5 ms·

Should you move to India for a job?

12 points by dreamz 17y ago

jleyank 17y ago
Can a US-ian consider moving to India in search of work? Can they enter and work if they already have a position lined up? This was easy coming to Canada, but there's all sorts of treaty arrangements between the US and Canada. If the Indians are protective of their job market, US-ians just won't be able to go unless they're entrepreneurs who'll create Indian jobs for natives?
- dreamz 17y ago
  americans won't be able to adjust to the indian system (corruption, pollution, high ego etc.), also they would have terrible US accent :) and finally "Emily" from US won't become "Chameli" in India :-)
- wheels 17y ago
  There are a whole lot of folks living in the US or Canada that are Indian citizens or one generation removed. That said, the article is kind of lame. It assumes that a growing economy translates directly to a skilled labor shortage without making any decent case for that. Really, it's only even in passing that they make a case for moving there.
- mauricio 17y ago
  US-ians are typically referred to as Americans...
  - deleted 17y ago
    [deleted]
  - andresmh 17y ago
    America is a continent :)
    - Devilboy 17y ago
      Two continents even!
      - furyg3 17y ago
        Thankfully we snatched up the "American" TLD early on.
    - wheels 17y ago
      This has somehow become a cause célèbre for native Spanish speakers, but it's simply not accurate. The correct translation from the English "American" (or German "Amerikaner") to Spanish is "estadounidense", not "americano". This would be like English speakers correcting Spanish speakers for using "pretender" and not meaning "a faker". As for the continents themselves, it just depends on who's doing the teaching. English speaking countries define North and South America as separate continents: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continent#Number_of_continents http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continent#Number_of_continents
      - davidw 17y ago
        Interesting. Italian has 'americano', which is sort of the common way of putting things, even if not entirely correct. 'statiunitense', similar to the spanish word you cite, is the more formal term. It is however, an unwieldy word that's mostly limited to news or official things, and 'americano' is what I am to most people here.
        wheels 17y ago
        The more informal Spanish version would be "norteamericano", which also packs some odd ambiguities, since it is mostly a reference to people from the US. The bit I was digging into there, by inference (not necessarily clear for those not familiar with Spanish) is that because North and South America are taught to be one continent in Spanish, and "americano" references the peoples from that aggregate, Spanish speakers (mostly Latin-Americans) have a habit of correcting English speakers in online forms when they use the word "American" to refer to people from the US.
- plinkplonk 17y ago
  "Can a US-ian consider moving to India in search of work?" I know many people from the USA who work here in Bangalore for a year or two and then go back to the USA. As I understand it the paperwork for the work visa is a little tedious, but hey then getting an H! involves a lot of paperwork too. Ideally you get a job first and let the company take care of the paperwork for you.
socratees 17y ago
The article is totally baseless for most of the part. Also, a Fastest growing economy does not translate that everyone should go there and look for a job. And for that matter, India won't be the second fastest growing economy in 2009 according to the Economist. The fastest growing economies are Qatar, Malawi, Angola, Ethiopia, and China - from one to five respectively. (http://www.economist.com/markets/indicators/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12818136 http://www.economist.com/markets/indicators/displaystory.cfm...)
st3fan 17y ago
And compete with people who do your job at 1/50th of your salary? No thanks.
- GeneralMaximus 17y ago
  That doesn't necessarily mean they are any less skilled :)
mauricio 17y ago
It's important to note the little tidbit about the author: "Aseem Prakash is the former CEO of I Media Corp Ltd. in India..." Biased reporting?
illumen 17y ago
Definitely! $5k can last a year in india. Just freelance for your existing clients and live like a king for a year... on 1-2 jobs. Only 7-25% of Americans own a passport... so I doubt that many people would actually do it. http://www.gyford.com/phil/writing/2003/01/31/how_many_america.php http://www.gyford.com/phil/writing/2003/01/31/how_many_ameri... Would be quite an adventure though... :) My job was outsourced FROM India. So living there is just the next step I guess.
cvboss2 17y ago
So what? China is booming, India is growing, Russia showed 9% growth. The poorer the country, the higher the numbers. ps/ you don't have to vote me down, that's from the economics textbook :)
noor420 17y ago
