6 ms·

If there's a "India == bad devs" stereotype, it's more the result of cheap American outsourcers trying to get bargain basement prices on Indian dev labor and th

by api 13y ago

If there's a "India == bad devs" stereotype, it's more the result of cheap American outsourcers trying to get bargain basement prices on Indian dev labor and then being unsatisfied with what they get. Sorry but you give cheap, you get cheap. No form of software development is a rote, repetitive process that you can just drag in anyone who can fog glass off the street and sit them down at an assembly line to do. It's not amenable to the kind of cheapo outsourcing that can be done with some industrial processes. (And even there, you get what you pay for... it's why the Chinese sweatshop junk is junk.) I've met plenty of good Indian devs over here in the 'States, and I'm sure there are plenty more over in India. But they're probably only a bit cheaper than good U.S. developers, especially since they can get telecommuter positions at U.S. firms for U.S. wages.

kohanz 13y ago
100% agree. When I've worked side-by-side with devs originally from India, I have not noticed a difference in skill level from others. However, when the larger company I worked at outsourced development to India to cut cost, the code quality we saw coming back was terrible. My impression though was that this was due to a combination of factors, including project management, lack of clear requirements definitions, language barriers, and then finally software development. You get what you pay for.
shubhamjain 13y ago
The problem with these outsourcers is they that they expect Indian programmers to work out quality code while paying < 5$ an hour. I met an employer who was impressed by my SO profile and wished to hire me $2 per hour when I asked to be paid at least 10$ (which is very good income here), he says, "Why should I pay you 10$ when I can get developers at much lower rate at Elance, GAF?". They don't realize its unfair to pay a good programmer much lower (even considering the Purchasing Power Gap) than one in US and bear the fruits of hiring a bad dev.
- aviraldg 13y ago
  Even $10 is way too low (at least an order of magnitude!) for a good dev.
ropman76 13y ago
If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys

by api 13y ago

kohanz 13y ago

100% agree. When I've worked side-by-side with devs originally from India, I have not noticed a difference in skill level from others. However, when the larger company I worked at outsourced development to India to cut cost, the code quality we saw coming back was terrible. My impression though was that this was due to a combination of factors, including project management, lack of clear requirements definitions, language barriers, and then finally software development. You get what you pay for.

shubhamjain 13y ago

The problem with these outsourcers is they that they expect Indian programmers to work out quality code while paying < 5$ an hour. I met an employer who was impressed by my SO profile and wished to hire me $2 per hour when I asked to be paid at least 10$ (which is very good income here), he says, "Why should I pay you 10$ when I can get developers at much lower rate at Elance, GAF?". They don't realize its unfair to pay a good programmer much lower (even considering the Purchasing Power Gap) than one in US and bear the fruits of hiring a bad dev.

aviraldg 13y ago
Even $10 is way too low (at least an order of magnitude!) for a good dev.

ropman76 13y ago

If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys