ISB Alums Innovating at Google India

Last week I was pleasantly surprised to pick up a link from Manik Gupta's Gmail page to his post announcing Google's mapping of India. Manik is one of those exemplary alums that ISB should be proud to have. He really understood the true essence of a business school education. One that goes beyond GPAs and placements (well, Google is not a bad landing;-), but really involves soaking in the educational experience in a broader sense. 

I must admit Google India maps was of immense use to me when I had my Hyderabadi driver (never been North of AP) take my father's car back to Jaipur just prior to our move to Minneapolis. I could literally show him our house around the corner from Moti Dungri, across from the beautiful Birla Temple, on the map.

Not to be outdone, this morning I got an email from Alok Goel, another proud ISBian and former president of the Biz Tech Club at ISB. The official Google India blog features his latest product, an SMS based search service. 

Part of my motivation for posting this is to express my disappointment at the shrinking enrollments in the IT courses at ISB. People who are passiionate about technology seem, naturally, to be burnt out by the four-five years they spend dealing with global delivery model. Long hours, distance (not just physical) from the clients and life in the trenches can be expected to take their toll. The natural inclination is to look for careers in i-Banking, consulting and marketing, which in of itself is a justifiable exit strategy from a B-School.

The paradox however is that overall supply of jobs for ISB graduates in these areas has never been greater than the demand, and a significant number of ISBians end up back in the technology sector, in roles that befit their enhanced profiles. Of the set that go back to the IT sector, there are those that believe that their prior experience is enough to carry them through should their i-banking-consulting preference elude them. There are others like Manik and Alok, who, after some soul-searching and wine tasting, recognize where their true passion is and work expressly towards that goal. They take relevant IT electives, engage with the relevant centers and dialogue woth the plethora of industry leaders that stream through Gachibowli.

In anticipation of this, our strategy has been to offer IT electives that expressly cater towards studnets looking to chart careers in the innovative aspects of this sector. These inlcude, but are not limited to, product innovation in networked Web 2.0 businesses (a great course developed and refined by Prof Amit Mehra, but which sadly may have to disappear next year due to low demand), business intelligence/data mining, global sourcing and financial valuations of tech. businesses.

The optimist in me hopes that it is a matter of time that this message sinks in, but are their aspects of the stroy I'm missing out? Do voice your frank opinions on this...