Few days ago, I posted a comment in Low Yat forum. A person with around 3 years of working experience as an IT programmer was asking about the salary range for someone at his level. Should it be around 3k-4k or 4.5k or more? The question received quite a number of mixed responses.

My reply was 3k to 4k but some of the readers were saying 4k to maybe 5k.

I said that’s possible, if we were still in 2008.

Many of them do not believe me but this is what I’ve found out based on my own job hunting experiences, from my friends who are also looking around, and from people in the recruitment agencies.

The average salary has indeed fallen in 2009, as compared to 2008. Companies are more reserved now and they prefer to keep their cash than to splash it out to hire talented people. So don’t expect that you still can get good salary unless the said company is very desperate for people (I know few companies who are quite desperate) or you are a very rare talent.

Also, expect more competitions this year. According to a friend of mine who is working as a HR of an IT firm, a similar job opening has only 3 to 5 job applicants in 2008…..but in 2009, it went up to 10 or more job applicants. That’s quite a significant increase, and is not a very positive sign for job hunters.

If you still don’t believe me, then try to do some research yourselves. I have no reason to lie to you anyway.

Last but not least, one word of advice. Appreciate your job. Stop complaining about no pay increment or no bonus. There are a lot of people getting retrenched and also a lot of people who are forced to go on extended unpaid leave. Those people need jobs a lot more than you do. If you still think you can come in late to office, going out for extended lunch breaks, playing games in office or even watching Youtube in office…….then I have nothing more to say except for “Good luck”.

p/s… there are still some companies who have increments/bonuses but the amount has dropped significantly. 2009 is not the same as 2008. This is something people should understand.

p/s… this article is purely based on my own findings. It is not supported by a formal survey (like those done by JobStreet). So don’t come flaming me if my findings are wrong.

I’ve heard of many cases where the person who is paid to do the work, somehow ends up seeking help from the customers. One example is what happened to my sister. She’s an accountant in a MNC and there was this fresh graduate auditor who kept pestering her and the other accountants……not for information or documents, but for help. The fresh graduate did not know how to do her job! To make things worse, my sister actually gave her some documents to study but she didn’t study. She preferred to be spoon-fed.

Spoon-fed by a customer…? Hmmm.

Actually, this kind of incident happens a lot. These people have no idea that they are dealing with the customers, and they are supposed to be the one providing solution, not the other way round. If you can’t give me solution and expect me to teach you how to do it, then what’s the point of paying you? Isn’t it better to just hire a maid?

If you seriously don’t know how to fix it, then just seek assistance from your seniors or something and don’t let the customers know that you can’t fix it. Always know your role and where you are. It won’t benefit you or your employer if you allow the customers to know that you can’t fix the problem (and pestering to teach you to fix it will certainly make things a lot worse).

As for the guy allocating resources, always know who are your main customers and the skillset of your people. No point sending a lazy rookie to the front line of a warzone. You’ll just lose more people and give the impression that your squad (company) is weak. Try to allocate them under some helpful seniors and put them elsewhere.

Remember that if I’m paying you to fix the problem for me, and you can’t do it…then the least you can do is to spend some time figuring out how to do it (and not asking me for help!). If you still can’t do it, I’ll just find someone else.

A friend of mine was in Jakarta for an IT project which was for a Japanese client (different client from the one I was ‘serving’). From what he told me, the entire project was a total mess…maybe worse than the one I was involved in.

Told you common sense is very rare nowadays!

First, the client didn’t know what he wanted and kept on changing the requirements. Second, when the project has been ‘completed’, the client scolded my friend and his team for being useless because they have no common sense and kept giving him things that he didn’t want. According to him, my friend and the team should just use their ‘common sense’ in order to know what kind of business processes the system should cater for. Hmm…no information….so they have to use their common sense to get those information……..does that mean he’s asking them to GUESS what the system should have?

Now now now…don’t you think this kind of situation sounds pretty familiar? A lot of clients actually expect the consultants/programmers or anyone they’re paying their money for, to have the right common sense and to come out with whatever they want WITHOUT asking them. This is possible, if there’s someone in the team who can do mind-reading. Otherwise, it’s impossible.

This is because each company has its own unique business processes and no matter how much we try to use our common sense, it’ll be very hard to ‘predict’ or ‘guess’ which is actually the correct one. The best solution here is to suggest to them your ‘best practices’ if they don’t have one….and if they do have one, get it from them without making any wild guesses. That’s the best we can do.

Because at the end of the day, you will be surprised that some companies have really weird business processes…..processes which don’t make sense at all and processes which make your wild guesses look childish.

So now you tell me, do you still want me (or my friend, or anyone you’re paying to work on a project) to use my common sense ……..or do you want to minimize the time I spend on guessing, and tell me right away what are your business processes? Remember that your common sense might not be the same with my common sense.

Decide now, and don’t blame me if your decision makes you lose money though I’m pretty sure you will. Hahah. Because the ‘blaming’ and ‘flaming’ are part of the deal after all

Today I drove pass the WD building in PJ (next to LDP) and couldn’t help but noticed that the sign “Best Employer of 2001″ is still there after all these years. Back then (2003-2005), that sign was quite a big talking point since there weren’t many best employers around this area and that sign alone has made many of my friends interested in joining the company.

Hmm, i think this is an award a lot of people can win

But that was many years back. Since then, there’s no sign of new “Best employer” award for the company anymore and I do wonder…has their standards dropped? If they’re still a good company to join, they should be able to win the awards after that. Why didn’t they?

Same thing goes for those companies who love to show off their awards. It’s fine if you’re showing off your new awards – those in the last few years. But if the awards are too old……well….just take them away since they’re no longer useful and by placing them as “decorations”, it might actually backfire. Unless you are getting those awards every year……from 2001 until 2009, and not just 2001 alone.

Because in my opinion, if you are really that good, you should be able to get those awards including the latest ones. If you only have the 2001 award…..it means that you’re not really doing that well for the past 8 years.

Or maybe you’re just not interested in those awards anymore – which I doubt.

Last year, before the recession hits the States, I met up with some friends and we started talking about small company vs large company. Most of them say that large companies will be better since they’re more stable, consistent and productive. The small ones, to them, are too risky since these companies might suffer from cashflow problem, headcount problem, etc.

The small guy will be able to outrun the big guy and make him tired

I told them, that mentality is true and applicable for 2008 but not in the future. Why? Because there will be more and more changes ahead, more so that the large companies might not be able to handle them. Most of us know that large companies are very process-oriented and they have a certain set of procedures you need to follow for every action. I used to work for a Fortune 500 company, and at 1 point, I requested to upgrade my laptop memory to 2GB. The whole process took 3 weeks since it needs the approval from some IT managers in the States. 3 weeks…for something worth RM 200-300.

Anyway, as I’ve predicted, many so-called large companies are falling and falling fast. Retrenchments are not being made by small companies only….but also big companies (some are formerly known for being the best employers in their respective industry). In fact, most of my friends from large companies are suffering job losses or pay cuts but those in smaller companies are only suffering from pay cuts (they only lose their jobs if the company get closed down ).

The thing here is that large companies tend to spend too much time handling their processes and procedures, while the small companies (the good ones) are spending their time changing and adapting to the new environment. In this ever-changing world, whoever can adapt the fastest will win. This is something important and everyone should remember…..but sadly…not many believe in it.

So if you’re still thinking that large companies are better than smaller companies…….think again. In my opinion, it’s better to keep it small or medium for now since changes will be inevitable in 2009 onwards. You wouldn’t want to be the last in the queue to make the changes.