a designation standpoint.

When we do so, everyone working in IT is technically a “Software Engineer”. And then it covers Developers, Testers, Architects, Solution Analyst, Project Manager, Business Analyst (off course, exclude roles like HR etc).

There are three types of roles broadly that a Software Engineer plays -

  1. Pure Technical

  2. Pure Functional

  3. Techno-functional

Note: Management role comes under all three above, so not listing it separately.

Now, let's apply Pareto Principle, the 80–20 rule which applies in almost every aspect of life.

For role 1: The person can do really well if he focuses his learning curve on technical know-how to an extent of 80% and understands his domain (functional aspects) by at least 20%.

For role 2: The technical to Functionality knowledge ratio would reverse i.e. 80% domain and 20% technical aspects.

For role 3: A person who has done both the roles above in his career can really do well in techno-functional role. He needs to interact with both types of stakeholders and while doing so he needs to flip his hats accordingly and exhibit 80–20% rule accordingly.

Now, there is no yardstick to measure where the 20% starts and where the 80% ends. But, I hope, readers being Software Engineers, they are getting the point.

Also, technical people who are not technically sound also do well, somehow. Same goes with functional roles, people without sound domain knowledge also end up doing well. Because, many companies are not people dependent. And, the other stakeholders tend to complement for your deficiencies and that's how, projects are successfully delivered most often. But here, we are not talking about doing our stuff only for the sake of doing it. But to really add value with your work, following Pareto principle would make you a long term, reliable player in the game.

So, to summarize, both are important and required. But the proportion depends on the role you want to play.

Hope this helped.

Have a great day. Stay safe, stay healthy.

#SwapnilThakur

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