For you entrepreneurs looking forward to move to India: Famous and popular investor Jim Rogers details all the problems in India and how we can find oppurtunities to invest there: http://www.lewrockwell.com/rogers-j/rogers-j9.html http://www.lewrockwell.com/rogers-j/rogers-j9.html Indian people have voted for growth and prosperity. This represents end of communism/protectionism ideas. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aqQq7UKv0W.Q&refer=home http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aqQq... For those who are not familiar with Indian Politics, Prime Minister of India's resume : http://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/8kww2/congress_wins_indian_elections_drmanmohan_singh/c09mbg1 http://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/8kww2/congress_wi...
rjurney 17y ago
You would not want an IT job in India - they're terrible. You're a lemming. Lots of programmers in India, very few hackers. At the high end, the very few interesting jobs, you're competing with the finest minds in India - and you'll probably lose. But its a good place to do some serious hacking, if you've saved up money stateside, or have a consulting gig. I posted a bit about doing product development in India here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=532825 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=532825
- plinkplonk 17y ago
  "You would not want an IT job in India - they're terrible." This is largely true. There are good jobs - one of my friends just got a job programming text to speech systems in scheme, and that her first job just out of school - but they are very rare. But most "IT" jobs in India suck for sure.
  - badri 17y ago
    exactly. that's partly because most boring bit and pieces of IT are outsourced to Indian IT majors.
- paraschopra 17y ago
  Yes, very true. A typical IT job would make you cry for help, make you wonder the purpose of life and make you feel doubtful if all your 16 odd years of education (school + college) were worth it. Typically you are expected to work late at nights debugging someone else's code or doing trivial stuff. Luckily, I am working on computer adaptive tests which is uber cool.
philwelch 17y ago
Specious reasoning here. Yes, India has a higher rate of growth than the US, but they are also poorer and will remain so for the near future. It's not an entirely bad idea, as living in another country is probably a worthwhile experience, especially rapidly developing country like India. But it's not a great career move in and of itself, nor is it that much better an idea because of the recession (unless you have no real prospects for enough income to stay in your home country and want a cheaper country to live off your savings in until the storm passes, but most people in that situation go for someplace like Costa Rica.)
param 17y ago
I heard IBM is offering positions in India to current US employees. While it sounds like an adventure, please be advised before you try this out- even though you will need a pittance compared to US salaries to live lavishly in India, a lower salary does mean that you wouldn't have enough saved in USD to be able to come back after a few years and feel ahead of your peers. A lot of infrastructure is just missing other there, meaning people used to just heading out over the weekend for skiing would have to say goodbye to a lot of livestyle options Worst thing is, wherever you go, you would look american - which makes you a ripe target for getting mugged, pickpocketed or swindled.
- sundarurfriend 17y ago
  >getting mugged, pickpocketed or swindled Those at least are direct threats which you would at least be conscious of (and may be avoid learning some self defence and having some 'tools'). But there's a lot of silent thieving that's going either unnoticed or ignored. From shopkeepers to rented auto-rickshaw owners, everyone charges an American 5x to 10x more (some even start charging for something that's supposed to be free). Since they do not know the actual rates, they end up paying the (relatively) huge amounts without even knowing they are being ripped off. If you're an American considering visiting India (or probably any third world country for that matter), make sure you befriend someone there and learn the prices and rates of common necessities. If you make people realize you know the actual price and perhaps negotiate a little, they'll give in very soon. You'll be saving a lot of money that way.
  - param 17y ago
    That is exactly what I meant when I said 'swindled' :-)
furyg3 17y ago
There's an excellent movie called "Outsourced" about a call-center manager who is forced to move to India to train his replacement. It's a silly B+ grade movie but it really gives you the feel of what it would be like to go work in a culture which is totally different than your own.
sundarurfriend 17y ago
>India's economy will grow by 5.8 per cent [...] that's exponentially better than the negative growth predicted for the US What does exponentiation have to do with this at all?!

