Computer sector facing shortage of manpower’

VAPTECH, a software company inserted an advertisement few months back in the local Star Ledger newspaper seeking job applications for a few hundred openings. The advertisement, which ran for several days, attracted just two resumes, to the surprise of top company officials.

We never though that there is such a huge shortage of skilled man power in this country, Praveen Andapally, company vice president, told The Indian Express in an interview.

New Jersey-based Vaptech was recently ranked as the 29th fastest growing company of entire US. The founder of the company, Andapally says he has signed some major contracts with a few big American companies for which he requires to hire more than 300 software professionals.

Vaptech, he says, is not the only company to be facing the problem of shortage of skilled manpower. This is a major problem, says Andapally. Before starting his own consulting business, Andapally has 15 years experience of marketing and recruiting for leading IT consulting firms.

There is a huge shortage of trained manpower in the computer sector now. The restriction on visa, in particular H1B, is posing a great problem to us, Andapally said. Having signed a couple of major contracts recently, I am planning to hire some 400- 500 people in the next two-three months, he added.

The US Government need to open its door for the skilled workers or else majority of the contracts would then move outside the country, he says.

Encouraged by the recognition his company got, Vaptech is now planning to come up with its IPO in India next year. But, before this, Vaptech is planning to acquire a number of smaller software companies in both India and New Jersey. We are planning to invest $ 300 in India in next one year. We are taking steps in the right direction, he said.

Andapally feels New Jersey is fast becoming a hub of software industry in the US because of its proximity to New York, the global financial capital. The Indian companies are taking benefit of it.

Andapally says that with the American economy on its revival mode, the Indian companies too need to make their presence felt in the US. There are many aspects, which the US companies want to be done on-site. All the new projects are expected to be done onsite, while it is mainly the maintenance work, which they prefer off-shore. So both are totally different market and there is no competition at all, he said.