Human Resources in the Geospatial Industry EMPLOYEE RESPONSES There were total 57 responses from the people working in this field, out of which 40 were working for the Indian companies and 17 responses were from the employees working outside India. Jim Johnson, President of the Standish Group, notes that Iterative Development has helped improve the more recent numbers. QUALIFICATIONS AND TRAINING The educational background and training in the field of geospatial seems to be essential when it comes to the growth opportunities and salary. Around 83% of the international respondents have done their graduation or postgraduation degree and close to 47% have undergone formal qualifications in geospatial and only 29% have undergone some type of training (Figure-1a) Almost 60% of the employees have been sent for skill upgradation to meet the changing job environment and requrements and 53% adopted for formal qualfication whereas only 11% chose to go for short term training porgrammes. This is a clear indication that the employers are always willing to retain the employees and improve productivity through periodic trainings and educational programmes. All of those who underwent formal educational programme, while on the job, accepted that the programme has helped in their present job and they look forward to more such programmes. While analysing the same, back home (Figure-1b), the maximum number of respondents (50%) had qualifications of masters and above (including PhDs) while very few (only 26% ) like to join the industry after completing their bachelors degree. From the employer point of view, more than 50% of the employees were sent for upgrading their skills and more than 80% of them accepted the fact that the training helped them in the present job. EXPERIENCE When asked about their stint with the present company and their overall experience in the geomatics industry, most of the international respondents (Fig-2a) had spent less than 5 years in the present company whereas their geomatics experience was between 3 to 8 years. However, the same is not true for the domestic employees (Fig-2b). Although most of the respondents were in the present company for the last 5 years, there is a sizable number who have spent more than 5 years with the present company. However, there are close to 50% of the employees who have more than 5 years of experience. This means there lot of attrition in the companies operating in India, which is also a concern of the HR managers, where they have put the attrition figures in the range of 15% (based upon the responses received from the HR managers) JOB SATISFACTION AND PROSPECTS Are people really satisfied with what they are doing in this industry and how do they see themselves vis-à-vis the mainstream IT? This is one question, answer to which, everyone wants to know, when they are working for the industry or wish to join the industry. We asked this question to the response to similarity with IT field was affirmative from both international and Indian respondents. Looking at the growth prospects, overall 64% (same for Indian and international respondents) think that there is "GOOD" growth prospects in this field and only 29% (35% of the international and 26% Indian respondents) think that there exists an "Average" growth opportunity in the geospatial field. When asked about the current job satisfaction (on a scale of 10, where 10 being the most satisfied and below 5 is considered to be less satisfied), respondents of the international companies seems to be more satisfied where almost 83% have satisfaction level of more than 5 and 24% have more than 8 (Fig-3). However, this is not true with the respondents from Indian companies. Only 65% of the total respondents were above 5 and 35% were less satisfied, which is quite a significant number. This might be the reason of almost 15% attrition rate, as quoted by the HR managers, from whom the responses were received.  Preferred company to work for (in India)  PREFERRED COMPANY We asked about their “preferred companies” from all the respondents, but since the responses from the international employees were less, we did not analyse them. There were 40 responses from India and we analysed only those companies, where the responses were at least 15% of the total responses. Fig-4, lists the companies with the number of responses and their score (maximum could have been 60). According to the responses received, ESRI is the preferred choice, followed by RMSI and the Government of India. Rolta India and Infotech followed in the order. Choosing ESRI as the preferred company to work for might have been from the fact that at most of the places, ESRI software is being used and people would like to get involved with that. Although the responses to the Government of India was least, but in India, it seems, getting a job in the government sector still have a preference! STUDENT RESPONSES In this category there were 81 responses received and all were from India. The student's data was analysed based on their perspective of the industry and the reason behind their career choice. Preferred company to work with, was one of the questions asked, in this category as well. CAREER CHOICE Almost 90% of those studying different courses (Fig-6a) think that a career in this field is as good as a career in mainstream IT. This might have been due to the fact that the kind of job requirement is changing with time and more and more people with programming skills are being recruited. This is also substantiated by the fact that 38% of the respondents (Fig-6b) plan to take up the jobs in Application development, software development and customization. They were also asked about the technology in which they are interested in and 67% opted for GIS as the technology they would like to work on (Fig-7). This might be one of the reasons that 62% of the respondents (Fig-6b) would like to work as a GIS Analyst. PREFERRED COMPANY All the 81 respondents who are studying different programmes in different educational institutions across the country responded to the question of "Preferred GIS Company" to work with. Same criterion was followed, as was the case with the people already employed, and the results are shown in Fig-8. Only those companies were analysed that received at least 10% of the total responses. ESRI was the first choice, followed by Rolta and RMSI. Although Bentley did not figure in the earlier list, here the company stands fourth.   |