12 points by dreamz 17y ago

Can a US-ian consider moving to India in search of work? Can they enter and work if they already have a position lined up? This was easy coming to Canada, but there's all sorts of treaty arrangements between the US and Canada. If the Indians are protective of their job market, US-ians just won't be able to go unless they're entrepreneurs who'll create Indian jobs for natives?

dreamz 17y ago
americans won't be able to adjust to the indian system (corruption, pollution, high ego etc.), also they would have terrible US accent :) and finally "Emily" from US won't become "Chameli" in India :-)
wheels 17y ago
There are a whole lot of folks living in the US or Canada that are Indian citizens or one generation removed. That said, the article is kind of lame. It assumes that a growing economy translates directly to a skilled labor shortage without making any decent case for that. Really, it's only even in passing that they make a case for moving there.
mauricio 17y ago
US-ians are typically referred to as Americans...
- deleted 17y ago
  [deleted]
- andresmh 17y ago
  America is a continent :)
  - Devilboy 17y ago
    Two continents even!
    - furyg3 17y ago
      Thankfully we snatched up the "American" TLD early on.
  - wheels 17y ago
    This has somehow become a cause célèbre for native Spanish speakers, but it's simply not accurate. The correct translation from the English "American" (or German "Amerikaner") to Spanish is "estadounidense", not "americano". This would be like English speakers correcting Spanish speakers for using "pretender" and not meaning "a faker". As for the continents themselves, it just depends on who's doing the teaching. English speaking countries define North and South America as separate continents: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continent#Number_of_continents http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continent#Number_of_continents
    - davidw 17y ago
      Interesting. Italian has 'americano', which is sort of the common way of putting things, even if not entirely correct. 'statiunitense', similar to the spanish word you cite, is the more formal term. It is however, an unwieldy word that's mostly limited to news or official things, and 'americano' is what I am to most people here.
      - wheels 17y ago
        The more informal Spanish version would be "norteamericano", which also packs some odd ambiguities, since it is mostly a reference to people from the US. The bit I was digging into there, by inference (not necessarily clear for those not familiar with Spanish) is that because North and South America are taught to be one continent in Spanish, and "americano" references the peoples from that aggregate, Spanish speakers (mostly Latin-Americans) have a habit of correcting English speakers in online forms when they use the word "American" to refer to people from the US.
plinkplonk 17y ago
"Can a US-ian consider moving to India in search of work?" I know many people from the USA who work here in Bangalore for a year or two and then go back to the USA. As I understand it the paperwork for the work visa is a little tedious, but hey then getting an H! involves a lot of paperwork too. Ideally you get a job first and let the company take care of the paperwork for you.

socratees 17y ago

The article is totally baseless for most of the part. Also, a Fastest growing economy does not translate that everyone should go there and look for a job. And for that matter, India won't be the second fastest growing economy in 2009 according to the Economist. The fastest growing economies are Qatar, Malawi, Angola, Ethiopia, and China - from one to five respectively. (http://www.economist.com/markets/indicators/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12818136 http://www.economist.com/markets/indicators/displaystory.cfm...)

st3fan 17y ago

And compete with people who do your job at 1/50th of your salary? No thanks.

GeneralMaximus 17y ago
That doesn't necessarily mean they are any less skilled :)

mauricio 17y ago

It's important to note the little tidbit about the author: "Aseem Prakash is the former CEO of I Media Corp Ltd. in India..." Biased reporting?

illumen 17y ago

Definitely! $5k can last a year in india. Just freelance for your existing clients and live like a king for a year... on 1-2 jobs. Only 7-25% of Americans own a passport... so I doubt that many people would actually do it. http://www.gyford.com/phil/writing/2003/01/31/how_many_america.php http://www.gyford.com/phil/writing/2003/01/31/how_many_ameri... Would be quite an adventure though... :) My job was outsourced FROM India. So living there is just the next step I guess.

