DON'T JOIN Tata Consultancy Services Limited(TCS) INTERNAL IT- TRUTH about Ultimatix\Shared Services Group(SSG)\Internal IT

This is a review about TCS-Internal IT. I am writing this because, off-late a lot of Experienced professionals and MBAs are being hired by TCS and put in Internal IT projects without disclosing this initially in job-description or even in interviews.

What I have written below, might not be true for client projects in TCS. But, as a person who is going to join TCS or is getting a project change  inside TCS, please beware of Ultimatix\Shared Services Group(SSG)\Internal IT projects. Please don't join these projects.
-------------------------
Bottom Line:  It doesn't really offer anything in terms of learning
and career growth, even from a fresher's point of view.
On the contrary, Ultimatix projects have the potential to take your
career several years back by stripping you of your technical and
soft-skills, as none of them are used in this support based domain.

There might be some exceptions but then they are what they are-
EXCEPTIONS. Take my advice. Don't take the hassle of joining TCS if
you hear anything about Ultimatix or Shared Services Group being
mentioned in the job description. Stay Clear.

Work for smaller, mid-sized companies where you will get valuable
hands-on experience on the latest technology and practices of the
industry.
-------------------------

Detailed Analysis:-

The Ultimatix Project in TCS is also referred to as Shared Services
Group Domain/ISU.
So, Shared Services Group(SSG) and Ultimatix are one and the same thing.

This project is the INTERNAL IT division of TCS. Ultimatix is the name
of the internal employee portal of TCS. Now, under Ultimatix there are
a dozen or so projects related to:-
- Internal employee database of TCS
- Internal procurement portal of TCS
- Billing
- Employee Self Services portal
- Internal recruitment and employee recruitment portals(Campus Commune
and Bring your buddy and TCS Careers application)
etc etc etc

Some facts:-
- No. of Employees: close to 4500
- Demographics- Mostly Female(>51%)
- Nature of Work: Proprietary Software (working on outdated technologies)
- Promotion and Increment Prospects: Very limited
- Work Culture: Disorganised, Monolithic, Bureaucratic, Carrots and
Stick Policy, Rude and under-qualified Managers. People who stay the
longest, become managers and team leads.
- Have to serve minimum of 3 years before you can get another project.
Very difficult to client projects inside TCS.
- If you leave the project before 3 years, basis reasons however
urgent, your manager will give very bad review to the Manager of your
next interviewing project in TCS. So, they will not take you for the
project. So, you will have to struggle to get a client project. The
Resource Management Group is lethargic and often leaves you to your
own luck.
- Work Profile:-
Developers:-
- Mostly working on Tickets raised by Employees
- Raising bug-fixes and data-fixes for legacy applications
- Maintaining existing application by adding a text box or removing a
message or lable or displaying a pop-up etc etc.
- After a year or two, all your technical skills will get rusted and
you wont get a job outside and will be stuck here.

Business Analyst:-
Decide requirements themselves.
No users, no clients.
Prepare non-standard BRDs, FRDs.
Write useless test cases and partcipate in conference calls with
developers where people speak in hindi and overall your business
communication skills get degraded.

Module Leads and Project Managers:-
Zero learning
No strict deadlines to complete the project.
No Prioritisation
Forced to be part of long calls where there are no outcomes and as a
project manager
you often end up implementing incomplete solutions.
Lot of Politics, especially for promotion.


Good Luck
Anonymous Ex-TCS Employee