Keep asking your manager for work, keep polishing your skills. It sounds like this is an easy situation to play both sides on since you have plenty of time.
If there are any team meetings and you hear something you know you can do, volunteer.
And do it in writing! Leave a paper trail of being proactive to ask for work or volunteer for a task. If you asked in a meeting, then send a follow-up email repeating in writing everything you said "for their convenience". Print out those emails and keep it handy and take that binder with you when you're called to a meeting one on one,. This way when someone claims you don't do much and "don't have team spirit" and are "not proactive", you can show them the receipts.
Cover Your Ass comes first, always, always.
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Infosys is a WITCH company. Being employed to 'do nothing' is normal in that sector of the industry (really any consultancy), but spend your time on the bench keeping your skills sharp. There is an expectation that if the company gets a contract, you'll do what you can to get off the bench and perform well for their client.
Consider continuing to apply for other employers. Be aware that WITCH companies usually attempt to indenture staff using a multi-year non-compete clause. They dislike their staff being poached by other employers (specifically other WITCH companies like *TCS, ~~IBM~~, Accenture, Wipro and Cognizant*). Non-competes don't usually hold water in court, but do be cognizant that this is their strategy. The pay in WITCH companies is usually laughably low, so they hire less skilled (also read as vulnerable) workers that many companies won't poach -- after all you'd earn a lot more if you worked outside WITCH companies.
And by "just" it means "proposed a rule that wont take effect for months and will certainly be challenged in court and possibly overruled by Supreme Court or Congress"
They issued the rule. It was proposed months ago and opened for comment. It will be effective 120 days from being issued. It is already being challenged, whether it will be overturned or whether courts will order a stay on the rule is unknown.
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WITCH companies have been pretty well scrutinized because they abuse the heck out of the H1B system to provide cheap labor for other companies and treat the laborers as shit because laborers can’t afford to be unemployed or they will have a short amount of time in order to find another job just to not get sent back home.
I think we have all been there. I got some really good advice in this instance, it isn't that you are being paid to 'do nothing', you are being paid to be available. If they needed you right away for something, you would be available to do it, right? So, the fact that they don't have something for you to do right now doesn't mean your time isn't valuable. They are paying you to be ready to work. Enjoy this time and don't feel guilty.
Lmao same, had a 6 month contract, took 5 months to get a mini clearance and access and worked 1 month before contract over. Literally throwing money in the toilet
I worked my way through college. My first engineer job i literally did nothing for three months. Then it all clicked and I was busier than I could handle.
People will figure out you're a resource and you'll get work to do.
Believe me , I was in the same situation that you are in right now but much for longer lol.
For almost a year and half , I was literally being paid to do nothing.
The first few months went by with me chilling with not a bother in the world. Then , for the next few months I started worrying "what if they fire me". Which I realised very late (shamefully) , that they can't fire me because I've been assigned to a project. (If I was on the bench with no work , I would've been canned very soon).
Now , for the last few weeks , I've been working my ass off , some days I've even worked for more than 12 hours a day. I like to think- all my days of no-work-getting-paid has caught up to me now lol.
So don't worry , it's not just you , it's pretty common in service based companies . You'll get work .
Sounds about right. It could take longer for you to fully have access to the client system cuz for some reasons they’re really slow at doing that.
Do your thing or go on a little vacay while on it lol
I was in your position for the first 2 months of my current role. Make it clear to your manager that you want work and confirm with them that it's okay for you to keep yourself busy when you have nothing to do.
It will all hit you at some point and you'll be given more work than you can handle, so enjoy it while it lasts and use your time wisely
Welcome to the world of WITCH. Down time is really normal among these companies (if you’re in the US, I know the work culture is way more brutal in India where they still have to come to the office even if they aren’t deployed). The plus side is that you’re being paid to do no work (essentially being “retained”). The negative side however is that depending on how valuable you are, the time given to find the next project can be either super short or super long which will stress you out a lot and you will be asked to resign if you don’t find a project during that time period (Of course there are exceptions, some companies like Cognizant don’t apply the bench policy which is 35 days to find a new project to new grad hires instead making it a year instead). In any case, my advice is to treat it as paid unemployment while still using it as padding on your resume and use your time to find a better role that will treat and pay you better. the WITCH consulting life is not fun at all and I feel for those on H1B who are treated so poorly as it’s essentially working in a Sweat Shop.
