[Ilugc] Making a Career in FOSS [New Business]
- From: girishvenkatachalam@xxxxxxxxx (Girish Venkatachalam)
- Date: Mon, 28 Feb 2011 19:21:59 +0530
You got a very nice reply. I am not sure what value I can add.
It will sure be colored by my pessimism and feeling of failure but
still I will try. ;)
On Mon, Feb 28, 2011 at 6:47 PM, aruntheguy at gmail.com
<aruntheguy at gmail.com> wrote:
Hello All,
I am a final year BE student. While most of my mates are sincerely
searching for a spot in the corporates, me and two of my friends
cherish a dream of creating a business for ourselves. We got something
like a few website development offers and that has motivated us
further. But we are not really going to stick to web development as
such and want to get into customized application development and
software deployment.
Good.
I recently saw a message in the "NCR Python Users Group India"
discussing Data Mining tool for collecting data from Excel Documents
and displaying them on web pages. I think these are some untapped
areas of software deployment, at least here in India.
Well well. What should I say?
So, now the questions in my mind are:
1. Can we really survive as a company creating application specific or
customized software for situations like the one I have mentioned
above?
No.
2. Is there really market for such software and services in India?
Kindly keep in mind FOSS.
Whether you like it or not, whether you accept or not, FOSS is the driver
for every company; regardless of what they are into. FOSS is all over.
Just that many will not be open about it.
But as a biz I suggest that you keep tight lipped about FOSS. People know it
anyway; being open about it cannot help you in any way. Or even hurt.
But companies want support, companies want something real. There
are many ways to make money but make sure you choose something you
really enjoy.
Choose something where you can learn a lot , have fun and struggle.
No point in picking low hanging fruits. If Arun can so can Girish.
It is pointless. Pick up some area where you have something special.
3. If there is a possibility to survive. Are we going to be judged by
the work we do or by the industry experience we have or supposed to
have? (Remember I am still at college)
You are judged by several factors many of which you have no control over.
Why even think about it?
When I first started writing articles many years ago I never thought. I had
knowledge which I wanted to share. I gave a very small writeup to my boss
in pencil and he did not even care to comment.
I did not lose hope. Two years later I found that everything I wrote
got published.
I was not a newsmaker or an opinion maker and even today am not. But I made
quite a lot of money in writing.
It is all about confidence, knowledge, hard work and what you feel within.
No external entity can instill that confidence.
It comes from within after worldly success which comes from out.
Now to answer your question, certainly your reputation and credibility
will count.
Today nobody wants to know whether I am a fresher or not. Perhaps it is due to
my grey hair or appearance or whatever. Or people just know that I have nothing
to do with any college. ;)
I think this is not even a point of consideration. What people think.
Now as a company you sure need to manage perception.
Coming to that you need a very professional looking website, very high quality
brochures and so on. You need very high degree of professionalism and diligence.
Get well wishers, God fathers and good friends who can guide you. Without all
these things nothing is possible.
Get helpers. Get helpers. People who will help either for money or otherwise.
Either way get them.
And build contacts. Good ones. Not fools. I just stay away from people
who I think
are not sensible.
Their contacts will cause you pain.
On the other hand good people, smart successful people tend to know other such
souls and they will help you. Think about it.
4. At last, how much are we going to be paid for these kind of jobs?
In the beginning peanuts. But once you get more work and show customer
references
and once you get some name in the market and word of mouth you will start
seeing some cash. But it is going to be tough for the first two years.
Keeping in mind that depends on the quality of work we do and our
ability to negotiate, I would like to know the scale where I would be
starting.
Scale? What scale? How much cash you need? 2L? 10L?
Or 50k?
Who knows. Even today as I speak I don't have cash to pay the rent. That is biz.
It is the fire within that counts.
What do you mean by ability to negotiate? There is no such thing.
I always find that I take up deals where I win and the other party
wins. If not it does not
work out for either of us.
No use trying to negotiate out of business. Once again a lot of
factors are at play many
of which you have no control over. Just don't think of it.
I am not good at negotiating; I am bold and know what I want and am
explicit about it.
That is my idea of negotiation. I have knowledge and I know what the
customer wants and
the value of what I bring to the table.
Based on that I have some experience about how much cash I can get from people.
This is gotten only by getting cash out of people's purses.
No school can teach. No MBA, no nothing.
And it has nothing to do with "negotiation skills."
I was also thinking of this but now I feel that you automatically
become good at this with time.
Best of luck. May God bless you.
Remember, entrepreneurs are the fuel for any nation. Any economy.
Without them who will you work for?
Give it your best shot.
But the reason I feel you should not start now is that it is rare to
see mature people below
the age of 26 or 28.
And maturity counts in biz more than anything else.
Also working for companies will tell you what it takes to do biz.
Not directly but indirectly.
So starting out on your own after college is foolhardy.
I am sure of it.
-Girish
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