4 ms·

The last time I managed outsourced developers I made this joke. "There are some truly amazing Indian developers, it's just a shame none of them are in India".

The last time I managed outsourced developers I made this joke. "There are some truly amazing Indian developers, it's just a shame none of them are in India". My observation was that the outsourced developers I managed, the good ones usually got visa's and buggered off abroad even though they where getting near UK wages in India they could earn more by moving.

t1o5 9y ago
Agree. What I see is, skilled ones are flocking to Canada and Australia because of their merit based immigration system. H1B has lost its luster because its now a lottery visa, no place for skills. The Indian IT biggies flood H1B market with petitions claiming high skills for a meager developer. There are also a lot booming startups in many cities spread across India. You can find the best ones there too.
- screye 9y ago
  Not really, I don't know a single top student who is studying in Canada or Australia. Maybe you are referring specifically moving for work. Australian wages are significantly lower than those in the US and for the most part, it isn't on anyone's mind to apply there. In my experience, students apply to Australia when they can't compete for good universities in the US. Canada is very sensitive to GPA values. I know of cases, where literally the absolute cream of the cream, with a strong profile to show for it, have been rejected from Canadian institutes, for reasons that no one seems to have figured out yet. In the past few years, I know a lot more people who are gravitating towards the EU over the US, but I don't don't hear much about moving to either Canada or Australia for work or education. That being said, the lottery system for giving the h1b is universally loathed.Some of smartest people I know are struggling to get one, while Infosys keeps sending utterly mediocre people in droves to the US. I hope it does become a merit based system (assuming the number of spots stay constant), I however have no idea as to how merit should be decided.
jrowley 9y ago
Alternatively, the good ones that stay in India may not be interested in working as contractors for Westerners. India has a population of 1.3 billion - there are certainly some top of the line engineers and computer scientists there.
- simonswords82 9y ago
  True - with that many people there simply has to be talent, the question is how to find it.
- noir_lord 9y ago
  That’s why it was a joke and not an assertion of fact ;).
- mc32 9y ago
  There is also the culture of "making it to management". For some people being general staff is not prestigious enough, so some people pursue a managerial path and leave their programming skills behind.
- ganeshkrishnan 9y ago
  >the good ones that stay in India may not be interested in working as contractors for Westerners. I had plenty of brilliant IT colleagues in a nondescript small town in rural south India. Almost none of them wanted to do any contract work or even get in the rat race. They were working on porting BioShock to Mac OS and I was amazed at what they could achieve in a limited timespan
  - julienfr112 9y ago
    Very interesting story ! Did they worked for a local firm contracting with the Bioshock publisher or a indian subsidiary of this publiesher ? How did the publisher find them out ? How did they meet and acquire their competencies ?
    - ganeshkrishnan 9y ago

t1o5 9y ago

Agree. What I see is, skilled ones are flocking to Canada and Australia because of their merit based immigration system. H1B has lost its luster because its now a lottery visa, no place for skills. The Indian IT biggies flood H1B market with petitions claiming high skills for a meager developer. There are also a lot booming startups in many cities spread across India. You can find the best ones there too.

screye 9y ago
Not really, I don't know a single top student who is studying in Canada or Australia. Maybe you are referring specifically moving for work. Australian wages are significantly lower than those in the US and for the most part, it isn't on anyone's mind to apply there. In my experience, students apply to Australia when they can't compete for good universities in the US. Canada is very sensitive to GPA values. I know of cases, where literally the absolute cream of the cream, with a strong profile to show for it, have been rejected from Canadian institutes, for reasons that no one seems to have figured out yet. In the past few years, I know a lot more people who are gravitating towards the EU over the US, but I don't don't hear much about moving to either Canada or Australia for work or education. That being said, the lottery system for giving the h1b is universally loathed.Some of smartest people I know are struggling to get one, while Infosys keeps sending utterly mediocre people in droves to the US. I hope it does become a merit based system (assuming the number of spots stay constant), I however have no idea as to how merit should be decided.

jrowley 9y ago

Alternatively, the good ones that stay in India may not be interested in working as contractors for Westerners. India has a population of 1.3 billion - there are certainly some top of the line engineers and computer scientists there.

simonswords82 9y ago
True - with that many people there simply has to be talent, the question is how to find it.
noir_lord 9y ago
That’s why it was a joke and not an assertion of fact ;).
mc32 9y ago
There is also the culture of "making it to management". For some people being general staff is not prestigious enough, so some people pursue a managerial path and leave their programming skills behind.
ganeshkrishnan 9y ago
>the good ones that stay in India may not be interested in working as contractors for Westerners. I had plenty of brilliant IT colleagues in a nondescript small town in rural south India. Almost none of them wanted to do any contract work or even get in the rat race. They were working on porting BioShock to Mac OS and I was amazed at what they could achieve in a limited timespan
- julienfr112 9y ago
  Very interesting story ! Did they worked for a local firm contracting with the Bioshock publisher or a indian subsidiary of this publiesher ? How did the publisher find them out ? How did they meet and acquire their competencies ?
  - ganeshkrishnan 9y ago