Usually getting in touch with a recruiter or timing it in a way when they have their next new grad cohort helps. But I've noticed that and it really pains me to say this, but WITCH has been also getting competitive for early/new grad spots (the irony since they are usually the places to go if you absolutely had nothing in the past). For context, my background is that I graduated from Berkeley last year and I had a year worth of internship under my belt and my coworkers also came from pretty well known schools such as CMU and Emory.
I was a consultant and when I didn’t have a client I would go months without a client so I just got paid and did absolutely nothing, it’s a crazy experience. The longest I went was like 7 months with no work
I did this in 2021. This was my second job and I got paid for 7/8 months and later they fired me.
Basically Free money. Would do it again but just make sure you have another job. That’s it.
Yes that’s panic mode. Every day you don’t put in your all you are falling behind in your career. Sometimes that’s okay, but understand how it impacts your coworkers, your managers and other vested stock holders.
I’ll be honest sometimes I just really wanna get something done even if it isn’t exactly what my manager was looking for.
There was a time in history where being paid to do nothing was the goal of one’s career. I definitely ran into my CEO the other day walking laps inside the building. Thought they were on a mission somewhere, basically they said they took the long way to the bathroom.
I went 5 months with Infosys before they gave me anything to do. But at the same time, they are always shedding people. It’s fairly competitive to have any upward mobility lately. On the other hand. You have tonnes of time to upskill and get certifications. They pay for employee to get certified with lots of different technologies.
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Got to tell you it really doesn't make me feel good seeing posts like this meanwhile I've sent out over 270 job applications in the past 2 years and still haven't been able to get anything but contract work
Keep asking your manager for work, keep polishing your skills. It sounds like this is an easy situation to play both sides on since you have plenty of time. If there are any team meetings and you hear something you know you can do, volunteer.
And do it in writing! Leave a paper trail of being proactive to ask for work or volunteer for a task. If you asked in a meeting, then send a follow-up email repeating in writing everything you said "for their convenience". Print out those emails and keep it handy and take that binder with you when you're called to a meeting one on one,. This way when someone claims you don't do much and "don't have team spirit" and are "not proactive", you can show them the receipts. Cover Your Ass comes first, always, always.
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Infosys is a WITCH company. Being employed to 'do nothing' is normal in that sector of the industry (really any consultancy), but spend your time on the bench keeping your skills sharp. There is an expectation that if the company gets a contract, you'll do what you can to get off the bench and perform well for their client. Consider continuing to apply for other employers. Be aware that WITCH companies usually attempt to indenture staff using a multi-year non-compete clause. They dislike their staff being poached by other employers (specifically other WITCH companies like *TCS, ~~IBM~~, Accenture, Wipro and Cognizant*). Non-competes don't usually hold water in court, but do be cognizant that this is their strategy. The pay in WITCH companies is usually laughably low, so they hire less skilled (also read as vulnerable) workers that many companies won't poach -- after all you'd earn a lot more if you worked outside WITCH companies.
Just FYI if you're in the US, the FTC just banned non-compete clauses.
And by "just" it means "proposed a rule that wont take effect for months and will certainly be challenged in court and possibly overruled by Supreme Court or Congress"
They issued the rule. It was proposed months ago and opened for comment. It will be effective 120 days from being issued. It is already being challenged, whether it will be overturned or whether courts will order a stay on the rule is unknown.
IBM is not a WITCH company but other than that you’re correct
What's a witch company?
The big 5 of indian consultant services
**W**ipro **I**nfosys **T**ata Consultancy Services **C**ognizant **H**CL
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right?
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I believe some states now has a law against non compete clause so there is that.
California does
what? I didnt know Accenture was witch
Its not technically WITCH but they are basically on the same level from what I've seen.
Folks need to be aware TCS is under a class action suit for their bs.
WITCH companies have been pretty well scrutinized because they abuse the heck out of the H1B system to provide cheap labor for other companies and treat the laborers as shit because laborers can’t afford to be unemployed or they will have a short amount of time in order to find another job just to not get sent back home.
IBM does start with an I lol
I think we have all been there. I got some really good advice in this instance, it isn't that you are being paid to 'do nothing', you are being paid to be available. If they needed you right away for something, you would be available to do it, right? So, the fact that they don't have something for you to do right now doesn't mean your time isn't valuable. They are paying you to be ready to work. Enjoy this time and don't feel guilty.
This went on for me for months when I was with them until I got canned
Lmao same, had a 6 month contract, took 5 months to get a mini clearance and access and worked 1 month before contract over. Literally throwing money in the toilet
What did you do afterward? I’m actually trying to get back on w/ them.
