Pluspunten
I have worked in TCS for 18 months. My review will help you decide if TCS is worth it or not. It's difficult to find pros about working in TCS. I really needed to dig deep in order to come up with some positives about TCS. 1. People rarely join TCS for good work. They join it for the onsite opportunity. 2. Relaxed work life. You'll rarely have to come on weekends. Good work life balance. 3. Good for people who have the skills to succeed in their careers by playing petty politics. If you love being your manager's pet...you are the right place. If you honour your work and talent, look elsewhere. Not much of a good point, right? Well, that's how hard it is to write good stuff about TCS. 4. The HR is good and helpful. However, in a tussle between your manager and you, don't expect them to side with you. 5. It's easy to come across good colleagues in TCS. However, don't be shocked if they start to behave differently in Feb-Mar, before the appraisal. 6. ILP is the best part. You'll learn and enhance your skills to the max here. Enjoy this phase while it lasts.
Minpunten
Well...now we come to the good part. The Cons :) 1. I told you about the onsite, right? Well, it's mostly your luck. Don't expect to go onsite, especially to the US before completing 4 years in TCS. People are least bothered about the work here. All everyone wants in onsite, which is also the lollipop your managers will feed you when you join their accounts. There is a crazy lottery system for getting visas and your odds are 1:3 of getting a visa. i.e. only 1 out of 3 visas are approved. And here too, the politics kicks in. Maintain a good rapport with your manager if you want to smell an approved visa. 2. Next to pathetic work. They is barely anything to learn. Majority of projects are support projects, where there is boring repetitive work. You'll lose grip of your programming skills very soon is you land up in a sub par project. 3. Getting a good project is an insane challenge. If you can make some calls to project leads in TCS...good for you. Otherwise, you are stuck with the RMG. I'll come to the RMG in the next point. You have to depend on your contacts to get good projects. The RMG will rarely listen to you, and don't be shocked if you land up in a support project. Good Dev. projects are very hard to come by. 4. The RMG or the Resource Management Group. You report to these people when not working in a project. They are very over powered people. Don't mess with them. They can make your remaining career a living hell. They can chuck you in a terrible project at a terrible location. Always, do what they say. When un-allocated in a project, you depend on them to find you a project. Don't bother wishing for a good project. They'll send you wherever they wish to. You can reject projects but only for a limited count. Reject it more often, they'll suck the life out of you. I had a friend who was forced to resign by the RMG because she was given a working location 3 hours from her house. They can block your online access to their website(Ultimatix) so you won't be able to fill your timesheet and ultimately you have to bow down before them or resign. Its good to know people at high places in TCS, so you can find a good project and never have to deal with the RMG. 5. The managers and the hierarchy. There is an insane level of hierarchy in TCS. Too much process. Try raising a reimbursement request. You'll come to know, how many people it goes to for approval. Your managers are your god. Always pamper them :p. Don't expect to get a good appraisal by doing good work. That will rarely happen. Be on your managers good side, you'll reap the fruit in your appraisal. Never refuse to do anything. Getting leaves is a pain here. You'll have to plan your leaves 1-3 months in advance. Your manager or the client can cancel them on the last day. Trust me I have seen loud verbal fights in the office over leaves and appraisal. It not a good sight. Your skills and work will almost never get you anywhere. Well, it is rare. There a re always good managers and projects. But those are hard to come by in TCS. Why bother with good work when pampering can get you laurels. 6. The money and hike. I'll be short here. If you are a fresher, you'll rarely see more than 25-26K o your payslip. After your first year, when you get confirmed. i.e. become a ASE from a ASE Trainee, you'll get a measly hike of 30K. M salary went from 3.26 to 3.65 at a 4 rating, A 4 rating is not easy to get, forget a 5. You are more likely to get confirmed at 3 and get a salary of 3.56. Great hike, right? Anyways, on your first appraisal or the H2, you'll face the real demon. I'll explain that in the next point, but know this; There are 5 bands in TCS. A band: Only the top 10% gets it. People with an A got a hike of 10% in FY 15-16. Funny right? B band: Next 20%. 8% hike. C band: Next 30-80-85%. 6% hike. i got a C band. Salary got raised to 3.78. 13K hike. Well, that was amusing. D band: 85-95-99%: 2% DECREMENT in salary. Yes they reduce your salary. You'll get a much larger cut if you get a D later in your career. E band: This is rare but it almost means a termination. 7. Now the appraisal. There a re 2 appraisal cycles here. H1 - Apr to Sep. H2 - Oct to Mar You'll get a decimal rating from 1 to 5. You get a whole number rating or a band upon curve fitting. This is the band I spoke about earlier. H1 is a mere formality. You'll get a band only after H2. Remember the percentages on which bands are given. This is called the famous bell curve here. Your manager and their over lords will fit you in this curve so that your IPF lies on this curve. Your HR will tell you that your IPF will decide your band, but don't believe it. People with 3.7 IPF can get a D...a B or even a A. Your managers decide your bands on an excel sheet. I'm mostly done here. An advice to people who are joining TCS. Join on the proper position. <1 year: ASE Trainee 1-2: Assistant Systems Engineer 2-4-5: Systems Engineer. A D band will hinder your promotion if you have been in TCS from before. 4-7: IT Analyst 7-11: Assistant Consultant 11-15: Associate Consultant 15+: Consultants, Principal Consultants and beyond