If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed or email alerts. Thanks for visiting!
Times are changing in India. Economic prosperity seems to have come home to stay and people are earning more than ever before. Globalization finally seems to have seeped in the Indian psyche amongst a few disgruntled souls but with so much money floating around; not many have reasons to complain. But of course, with prosperity there is a dark lining to the silver cloud (excuse me for literary liberties); a faint line but dark nevertheless.
Shilpa Sheth talks about changing attitudes towards a career choice among youth. Call center jobs have suddenly made money easily accessible to teenagers who otherwise would only see so much money after graduating from college. Typically, a call center employee gets paid around Rs.8000 per month and you don’t even need a specialized degree. Students graduating from college with different degrees simply opt for a call center job instead of the career they trained for. Of course, everyone is entitled to a change in heart regards what they want to do in life but a call center job is admittedly a short-term money earner. The youth base their decisions for choosing a job purely on monetary compensation. The money looks good and eliminates the patient slogging you would have to do in other professions in order to rise in rank. This is a disturbing trend because students may even opt out of college to earn a quick buck at a call center, which at best can be a temporary solution. They might miss out on the most productive years of their life in getting a quality education or solid experience. Money has always been my third or fourth preference in choosing a profession (often to the shock of my parents) and I always value a quality education or practical experience in your chosen field more than the money it gets you. But money can be an easy temptation. As a “Starbuck Cup Quote” often shouts back at me, “Failure’s hard, but success is far more dangerous. If you’re successful at the wrong thing, the mix of praise and money and opportunity can lock you in forever.”
Similarly in America, you can easily get an average paying job after you graduate high school. Of course, the money is significantly high if you complete college but many teenagers go after the money rubbishing a college education. On Creating Passionate Users have a wonderful post up, Does College Matter?. I wholeheartedly agree with them that you do not (or rather should not) go to college to earn a living but rather to enrich your learning process. The call centers might be a temporary trend (there are benefits too which I’ll address in a separate post) but even if they stay on for long, the experience at working in a call center as opposed to going to college isn’t comparable. Life is a great teacher but then college just helps you get a head start. Millions go to college; surely there must be something right about it.
by Patrix | on Wednesday, July 20th, 2005 at 8:00 am | 
Society Culture . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Both comments and pings are currently closed.
July 20th, 2005 at 8:49 am reply
whats it like in the states now? what percent of people graduating from high school would you normally find moving on to college? i have the impression that there a lot of people defer college and come back later, whereas I dont know how easy it would be for someone in india to go back to college after having spent sometime working … like munnabhai :)
July 20th, 2005 at 11:14 am reply
Education matters, specially college education. Currently graduate education tends to be a loosing proposition as compared to getting straight in to the workforce after a bachelor’s, but I suspect that it might change. Send anybody who is not convinced about importance of a college degree to the NYT series called Class Matters.
July 20th, 2005 at 11:18 am reply
Lure of the quick buck
Globalization, a thriving economy, and the advent of call centers have radically changed the opportunites facing Indian youth. Patrix examines the lure of the quick buck, and its effect on education choices.
…
July 20th, 2005 at 12:39 pm reply
Many things in your post struck a chord…..
When I decided to do my bachelors turning down medical college or computer science admissions, a number of my friends were shocked, and some relatives raised eyebrows (luckily, my parents always supported what I did). The same happened when I decided to go for a phd, and not to business school…..and here I am, without too much money, but a wonderful learning experience, that cannot be called a waste! And at the end of it all, it’s worth it.
July 20th, 2005 at 1:43 pm reply
Sunil, been done the exact same path, I appreciate the contribution of a college education although it still has to translate into monetary benefits. It has at least made me a person that I can live with.
July 21st, 2005 at 3:06 am reply
Patrix,
One thing about the education system in India is that students don’t figure out what or who they are and most importantly what they want. Its a slog world for them from assignments to more mugging and tution and TONS of competion (We are 1.3 billion ..)
They see their parents slogging just to make ends meet.
Earlier going to collge was a norm - i think its amazing that the younger generation is defying this norm to do what pleaseses/works for them. What also helps is that the jobs skill is changing. We didn’t have call centers 10 years ago. What about RJ/DJ -they make a cool bucktoo??Dare I say - we are seeing dignity of labor?
Are we finally done with “Only Engineer or Doctor is worthy” mentality?? Maybe not, but sure is live for today :-)
July 21st, 2005 at 11:57 am reply
Hey Patrix
I think that the kids drop out of school/college to get into call centers may not be entirely true in India. Most of them complete their Bachelors and then opt for a career with these call centers. I have known many a call center employees who know that this job is a transient phase in their career, helping them earn for their PG or a technical specialisation. IMHO it is great that here are these opportunities for the teeming masses of our youth after graduation.
Sourin
July 22nd, 2005 at 4:49 am reply
Patrix, this is the kind of analysis trap one can fall into. Anybody who can get into an engineering or a medical will NOT trade it off with a bachelors degree and definitely not because “at the end of it, I will have a call center job waiting”.
http://ecophilo.blogspot.com/2005/02/bpo-and-opportunity-ii.html
True, some engineering grads appear for call interviews (and I observed this as a panel member), but by far the majority are in a call center because of the opportunity. They get an opportunity to travel abroad, do business in an international culture, all of which was non existent a few years back. Many of these youngsters make the money in a call center, do MBAs, continue their education in other areas or start their own businesses. Man, they are ambitious! As a Bcom grad a few years back, the only opportunity one would have would be an accountant job in a dingy job in a bania company. Look at what they have today! It could be a McJob for those who view it from the narrow prism of a call center, but for those inside, it is the best they could have got in the past many years.