I was chatting up with a friend when the talk drifted to (as it is know in sprightly parlance) The great debate! The topic was whether working in a service company is better or working in a product company is. A service company offers services which can be in terms of maintaining equipment, software, providing IT solutions or some sort of end-to-end product maintenance and support. A product company on the other hand creates products based on customer requirements (sometimes even otherwise), has significant investments in R&D and does a lot of core engineering work. Ultimately, there is a brand that the product creates and which the company identifies itself with.
Now both of us have had some experience in working in a service company and a product company. While the scale and complexity of work is clearly different in both (service companies normally having more focus around client interactions and support, and product based companies more around product engineering and R&D), clearly there is a lot more than meets the eye.
Talking about growth and opportunities itself within any of these, both product and service industries have plenty of examples. From a more technical perspective, working in a product company is technically more challenging and requires some sort of specialization. You cannot expect to lead and manage teams though, in a product company, in a span of just a few years because usually the product itself has a long and winding history, and because the processes are quite strong and it requires putting in many years of work and experience in various domains to have a grip over the work involved.
Whereas in a service oriented company, the focus is always around handling a client and issues and getting involved in more 'variety' of work, even if you are not an expert in any of them. You can expect to lead teams and manage them more quickly, since it involves more of people skills and you do have the opportunity to serve in various roles. It might not be cutting edge work but there is a focus on maintenance of products and seeing that all the parts of the client's system executes flawlessly.
There are so many more factors differentiating the two industries, in terms of which of the two earns more money, which of the two sustains longer, how do both compare in terms of working conditions, where do the two gel and how do they operate.
Which industry are you suitable for is a question one needs to ask. What kind of work excites you more? Is it engineering a product or managing a client? Is it variety of work or complexity of work?
Ultimately, you need to answer, what will you be happy doing?!
But I am neither an expert on the subject nor a celebrity :) so I will leave it here. Do add your thoughts to it.
Niks...All factor are considered here nicely ....But Like Maruti Add Our Indian minds are biased towards Milege irrespective of Rocket science and fetures you put in a Car.....Indian preference goes to Company which Pays hefty...only this is the factor which makes Indian to decide the firm...nothing else matters..as we know we are Jack of all.after that wherever you put we will work :)... Technology/R&D bla bla.comes last..And we say we are professionals..Practically Product Company pays good so Product company is always be the first option,,,real diffculty Indians faces when they have got offer from Product and Service company and there is marginal difference in pakage ..in that case we consider other stuffs..
ReplyDeleteSubham Arya..enjoy madi
Hi Subham! Great to hear from you!
DeleteI agree that there is a certain stereotyping that occurs in the way we go about choosing what we want to do. Money plays a big role in it sometimes even at the cost of us not being happy doing it. In times where there is a global recession, we do end up doing anything that comes our way..gladly! Looking at the bigger picture though, I think all of us tend to choose differently depending on our priorities. There are so many factors that influence our choices in not only work but even otherwise too! I tried to cover just a basic difference between the industries and added a personal viewpoint.
But I have to say I liked your example of the Maruti ad :) "Kitna dete hai!?!"
Money does make the world go round:) If you look at all the working professionals and ask just one question: "What would have been your chosen profession if money was not the criteria?" You would find most people in the majority giving their choice of profession, and it would definitely not be the one that they have chosen. And the happiest ones are who get paid for what they enjoying doing. Not many have the courage to do this however:) I think, ideally, balancing job satisfaction and remuneration would be best. But then, beggars cannot be choosers:)
ReplyDeleteHi!! Thanks for the comment! You are right when you say, 'if-you-could-be-something-or-somewhere-else-where-would-you-be', the majority would probably say something like sipping on a Malibu while living in the Bahamas, and idly looking at the sea all day, without a care in the world. Of course, others might have some frivolous answers too :) But alas, poor beggars like me live by a monthly paycheck to pay off for the loan taken for servicing a cousins banged up bicycle's front tyre!
DeleteBut coming to the topic, I recognise the flaw that I make when I do not include money matters in describing the service and product industries in the discussion on choosing one over the other. And we need to have that too in mind. But as a famous quote from the movie, The Garden of Evil (a western classic!) goes, "If the earth was made of gold, man would die for a handful of dust"...maybe sometimes we might be playing a lil too much on the money aspect :)
There are so many examples of bankers, doctors, software engineers etc who give up their profession to follow their passion:) I am sure they too have "a cousins banged up bicycle's front tyre!" (How did u manage that I wonder....) It takes great courage to start afresh and fight family to achieve what you want to do in life. Everyone doesn't have the courage. In fact,most people don't:) Money matters, translated into material over matter, are of significance, depending upon various factors. "Sipping on a Malibu while living in the Bahamas" is not the only response people would have. There are more serious aspects. To quote you..." Ultimately, you need to answer, what will you be happy doing?!" I rest my case:)
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