cvboss2 17y ago

So what? China is booming, India is growing, Russia showed 9% growth. The poorer the country, the higher the numbers. ps/ you don't have to vote me down, that's from the economics textbook :)

noor420 17y ago

For you entrepreneurs looking forward to move to India: Famous and popular investor Jim Rogers details all the problems in India and how we can find oppurtunities to invest there: http://www.lewrockwell.com/rogers-j/rogers-j9.html http://www.lewrockwell.com/rogers-j/rogers-j9.html Indian people have voted for growth and prosperity. This represents end of communism/protectionism ideas. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aqQq7UKv0W.Q&refer=home http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aqQq... For those who are not familiar with Indian Politics, Prime Minister of India's resume : http://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/8kww2/congress_wins_indian_elections_drmanmohan_singh/c09mbg1 http://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/8kww2/congress_wi...

rjurney 17y ago

You would not want an IT job in India - they're terrible. You're a lemming. Lots of programmers in India, very few hackers. At the high end, the very few interesting jobs, you're competing with the finest minds in India - and you'll probably lose. But its a good place to do some serious hacking, if you've saved up money stateside, or have a consulting gig. I posted a bit about doing product development in India here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=532825 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=532825

plinkplonk 17y ago
"You would not want an IT job in India - they're terrible." This is largely true. There are good jobs - one of my friends just got a job programming text to speech systems in scheme, and that her first job just out of school - but they are very rare. But most "IT" jobs in India suck for sure.
- badri 17y ago
  exactly. that's partly because most boring bit and pieces of IT are outsourced to Indian IT majors.
paraschopra 17y ago
Yes, very true. A typical IT job would make you cry for help, make you wonder the purpose of life and make you feel doubtful if all your 16 odd years of education (school + college) were worth it. Typically you are expected to work late at nights debugging someone else's code or doing trivial stuff. Luckily, I am working on computer adaptive tests which is uber cool.

philwelch 17y ago

Specious reasoning here. Yes, India has a higher rate of growth than the US, but they are also poorer and will remain so for the near future. It's not an entirely bad idea, as living in another country is probably a worthwhile experience, especially rapidly developing country like India. But it's not a great career move in and of itself, nor is it that much better an idea because of the recession (unless you have no real prospects for enough income to stay in your home country and want a cheaper country to live off your savings in until the storm passes, but most people in that situation go for someplace like Costa Rica.)

param 17y ago

I heard IBM is offering positions in India to current US employees. While it sounds like an adventure, please be advised before you try this out- even though you will need a pittance compared to US salaries to live lavishly in India, a lower salary does mean that you wouldn't have enough saved in USD to be able to come back after a few years and feel ahead of your peers. A lot of infrastructure is just missing other there, meaning people used to just heading out over the weekend for skiing would have to say goodbye to a lot of livestyle options Worst thing is, wherever you go, you would look american - which makes you a ripe target for getting mugged, pickpocketed or swindled.

sundarurfriend 17y ago
>getting mugged, pickpocketed or swindled Those at least are direct threats which you would at least be conscious of (and may be avoid learning some self defence and having some 'tools'). But there's a lot of silent thieving that's going either unnoticed or ignored. From shopkeepers to rented auto-rickshaw owners, everyone charges an American 5x to 10x more (some even start charging for something that's supposed to be free). Since they do not know the actual rates, they end up paying the (relatively) huge amounts without even knowing they are being ripped off. If you're an American considering visiting India (or probably any third world country for that matter), make sure you befriend someone there and learn the prices and rates of common necessities. If you make people realize you know the actual price and perhaps negotiate a little, they'll give in very soon. You'll be saving a lot of money that way.
- param 17y ago
  That is exactly what I meant when I said 'swindled' :-)

furyg3 17y ago

There's an excellent movie called "Outsourced" about a call-center manager who is forced to move to India to train his replacement. It's a silly B+ grade movie but it really gives you the feel of what it would be like to go work in a culture which is totally different than your own.

sundarurfriend 17y ago

>India's economy will grow by 5.8 per cent [...] that's exponentially better than the negative growth predicted for the US What does exponentiation have to do with this at all?!