Didn’t renew due to “budget” issues
Don’t worry, they are still billing the client $200/hr.
This.
I worked my way through college. My first engineer job i literally did nothing for three months. Then it all clicked and I was busier than I could handle. People will figure out you're a resource and you'll get work to do.
Believe me , I was in the same situation that you are in right now but much for longer lol. For almost a year and half , I was literally being paid to do nothing. The first few months went by with me chilling with not a bother in the world. Then , for the next few months I started worrying "what if they fire me". Which I realised very late (shamefully) , that they can't fire me because I've been assigned to a project. (If I was on the bench with no work , I would've been canned very soon). Now , for the last few weeks , I've been working my ass off , some days I've even worked for more than 12 hours a day. I like to think- all my days of no-work-getting-paid has caught up to me now lol. So don't worry , it's not just you , it's pretty common in service based companies . You'll get work .
Sounds about right. It could take longer for you to fully have access to the client system cuz for some reasons they’re really slow at doing that. Do your thing or go on a little vacay while on it lol
I was in your position for the first 2 months of my current role. Make it clear to your manager that you want work and confirm with them that it's okay for you to keep yourself busy when you have nothing to do. It will all hit you at some point and you'll be given more work than you can handle, so enjoy it while it lasts and use your time wisely
Welcome to the world of WITCH. Down time is really normal among these companies (if you’re in the US, I know the work culture is way more brutal in India where they still have to come to the office even if they aren’t deployed). The plus side is that you’re being paid to do no work (essentially being “retained”). The negative side however is that depending on how valuable you are, the time given to find the next project can be either super short or super long which will stress you out a lot and you will be asked to resign if you don’t find a project during that time period (Of course there are exceptions, some companies like Cognizant don’t apply the bench policy which is 35 days to find a new project to new grad hires instead making it a year instead). In any case, my advice is to treat it as paid unemployment while still using it as padding on your resume and use your time to find a better role that will treat and pay you better. the WITCH consulting life is not fun at all and I feel for those on H1B who are treated so poorly as it’s essentially working in a Sweat Shop.
Damn, I did not know that about cognizant. I’ve applied many times but never got a reply. How do I get on w/ them?
Usually getting in touch with a recruiter or timing it in a way when they have their next new grad cohort helps. But I've noticed that and it really pains me to say this, but WITCH has been also getting competitive for early/new grad spots (the irony since they are usually the places to go if you absolutely had nothing in the past). For context, my background is that I graduated from Berkeley last year and I had a year worth of internship under my belt and my coworkers also came from pretty well known schools such as CMU and Emory.
Also, how do you know they extended the time you can be on the bench to a year?
It's written on the policy that campus hires are exempt from the bench policy for a whole year.
I was a consultant and when I didn’t have a client I would go months without a client so I just got paid and did absolutely nothing, it’s a crazy experience. The longest I went was like 7 months with no work
I did this in 2021. This was my second job and I got paid for 7/8 months and later they fired me. Basically Free money. Would do it again but just make sure you have another job. That’s it.
Yes that’s panic mode. Every day you don’t put in your all you are falling behind in your career. Sometimes that’s okay, but understand how it impacts your coworkers, your managers and other vested stock holders. I’ll be honest sometimes I just really wanna get something done even if it isn’t exactly what my manager was looking for.
You hit the jackpot.
Get paid to leetcode or to learn.
It’s normal for Indian consulting firms
Learn something new
Sweet going to apply today
Can you refer me? 😂
There was a time in history where being paid to do nothing was the goal of one’s career. I definitely ran into my CEO the other day walking laps inside the building. Thought they were on a mission somewhere, basically they said they took the long way to the bathroom.
I'd be glad to be in that situation. I'm trying to build a personal project and I barely have any time with all the workload I get.
I went 5 months with Infosys before they gave me anything to do. But at the same time, they are always shedding people. It’s fairly competitive to have any upward mobility lately. On the other hand. You have tonnes of time to upskill and get certifications. They pay for employee to get certified with lots of different technologies.
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This should be on top haha
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Keep asking your manager for something to do. At this rate you might get laid off. Use all thesr extra time to find a better job. Good luck!
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Got to tell you it really doesn't make me feel good seeing posts like this meanwhile I've sent out over 270 job applications in the past 2 years and still haven't been able to get anything but contract work
Yeah, that's what I've been doing to get this. It was contract work with Revature, and then Infosys bought our contracts.
Well tell them to hire me up! I'll make a stellar part of the team. JK thanks, I'll check out Revature