product based company vs service based company

Product Based Vs Service Based

Intro

In IT industry, there are two types of organizations if we classify them at a very broad level.

1.Product Based Organization / Company

2.Service Based Organization / Company

At some level every computer science engineer has to do job in either of these above organization. Now which one to choose if we have a choice to make?. What parameters we should consider while making a decision about accepting a job offer?

Product Based Organization

1.Organization which have their own product to promote / sell.

2.Have their own development team.

3.Specific roles and technology

Service Based Organization

1. Organization which do not have their own product, they works for other organizations / clients

2. Have their own development team

3. Works for others / individual clients / organizations

4. Roles are not generally specific so does technology.

Comparison Parameters1.Interview Process

2.Learning

3.Working Environment

4.Salary

5.Growth

6.Shift Timing

7.Job Certainty

Interview Process

Product Based (PB) – Generally conducts more interview rounds than SB, and interview mostly based on data structure and algorithm analysis. So they want an intelligent guy here who can do the specific task for which they are hiring intelligently. Selection and rejection process are defined, if they reject you they’ll tell you the complete reason and areas of improvements.

Service Based (SB) – Generally conducts simple interview rounds ( like 3 to 4 rounds ). Interview mostly based on technology knowledge and coding for which they are hiring for. Selection and rejection process is very random here, if they reject you they don’t even bother to tell you the reason for that. If they select you good for you. Generally they hire the guy who is able to work in multiple technologies. Here they want a worker who should be intelligent enough to do the task.

Learning

PB – Learning is always good in product based organizations, they uses optimized way of coding, efficient algorithms etc. Learning curve is very good. There is always a separate team for support, developer never do the support work.

SB – Learning curve is not good here, sometimes you find there is no learning in the projects, these are simply support projects. These organizations generally don’t have the separate support teams, developer do the support and development both if necessary. It’ll make you jack of all master of none.

Working Environment

PB – Small teams, so team interaction is always good. Less politics and favoritism compare to Service based. Team size are small so can’t afford politics etc. People generally care for team members.Work pressure is good.

SB – Teams are large. High politics and favoritism. No body care for no one. High work pressure.

Salary

PB – Good Salary, sometimes variable components are less or negligible. Sometimes startups offers equity in the company. Increment is always good as per your performance.

SB – Less or non competitive salary with big variable components and deductions. Good increments are very rare event here irrespective of your performance.

Growth

PB – Both technical and financial growth is always good than the service based organizations.

SB – Less competitive financial growth and technical growth might be there or might not. In support project technical growth sucks.

Shift Timing

PB – Generally flexible timings because they care only about the work, if work is complete you can leave early for the day or can come early and finish the task and can leave.

SB – Very inflexible timings, they also have shift timing to overlap with the overseas client timings. You have to complete 9 hours or whatever the week hours are there to complete.

Job Certainty

PB – Teams are of small sizes so job certainty is high there and also sometime recession proof.

SB – Big teams, follows hire and fire methodologies. If project is there just hire and project delivered and don’t have new project just fire the guys. So Job certainty is very less here.

Big Question

Q : Which one to choose ?

If you are an experienced guy always go for the product based company. And if you are a fresher and have an option to choose in between product and service company always go for product company, you won’t regret you decision in future. And if you are a fresher and have job offer only from a service company. Try your very best to get the job in product company but if didn’t get one, no worry just join the service company and keep trying for job in product company, and if you got one just join it. And if you don’t get the job in product company please don’t work in service company more than a year. try to get out of there as soon as possible.

“To know what you know and know what you don't know is the characteristic of one who knows”

- Confucius

Thanks!

Vipin K