The problem is likely due to the gulf between good programmers and normal programmers being so substantial. All the normal programmers end up as below average

The problem is likely due to the gulf between good programmers and normal programmers being so substantial. All the normal programmers end up as below average due to the minority at the other end of the curve. Hence a normal indian programmer is going to be below average. And a normal chinese programmer is going to be below the average. But a normal western programmer is also going to be below the average. I've worked with some really bad western programmers. And I read excerpts from western programmer blogs that make me cringe (e.g. the "real men don't catch exceptions or check for nulls" crowd). The absolute 100% head and shoulders worst two programmers I ever worked with: The westerner: a consultant from Thoughtworks who deliberately broke core parts of our project, some call it sabotage, others would call it billable hours. The offshore indian: a completely useless twat who did no work whatsoever but just made excuses. You'd talk to him and get problem A sorted out and then repeat for problems B through H... and then the next problem would be problem A again. It was like it was a roundabout, the same 'reasons' why he couldn't get any work done just kept coming around and around and around again. Overall, I would take the indian I guess, at least he can be safely ignored.