I ran a worldwide telecommunications consulting division for several years so many of the concerns in the article around bench time are familiar to me. But if

I ran a worldwide telecommunications consulting division for several years so many of the concerns in the article around bench time are familiar to me. But if there was ever an optimal circumstance where individuals could maximize extended bench time to level up through self-directed learning, then software engineers such as those profiled in the article were in the best possible position. Instead of "researching hobbies" or complaining about "nothing coming from the laptop or the phone that you need to respond to", taking the initiative to start something (anything) on their own serves the dual purpose of developing their skillset and giving oneself an opportunity to plan ahead in their career. To be fair, there also seems to be a serious breakdown in the US Infosys onboarding process, since junior staff should ideally be paired from the outset with a mentor and ideally also be receiving regular check-ins with their line manager (e.g. senior consultant, engagement manager or principal). But it sounds like none of these standard HR processeses were established for the US junior staff highlighted in the article.