This post is something I have been meaning to write for a long time and now the time has come for that. By the time I had posted this, I had around 4+ years of IT experience as a frontend developer, of which 3+ years of experience working in a service-based company, and exactly 1 year of experience working in a product-based company which is why the title says 3: 1 ratio 😋

I have categorized my experience into three headings which are common among all the companies/organizations in the IT sector.

1. Culture and Workplace
2. Work-Life Balance
3. The Work

Note: I have not chosen salary as a category since it varies depending on numerous factors like total experience, previous salary, performance, etc, and also since it’s not fair for everybody.

Please note that I’ll be using Prod-Com for denoting the product based company I’m currently working for and Serv-Com for the service based company that I had worked for. This is to avoid typing the same words again and again and again 😫.

Culture and Workplace

This is something everyone who joins a new company/organisation looks forward to as it says a lot about that .co/.org.

When we talk about the culture and workplace, we talk about how every employee is being treated in a company/ an organisation, what kind of people do they hire, what kind of policies they follow, and most importantly, what do the existing employees say about that company/organisation.

Serv-Com

It has a very good culture code and has a great workplace. Since it’s a Serv-Com, it has a great infrastructure, lots of tall buildings, and lots and lots of employees. Every employee will be having their own space to work called “Cubicles” and you will not be able to work elsewhere since you will be provided a desktop computer.

Prod-Com

It also has a very good culture code and a great workplace. Unlike a Ser-Com, it does not have great infrastructure and tall buildings. They also have “Cubicles” and also some private spaces inside the office. Since you will be given a laptop for work, you can move around to those private spaces if you feel tired of “The Cubicle”.

Work-Life Balance

Balancing work and life is really a complicated thing and it will always never be 50–50.

Serv-Com

Most of the Serv-Coms have an “Attendance Policy” where you need to maintain an average of 9 hours or more for a year. Even though I was able to maintain the work-life balance, it feels frustrating at times when you have no work but you need to stay in the office just to maintain the “average working hours”.

Prod-Com

They don’t have an “Attendance Policy” which is actually great. If you are done with work, you are free to leave and have the rest of the day to yourself. But here’s the catch: IF YOU ARE DONE WITH WORK. We will discuss this further below.

The Work 👨‍💻

Yes! Finally! The Work.

There is a lot of buzz around the IT sector when it comes to working in a Prod-Com. Especially, considering the amount of work you will be doing and the knowledge/experience you will be gaining. You won’t find this in a lot of Ser-Com’s, trust me.

Ser-Com

They have a reserved word called “Bench”, which means that you are not working on any project at the moment and so you are free to roam around the office campus until you are mapped to one. Sound’s infuriating, doesn’t it 😡? If it doesn’t for you, then you are welcome to join a Ser-Com.

I was in that so-called “Bench” for 10 months, in spite of reaching out to various managers to give me some work. I got into a project later on and was working as a frontend developer.

There was not much work in that project as well and so I made a vow to myself that I would get into a Prod-Com. Fast forward 10 months, after a lot of preparation and a lot of interview failures, I managed to join a Prod-Com.

Prod-Com

Now comes the fun/work part!! There are lot of things that you can experience working in a Prod-Com. Let me list them out for you.

1. You are expected to learn and implement from day-1. You will be assigned a mentor who guides you through the work that needs to be done and will help you if you are stuck someplace.
2. The Work-Life balance might get affected for the first few months. Once you get comfortable with your work, you will feel the chill.
3. You are responsible for the tasks that are assigned to you and so there’s no room for slacking off.
4. There will be a lot of visibility across teams and you get to learn more about the product.
5. Concerns can be raised directly to your manager, or your CEO if there are only lesser employees.
6. You will constantly be involved in works related to your expertise and you can try out new things as well if you feel like it.

The 3:1 ratio

So, what’s this ratio about? Simply put, I have compared my years of experience working in a Serv-Com to that of a Prod-Com.

It’s 3:1 if you consider the years of experience. But, it will be 1:3 if you consider the amount of knowledge/exposure I had gained working in a Prod-Com. It’s three times more compared to what I have learned working in a Serv-Com.

Please don’t scold me for supporting Prod-Com’s, which is what I did so far 🤪. I support Serv-Coms when it comes to providing mass employment for graduates. Other than that, I feel that there is not much to say about them from my experience.

Also, do check out my article on How to prepare yourself for interviews which helped me land an offer in a prod-com.

Feel free to drop a comment about what you think about a prod-com company and a serv-com company and thanks for reading.

Arigato Gozaimasu 🙂